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Sleeping Beauty

Play trailer 0:45 Poster for Sleeping Beauty G 1959 1h 15m Kids & Family Fantasy Animation Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
90% Tomatometer 50 Reviews 80% Popcornmeter 250,000+ Ratings
Filled with jealousy, the evil witch Maleficent (Eleanor Audley) curses Princess Aurora (Mary Costa) to die on her 16th birthday. Thanks to Aurora's guardian fairies (Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, Barbara Luddy), she only falls into a deep sleep that can be ended with a kiss from her betrothed, Prince Phillip (Bill Shirley). To prevent Phillip from rescuing Aurora, Maleficent kidnaps and imprisons him. The good fairies are the last hope to free Phillip so that he can awaken Aurora.
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Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty

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Critics Consensus

This Disney dreamscape contains moments of grandeur, with its lush colors, magical air, one of the most menacing villains in the Disney canon.

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Critics Reviews

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Caroline Siede Girl Culture (Substack) 08/21/2025
While I don’t think the Disney animators intentionally set out to empower middle-aged women, they did set out to mix up the Disney princess formula. In doing so, they stumbled upon a premise more progressive than half of what we get from the studio today. Go to Full Review
Sara Michelle Fetters MovieFreak.com 02/22/2024
4/4
Sleeping Beauty is a masterpiece. In my opinion, it’s not just the best animated film to ever come out of Walt Disney Studios, but it is also the finest animated motion picture I’ve ever seen, period. Go to Full Review
Kate Cameron New York Daily News 01/28/2016
4/4
It is a picture that will charm the young and tickle adults, since the old fairy tale has been transferred to the screen by a Disney who kept his tongue in his cheek throughout the film's animation. Go to Full Review
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews May 22
3/4
...one of Disney’s most impressively-animated endeavors... Go to Full Review
Carson Timar ButteredPopcorn 01/01/2024
Often wide in scope with lovely shot composition and cinematography, Sleeping Beauty is at times a truly artistic endeavor. Go to Full Review
Eve Tushnet Patheos 07/23/2021
Maleficent is a ferocious creation... Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Aladdin S @Mr-Greenbeans 4d I am a boomer and first saw this as a little girl. I was captivated by it. To this day, this is the iconic teen dream fairy tale. Disneyland re-used the castle in Disneyland. Robin McKinley re-wrote the story into "Spindle's End", one of her best books. Other than Jasmine from Aladdin, this is my favorite Disney girl. But something was always off. I finally figured it out when I finally subscribed to Disney and watched this as my very first choice. It was Prince Philip. I"m not sure if he should have been drawn in more of a cartoon style or what. He doesn't seem part of the same film. What do the rest of you think? I also was bothered, even as a little girl, about the colors of the different characters changing. How is Aurora brown haired when she wakes up from her nap? How are the fairies in lavender, aqua and blue instead of orangey red, yellowy-green and blue? Being in the dark or shadow does not seem like it would change the colors in the way depicted. Am I wrong? See more Petros T @PetrosTserpelis Jul 27 There's some cool animation in this, but the story is completely irredeemable. It's full of plot holes, one-dimensional characters with poor decision-making, and pointless musical numbers. Aurora and Prince Philip are completely empty as characters, Maleficent is evil just for the sake of it, and the good fairies really mess everything up in a film that perfectly sums up what's wrong with lots of fairy tales: they perpetuate and glorify superficiality but are just hollow tripe rolled in glitter. See more diogo13 T @Tua_mera Jul 10 É só um filme de princesa. Eu acho este filme muito fraco. See more Henry D @Henry_Domke Jun 2 Despite its historic significance, the artwork felt simplistic, flat, and unappealing to us. The classic story did not hold our interest, and we found it boring enough that we were glad the film was short. Contemporary animation, especially from Pixar, is radically more appealing to us. See more Bret M. @BretM-3 May 19 This is a spectacular animated movie. It has everything you’d want from a “Family Movie.” Splendid animation, a story that everyone can follow, a love story that the girls will love, and a sword slashing, dragon slaying warrior that the boys will appreciate. Action and romance, the tried and true classics! And I keep coming back to the animation. It’s beautiful! Movies like this remind you why you miss 2D animated movies, it looks so good! The painted backgrounds have so much detail in them that modern 3D animation just can’t live up to. This is a splendid movie that the whole family will love, and the animation enthusiast in the family will get even more appreciation from it. See more Ben W @Username618 Apr 25 Think I did see this, for completeness' sake/seeing all Disney ... but not a lot happens, and the colourful sidekick character is some sort of squirrel??? See more Read all reviews
Sleeping Beauty

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis Filled with jealousy, the evil witch Maleficent (Eleanor Audley) curses Princess Aurora (Mary Costa) to die on her 16th birthday. Thanks to Aurora's guardian fairies (Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, Barbara Luddy), she only falls into a deep sleep that can be ended with a kiss from her betrothed, Prince Phillip (Bill Shirley). To prevent Phillip from rescuing Aurora, Maleficent kidnaps and imprisons him. The good fairies are the last hope to free Phillip so that he can awaken Aurora.
Director
Clyde Geronimi
Producer
Walt Disney
Screenwriter
Charles Perrault, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, Milt Banta
Distributor
Buena Vista Pictures
Production Co
Walt Disney Pictures
Rating
G
Genre
Kids & Family, Fantasy, Animation
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 29, 1959, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 24, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA)
$11.6M
Runtime
1h 15m
Sound Mix
Magnetic Stereo 6 Track
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