Erdman Penner

The backgrounds/scenes really have a gorgeous 14th century feel to them that complemented the movie quite well. The animation is top-notch and gets 5 stars, but the plot holes in this movie nag at me really hard.

The fairies don't know to make a dress and cake by the time of Aurora/Briar Rose's 16th birthday. But they've been living in the forest, raising Aurora without magic, for 16 years. How the hell did they feed and clothe her in all that time???

Aurora's parents are such dumbshits. I show more mean, without spindles, how were textiles to be spun? (this was actually touched upon in an episode of Happily Ever After, a HBO children's fairy tale cartoon series, it shows that by the time the princess is 16, everyone in the kingdom is wearing patched-up clothes, lol)

How did anyone expect Aurora to not freak out at all the revelations that were dumped on her on her birthday? Heck, the fairies feel bad for her when they see her crying, but they still encourage her to marry the prince because that's what mommy and daddy want. Never mind that after she was born, Aurora was whisked away so she and Phillip did not meet or have the chance to get to know one another until their chance meeting in the forest.

I think this movie has beautiful animation, and some great scenes, but there's quite a bit of datedness here, I know some people are not big fans of the live action remakes of the older Disney movies, but at least the updated version of this movie (Maleficent) gave Maleficent a very good reason for being pissed off at Stephen, in the original movie she just comes across as a silly, petty bitch for not being invited to the baby's christening.

M.M. Strawberry Library & Reviews show less

A princess is cursed by an evil sorceress.

Well, that was a huge surprise. I'd thought that by this point Disney had long since given up on the artistic angle and moved on to a more "kid friendly" humor-based appeal. Wrongity wrong wrong. One of the best movies visually, ever - right up there with The Third Man. I'm looking forward to re-watching 101 Dalmations (the next Disney movie chronologically) to see if it's anything like this. (But my hopes aren't high.)

Concept: D
Story: B
Characters: show more C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: C
Music: A

Enjoyment: A

GPA: 2.9/4 show less

Acting (Voice): 4.5; Theme: 4.5; Content: 4.5; Language: 5.0; Overall: 4.5

After the birth of King Stefan (Taylor Holmes) and Queen Leah's (Verna Felton) young beautiful daughter, Aurora (Mary Costa), an evil fairy (Maleficent; Eleanor Audley) steps in to curse the young princess. Aurora is pricked by the spindle on a spinning wheel on her sixteenth birthday and now must receive a true love kiss or remain asleep forever. Highly recommend.

***March 28, 2023***

After being snubbed by the royal family, a malevolent fairy places a curse on a princess which only a prince can break, along with the help of three good fairies.