Review of Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009) by Ryan H — 10 Apr 2010

Waking Sleeping Beauty is a heartfelt look at the near failure and then miraculous re-rise of Disney Animation. Anyone who grew up watching animated Disney movies (everyone) will find some interest in this behind the scenes look at how those movies came to be.

Reliving the decade that saw The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin, and Nightmare Before Christmas is quite enjoyable. This document did show some heartwrenching events and explain some of the inner turmoil within the company, but I can't help but feel it was a little too glossy.

This was a Disney movie through-and-through, even though it was non-fiction. Executive fighting was made to look like common lunchroom quarrels, and nearly all public controversy was not even mentioned.

However, you cannot really blame the filmmakers for ignoring anything that may have made Disney look bad when they are, in fact, Disney. This is not a hard-hitting, tell all expose, but it is a really fun and interesting look at the company that helped raise a large portion of the world.