With all the heartbreaking and infuriating national news headlines of the day, I felt like I needed something to refresh and reboot my spirits. I turned to some Disney entertainment. I know that a current Disney hit is THE LION KING at movie theaters. That's the live-action remake of the animated Disney classic in 1994 that introduced us to animal flatulence onscreen. But I wanted a Disney classic, something that took me back to my childhood. Something colorful. Something without flatulence. I watched Disney's 1959 hit, SLEEPING BEAUTY. Oh my goodness. I had not seen it all the way through in decades. I was absolutely riveted as if I was a youngster watching it on a huge Southern California drive-in movie screen with my parents. The color and scope were sumptuous. The artwork for Maleficent, the villain, was gorgeous and frightening.
Disney's SLEEPING BEAUTY was directed by Clyde Geronimi and based on one of the stories written by Frenchman Charles Perrault in the 1600s. The young and dear beauty's name is Aurora. She has three fairy godmothers who keep their magical powers a secret. Aurora meets a handsome unmarried prince in the woods. The animated woodland creatures are charming.
Maleficent is pure animated evil so she does not want to see Aurora happy in any way, shape of form. And when she turned into a colossal dragon...Wow! What an exciting sequence as the prince battles her.
Losing myself in this classic work of Disney imagination was just the tonic my spirits needed. Today, we can see there's a push to give us edgy, hip humor in modern animated features. Heck, I admit I've done that myself in performance a number of times over the years. I personally learned that trying to be too hip, too edgy can oddly date the material and give it a short shelf life. Making the work imaginative, entertaining and giving it a soul -- that's where the artistry lies. That's what Disney did at its best.
I have a thick, wonderful book of international literature that a family friend gave me when I was in college. It has a few stories by Hans Christian Andersen in it. They're stories that were new to me. I've been a devoted Disney fan ever since I was in grade school. Today, I wish Disney studio readers would delve into international fairy tales, like the untouched ones by Hans Christian Andersen, and give us fresh works based on old storybook tales instead of cranking out live-action remakes of its animated classics.
Disney's 1959 production, SLEEPING BEAUTY, kept me wide awake, happy and entertained last night. I needed that. Do yourself a favor. Revisit a Disney classic. I think you'll enjoy it.
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