Sleeping Beauty
Buena Vista Film Distribution Company | Release Date: January 29, 1959 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
85
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
The masterpiece of the Disney Studios' postwar style. The animation has been stripped down, in accordance with economic imperatives, but what the images lose in shading and detail they gain in strength and fluidity. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsKate Cameron
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. It is a beautiful and amusing cartoon. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklySteve Daly
Barbie-doll-slim Princess Aurora, cursed to enter suspended animation at 16, and her Abercrombie & Fitch-worthy savior Prince Phillip, who literally rides a white horse — aren’t as much fun as the three fussy-old-lady fairies who become their protectors. This movie is all about the lure of supporting ornamentation. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
Deep, dark forests; thorny thickets; spiraling castle stairs – every detail seems to envelop us. And then there is Maleficent, voiced by Eleanor Audley and undoubtedly one of the great Disney villainesses. Her transformation into a roaring dragon in the finale is so triumphant you almost want her to win. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The elaborate, gothic-inspired designs look great, and the supporting characters—most notably the three good fairies and the Joan Crawford-like villain Maleficent—liven up the proceedings despite the bland hero and heroine. Read full review
80
The DissolveNoel MurrayOct 7, 2014
Sleeping Beauty is the most beautiful movie the Disney’s feature animation department has ever made. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBosley Crowther
A crisply stylized fairyland, where the colors are rich, the sounds are luscious and magic sparkles spurt charmingly from wands. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
An epic brilliance conjures up impossible monumental castles, shadows and monstrosities, with exciting action marvellously orchestrated across the CinemaScope frame. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineEd Gonzalez
Just as the film’s gorgeous backdrops suggest characters trapped in suspended animation, the many colorful balls of light that frequently circle their heads hauntingly convey the filmmakers’ idea of fate and love locked in a cosmic struggle. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
The attention to movement and detail is stunning, with multiple layers of action filling the frame. The highlight of the film, the fight with the dragon, is terrifying, exciting, and brilliantly executed, though some youngsters may find it a bit too scary. Read full review
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Some of the best parts of the picture are those dealing with the three good fairies, spoken and sung by Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen and Barbara Luddy. Read full review
50
TimeStaff (Not Credited)
The drawing in Sleeping Beauty is crude: a compromise between sentimental, crayon-book childishness and the sort of cute, commercial cubism that tries to seem daring but is really just square. The hero and heroine are sugar sculpture, and the witch looks like a clumsy tracing from a Charles Addams cartoon. The plot often seems to owe less to the tradition of the fairy tale than to the formula of the monster movie. Read full review
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