Movie Magic

colorwhirl has a DVD of Disney's Sleeping Beauty, which is one of my childhood favorites. I watched it last night - but with the commentary on. I found out some interesting stuff about the movie.

For instance, it was a major departure from Disney's house style up to that point, with very sharp, clear lines based on Gothic art and Japanese impressionism instead of the softer, cartoony outlines that were typical of the day. Sleeping Beauty was also the first Disney movie to be shown in widescreen (and the last, until 1985), and made use of some revolutionary animation effects, particularly during the "fairies' blessing" sequence early on in the film.

Also, while a lot of people I know snub Disney for making things too safe and sappy, Sleeping Beauty was actually criticized for being too scary at a couple of points, like where Malefecent's orcs ambush and tie up the prince, or the battle scene in the end. You know, where Malefecent has transformed herself into a big, black, scary dragon, and battles the desperate Prince against a backdrop of flaming thorns. Walt Disney was of the opinion that the protagonist in a story had to face real danger in order to make the story work and appeal to the audience.

I guess it's just the TV Disney stuff that sucks these days, like the live-action movies where the main characters are tweens or in their early teens (mostly white, middle-class and unrealistically clean-cut even for that group). Or some of the animated spin-offs of their animated movies. I don't think Walt would have approved.