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Sleeping Beauty 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition Blu-Ray

It’s been years since I last saw Sleeping Beauty. The last time, it was on VHS and both the sound and video quality were questionable. This go around, Disney took the time to restore both the original wide-screen resolution and the sound.

The remastered version brings out strong colors that I didn’t remember as a child. The colors are crisp and sharp. The sound is clear and works with today’s surround standards. One great example is when the prince is looking for Aurora, he follows her voice left. As the audience, you now hear her voice on the left speaker. Bird chirps, and minute sounds are crisp and clear. There is also an interesting commentary track that follows the making of the movie, inner cutting quotes from Walt Disney and other animators.

Now as an adult, I think that the story line lacks a little bit, especially since it followed movies like Cinderella and Lady & the Tramp. If you’ve never seen the movie, it might be disappointing in comparison to the Disney movies of today. The characters aren’t fully fleshed out as much as one would hope. This movie still maintains the perfect balance between the comedic and the serious. What saves the lack of plotline is the strong voice work. Eleanor Audley’s voice as Maleficent is still as haunting and scary as ever.

Disney does not disappoint when it comes to putting extras on their disks. The extras include deleted songs, games aimed at children, and one of the best bonuses is that it includes a featurette of the original Sleeping Beauty walk-through attraction from Disneyland. Also added in the extras is the Academy Award winning short, Grand Canyon. It’s still beautiful and it originally accompanied Sleeping Beauty in its release in theaters. The menus are beautiful and easy to navigate. It continues the magic of the whole movie.

There is no reason to go out there and buy the Platinum DVD. Since the Platinum Edition Blu-ray comes with a standard DVD, even if you don’t have a Blu-ray player you can still enjoy the movie. One day you’ll have a Blu-ray player since it won the format war. If you own Sleeping Beauty on VHS, this would be the best jump ahead.

Written by: Michael Pascua

Reviewers Rating: 9.5
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