Certificate U
Duration 75 mins
Film starts approximately 21.00
DJ from 18.45: NONCLASSICAL
This 1959 favourite was Disney’s most elaborate and expensive film at the time of release, and even now you can still see how special it is.
The story itself is a simple recounting of the Charles Perrault fairytale about the Princess Aurora, cursed by the wicked Maleficent to sleep for eternity unless awoken by true love’s kiss. The film brings in three fairy godmothers Flora, Fauna and Merryweather who look after Aurora while she’s growing up, and of course there’s the inevitable handsome Prince (Philip, named after the Duke of Edinburgh) on hand to save the day.
Sleeping Beauty may have been very much in the Disney tradition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Cinderella but it had a presence all of its own, being only the second of the studio’s releases to be presented in widescreen. That extra size helps it to cast a powerful spell when seen on the big screen – there’s virtually nothing in the history of animation that can match the fiery climactic showdown between the Prince and the dragon. And for a summer’s evening under the stars what could be better than the instantly recognisable music adapted from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty ballet, from which the film’s signature song also emerges. Simply put, this is what dreams are made of.
