It’s a dreamy day for Sleeping Beauty fans with new home entertainment and music releases now available in celebration of the animated classic’s 55th anniversary!
The Sights
Adapted from Charles Perrault’s 17th-century version of the fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty was an incredible undertaking that stands the test of time. Three hundred animators and artists spent six years making the film and generated nearly one million drawings and other pieces of art in the process. Its production design and artistry continue to be admired today, and it also spawned, in this writer’s opinion, one of the most memorable villains in movie history. (You know who I’m talking about, but as we discovered in this summer’s Maleficent, maybe she isn’t so villainous after all.)
On Blu-ray and Digital HD, the Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition not only offers the highest picture and sound quality available; it takes viewers deep into the tale with deleted scenes, including one revealing a deleted character, The Vulture; an Aurora sing-along; a 3-D Maleficent sculpture demo and more. The new edition was unveiled alongside the upcoming home entertainment release of Maleficent at a very special press junket held at one of Walt Disney’s former homes in Los Angeles. Built in 1932, the house on Woking Way overlooks the Los Angeles basin with views to Downtown and the Pacific Ocean. Both inside and out, it was an inspiration and an ode to Walt’s life’s work, from the fanciful spiral staircase to intricate ceiling murals to the Snow White-style playhouse in the backyard. In his private screening room, Walt hosted family movie nights and reviewed dailies of Disney films in development such as Pinocchio and Fantasia. Take a quick tour in the gallery below!
The Sounds
Also out today is The Legacy Collection Sleeping Beauty from Walt Disney Records. The third in the series of special releases that revisit the music of Disney classics, The Legacy Collection Sleeping Beauty features the film’s original Tchaikovsky-inspired soundtrack, plus The Lost Chords of Sleeping Beauty, revealing unreleased demos and new recordings of those demos along with four bonus tracks. The two-disc set also includes liner notes by author and former Disney artist Russell Schroeder and producer’s notes by Randy Thornton, a supervising producer and music historian at Disney Music Group who has overseen the remastering and restoration of numerous classic soundtracks from the Disney catalog.
One of my favorite things about the original film is the incredible art and design in every frame. For this special Legacy album, Walt Disney Animation Studios visual development artist Lorelay Bove created brand-new Sleeping Beauty-inspired artwork, which is itself a sight to behold. After your tour of Walt’s Woking Way home, you can view a few more images from The Legacy Collection Sleeping Beauty in the photo gallery. Enjoy!