When it comes to adapting classic fairy tales into classic animated movies, no one can handle a candle to Disney. From the very beginning, with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney showed that it had what it took to be a giant of family entertainment.
In some ways, its later movie, Sleeping Beauty, would be the apotheosis of the fairy tale movie, not matched until the late 1980s and early 1990s and the Disney Renaissance. Both Snow White and Sleeping Beauty can lay claim to the distinction of being Disney’s best fairy tale, with each bringing something unique to the table, even as each changes the original story.
Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent
Let’s be real. Has there ever been a villain quite as magnificent as Maleficent, arguably the movie’s breakout character? Memorably voiced by Eleanor Audley, she captivates the viewer from the moment that she appears. What’s more, it takes a pretty formidable villain to be willing to curse a baby to die just because she was left off the guest list (though, as some have pointed out, she’s really misunderstood).
Let’s not forget that she also turns herself into a truly terrifying dragon, one that’s only defeated because Prince Philip gangs up with the fairies to bring her down.
Snow White: The Evil Queen
While Maleficent might be more imposing, it’s only fair to give the Evil Queen some credit, too. This is a woman, after all, who somehow managed to get herself married to a king and then basically enslaved his daughter.
What’s more, she was willing to change her entire appearance–no small thing, for a woman whose vanity knew no bounds–all that she could finally get her revenge on the girl who stole her title as the most beautiful person in the land. One has to admire her guts, as well as the way she would influence the many other evil queens that followed.
Sleeping Beauty: The Dragon
When Maleficent turns herself into a dragon in order to keep Prince Philip from reaching Aurora and breaking the spell that has sentenced her to sleep forever, it’s a brilliant and exhilarating piece of animation.
After all, she turns into that beast in the most stunning way imaginable, by becoming a pillar of fire that slowly turns into the shape of a dragon. What’s more, the fire that she manages to produce is itself terrifying, able to burn right through stone. It’s animated movie-making at its finest.
Snow White: Groundbreaking
Though it feels a bit dated and stagey to modern moviegoers, viewers should remember that Snow White was truly groundbreaking when it came out, and audiences responded in kind. It was a testament to Walt Disney’s belief in the power of animation, and even today there are aspects of the movie that stand the test of time.
It definitely deserves its vaunted place in the history of animation as being the first feature-length animated movie. Its influence on the form continues to be felt today.
Sleeping Beauty: The Three Fairies
It’s hard to imagine a Disney movie without its sidekicks. Though often not as brave and glamorous as the heroes, they are still essential to the story, and they generally play a big role in the hero defeating the villain.
Sleeping Beauty has not one but three sidekicks of this sort, and Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather are in some ways the best things about the movie, with hilarious humor and saucy wit that help to lighten the mood when things start to get dark and imposing.
Snow White: The Dwarves
Of course, the template for the sidekick was set out in the first animated feature movie, with the dwarfs providing the model that many other sidekicks would follow. It’s also important to notice just how brilliant the animation is. After all, it would have been easy to make seven dwarfs that were virtually indistinguishable from one another.
Instead, Disney made sure that each and every one of the dwarfs had his own personality, from the supercilious Doc to the ill-tempered Grumpy. And, what’s more, they imbued even the house with subtle little details.
Sleeping Beauty: Better Prince
Though he might be as good of a prince as some of his later successors, it has to be said that Philip is miles better than Prince Charming. For one thing, he actually has something to do during the movie, and in fact, he’s the one who brings about Maleficent’s downfall.
However, he’s also just a better example of animation, and it’s clear that Disney’s artists had learned quite a lot about how to animate a human man without making him look rather silly (as was the case with Prince Charming).
Snow White: Snow White Has More To Actually Do
Though she’s beautifully animated, it has to be said that Aurora doesn’t have a whole lot to do during her movie. As it turns out, she’s either a baby or asleep for most of it. In fact, she doesn’t even speak to anyone–not Philip, not her parents, not the fairies–even after she wakes up from the curse.
Snow White, by contrast, actually has quite a lot to do in her own movie, whether that’s escaping from the Queen’s desire to kill her or tidying up the dwarfs’ cottage.
Sleeping Beauty: The Renaissance-Style Animation
One of the most noteworthy things about Sleeping Beauty is just how simply gorgeous the animation is. When one watches it, it’s almost as if one is watching a stained glass or Renaissance painting brought to life.
There are such beautiful colors and stylized designs to the movie that it takes the breath away. It’s hard to imagine an animated movie taking that sort of risk today, but this movie makes it clear why Disney deserves the praise that it does for its ability to create movies that truly withstand the test of time.
Snow White: The Queen’s Transformation From Beautiful To Ugly
A lot of people have criticized Disney for sanitizing fairy tales, cutting out or toning down the more brutal nature of the original stories. However, that doesn’t account for what is one of the most traumatizing and well-animated sequences in Snow White, i.e. the moment where the Evil Queen casts a spell on herself so that she transforms from her beautiful self into an ugly crone.
It’s a truly terrifying moment, one sure to make quite an impression on young and old viewers alike.
