Sleeping Beauty

US (1959): Family/Animated/Fantasy

Disney produced this lavish animated fairy tale, the most expensive cartoon ever made up to its release with a budget of $6 million. When the young princess Aurora is cursed at birth by the evil fairy Maleficent, the baby is kidnapped by a trio of good fairies who raise the girl themselves, hoping to avoid the spell's fulfillment. Nevertheless, at the age of 16, the beautiful Aurora falls into a deep sleep that can only be awakened by a kiss from her betrothed, Prince Phillip. Knowing that Phillip intends to save Aurora, Maleficent takes him prisoner. When the good fairies launch a rescue attempt, Maleficent transforms herself into a spectacular fire-breathing dragon, forcing Phillip to defeat her in mortal combat. (Sequence directors were Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman and Les Clark; Clyde Geronimi was supervising director.) (Karl Williams, All Movie Guide)

 View the first 10 minutes of this film on YouTube.com.

1 nomination