By now, I'm fairly certain every one knows the story of Sleeping Beauty, but of course, Disney manages to work its particular brand of magic on the tale and create a fairly complex and surprisingly dark tale of revenge and hope.
After the birth of their daughter, Aurora, the king and queen invite everyone to a feast in her honor. Everyone, that is, except for Maleficent, an evil fairy who places the princess under a spell stating that upon adulthood, the young princess will prick her finger on a spindle and die. The three good fairies - Flora, Fauna and Merryweather - are unable to lift the curse, but manage to alter the curse. Instead of dying, the princess will instead fall into a deep sleep until awakened by true love's kiss.
As a precaution, the king orders all spindles in the kingdom destroyed. In addition, the three fairies take the princess into their care and raise her as a peasant girl named Briar Rose. Of course, Maleficent is not one to give up that easily and decides to make sure that her threat comes true.
Except for Snow White, Sleeping Beauty is one of the darker of Disney's early animated features. The entire movie has an older look to it and Maleficent has sort of become Disney's signature villain. Other than the core characters like Mickey and Minnie, I can't think of a character who has appeared on more merchandise or in other Disney side-projects than Maleficent. Sleeping Beauty also has the distinction of being one of the few Disney movies where the Prince does something besides show up at the end. With so much going for it, I'm surprised that the movie is as overlooked as it is.
Again, the restoration is incredible. In addition to a lot of clean-up work, the original widescreen aspect ration has been restored. Also, the original stereophonic soundtrack has been converted to equally stunning 5.1 surround sound. Even without the enhancements, the movie looks great and after watching the included "Making of..." featurette, it is mind-boggling to see how much detail went into the 1959 production. I vaguely remember seeing a few of the clips included in the extra when Sleeping Beauty was broadcast on the now defunct Wonderful World of Disney and even with a few years of knowledge under my belt, I am still impressed. Even if you aren't usually into this sort of feature, make it a point to watch this one.
Another extra that should be mandatory is the virtual tour of Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland. The castle has become an icon for the park, but the inside has been closed for some time, making this your only chance to get an inside look at the attraction. From what I can tell based on reports from older Disney fans, nearly all of the original elements have been restored. There's even an added audio track if you want a verbal history.
For better or worse, the Platinum Edition DVD includes the usual Disney Platinum Edition extras. First is a look at an alternate ending, as well as a handful of deleted songs, both of which will likely only be of interest to Disney nuts. There's also an interactive dancing "game" where you try to dance along with animals from the film, but even the youngest of viewers will probably lose interest in the feature pretty quickly.
The one extra I could have done without is Emily Osment's rendition of "Once Upon a Dream." She's a good singer, but ever since the Platinum Edition of Aladdin, it has been hard to see these videos as anything other that self-promotion. I could understand including the video if the artist had some connection to the song or movie, but without that sort of connection it feels random.
Unless you're dead set against watching anything with the Disney name attached to it, make the DVD (or, if you can, the Blu-ray version, which I'm sure looks even better) a must buy and remember, do it fast.
