From Walt Disney Home Entertainment:
One of the studio's most ambitious undertakings, Walt Disney's original animated Sleeping Beauty features an Academy AwardŽ nominated score adapted from the incandescent music of Peter Tchaikovsky. Its breathtaking action sequences and extravagant musical production numbers charm adults and children as they delight at the antics of Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, the bubbly and bumbling fairy godmothers, and cheer the gallant Prince Phillip in his quest to save Princess Aurora.
An all time favorite with movie fans and animation connoisseurs, Sleeping Beauty's original release was greeted by extraordinary reviews and packed movie theaters. Featuring the voice talents of renowned opera singer Mary Costa (as Sleeping Beauty/Aurora) and Disney stalwart Eleanor Audley (as the evil fairy, Maleficent), the film's vibrant visuals were created by a team that included Milt Kahl and Ollie Johnston, two of Disney's legendary Nine Old Men.
Sleeping Beauty Voice Cast List
Mary Costa
Bill Shirley
Eleanor Audley
Verna Felton
Barbara Luddy
Barbara Jo Allen
Taylor Holmes
Bill Thompson
... Princess Aurora
... Prince Phillip
... Maleficent
... Flora
... Merryweather
... Fauna
... Stefan
... Hubert
Sleeping Beauty was released nearly fifty years ago as the last Disney animated film of the 1950's. It also marked the end of a sorts to the more classical animated films that were romantic fairy tales. Sleeping Beauty was the third film to feature a princess following Snow White (1937) and Cinderella (1950) and the last until The Little Mermaid thirty years later. Though Sleeping Beauty is the title character, the film is largely carried by the Three Good Fairies whose humor and charm more than offset the otherwise darker storyline involving the evil Maleficent, Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip. The film's beautiful animation and soundtrack based on Peter Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty gives the film a grand classical style that has prompted the film's reputation to grow over time. There are plenty of reasons why Disney chose this film to be included in their Platinum Edition titles and we're happy to have it as part of our own collection.
The DVD:
The Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition marks Disney's first Blu-ray release of its animated classics. Disney also went so far as to include the standard DVD edition with the Blu-ray release. As usual the platinum edition is filled with extras some of which are somewhat mindless like an updated "pop" version of "Once Upon a Dream." Other extras on the first disc include the now standard song selection as well as a pop-up fact track. The Cinemascope short "Grand Canyon" which also accompanied Sleeping Beauty on his original theatrical run is included as well as the Disneyland episode "The Peter Tchaikovsky Story," which weaves the inspiration of Sleeping Beauty into much of Tchaikovsky's life. Lastly, an audio commentary track with Pixar's John Lassater, film critic/historian Leonard Maltin and Disney animator Andreas Deja.
The second disc features the usual breakdown of features geared towards adults and children. One of the activities is the "Fun with Languages" feature, while the other is actually a set of activities most of which actually encourage players to get up and move around. The rest of the extra features are for adults. There is a new making of documentary as well as a profile of artist Eyvind Earle who was largely responsible for the look of the film. Another featurette looks at animating the forest scene. An alternate opening as well as several deleted songs are also included. There's also an excerpt from a Disneyland episode in which the collaboration on the film's design is discussed. The Sleepy Beauty Castle Walkthrough includes both a computer-generated interactive recreation of the castle as well as a featurette on the history of the castle attraction. Lastly, there are art galleries, storyboard sequences and trailers rounding out a nice set of extras on the platinum edition.
Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition DVD Extras: Disc 1:
— Backstage Disney: Audio Commentary with John Lasseter, Leonard Maltin and Andreas Deja
— Backstage Disney: Princess Fun Facts
— Backstage Disney: "Grand Canyon" - Short that accompanied Sleeping Beauty's original theatrical release
— Backstage Disney: The Peter Tchaikovsky Story - Episode of Disney's TV Series in which Walt Disney previews Sleeping Beauty
— Music & More: "Once Upon a Dream" Music Video - Emily Osment (Hannah Montana)
— Song Selection: "Once Upon a Dream" Main Title
— Song Selection: "Hail to The Princess Aurora"
— Song Selection: "I Wonder"
— Song Selection: "Once Upon a Dream"
— Song Selection: "Sleeping Beauty"
Disc 2:
— Backstage Disney - Picture Perfect: The Making of Sleeping Beauty [43:32]
— Backstage Disney - Eyvind Earle: The Man and His Art [7:33]
— Backstage Disney: Four Artists Paint One Tree [16:08]
— Backstage Disney: Alternate Opening [3:08]
— Backstage Disney: Deleted Songs - "It Happens I Have a Picture Version 1" [3:44], "It Happens I Have a Picture Version 2" [2:51], "Riddle Diddle" [2:45], "Go To Sleep" [2:47]
— Backstage Disney: Sequence 8 (Forest Scene) [5:30]
— Backstage Disney: Original Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough Attraction
— Backstage Disney: Art Galleries
— Backstage Disney: Publicity
— Backstage Disney: Storyboard Sequences
— Games & Activities: Briar Rose's Enchanted Dance Game
— Games & Activities: Sleeping Beauty Fun With Language Game
Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition Blu-ray DVD Extras:
— Bonus Disc with Standard Definition DVD version of the film
— All the DVD Extras
— Maleficent's Challenge: Go head to head with one of Disney's most infamous villains.
— Dragon Encounter: Explore Maleficent's dungeon where deep in the bowels a dragon encounter awaits.
— Cine-Explore: Picture-in-Picture with commentary by John Lasseter, Andreas Deja & Leonard Maltin
— Restoring the Sound Track: Featurette on the creation of the all new 7.1 mix of the score of Sleeping Beauty that was done exclusively for this Blu-ray release
— Customized Living Menu: It is a "real time" virtual castle that magically changes based on the viewer's location, time of day and current weather forecast (requires Live enabled players)
— Disney BD-Live Network: Movie Chat, Movie Mail, Movie Challenge, Disney Movie Rewards Live
