Review of Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009) by Adam K — 03 Apr 2010

Forget Clash of the Titans and seek out this Clash of the Egos. I loved this documentary, a fantastic behind the scenes look at Disney Animation that traces 10 years between 1984 and 1994. It was a time when Disney animation was not faring well with critics AND the box office(even getting beat in box office gross by The Care Bears movie at one point).

So Roy Disney brings in Michael Eisner who in turn brings along Jeffrey Katzenburg to bail them out and while they manage to right the ship, its not without its casualties. It was great to see the making of some of my favorite Disney films such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty & The Beast, especially the scenes with one of my favorite lyricists, Howard Ashman.

There is plenty of drama, tension, humor and ultimately even sadness in this film that was surprisingly much more frank and candid than I ever thought that it'd be. One of my favorite films of this young year so far.