Comment

Feb 19, 2016mswrite rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This animated film, upon its 1959 release, did not fare as well with movie audiences as Disney's previous classics. Reportedly this came as a great surprise and disappointment to Walt Disney who, as others have noted here, supervised its creation. (Meanwhile "101 Dalmatians," released just a couple of years later and featuring new animation techniques and a more modern look and sound, was much more popular--to Mr. Disney's great annoyance.) Happily the gorgeously drawn and painted and wonderfully acted--in particular, Eleanor Audley's voice work as the haughty, elegant Maleficent is a standalone marvel, her villainy both slyly amusing and the stuff of childhood nightmares--"Sleeping Beauty" has grown steadily in audience appreciation and is now a perennial favorite.