Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Disney

January 29, 1959

Children's, Fantasy, Musical

DVD
B-

While I like this better than Snow White and Cinderella,  I am not dazzled by the then-modern design style.  The characterization, especially of the three fairies, has always been my favorite part.  This go round, I noticed how this movie influenced Disney's later modern fairytales Enchanted and Tangled, which are more entertaining in almost every aspect.  Still, I can't get that damn "Once Upon a Dream" song out of my head, so I guess that counts for something.

This is based on various versions of the fairytale.  The many directors are Les Clark, Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Hamilton Luske.

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

Disney

January 25, 1961

Children's, Animation, Romance, Comedy?

DVD
C-

I remember liking this as a kid, although I think it was all the cute puppies.  (I'm definitely not a dog person, but the puppies were cute.)  This time, I found the four main characters a bit tedious, and the Tallulah-Bankhead-like villainess didn't liven things up enough.  This is based on the Dodie Smith novel, and co-directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wolfgang Reitherman.

Cinderella (1950)

Cinderella (1950)
Walt Disney
March 4, 1950
Children's, Fantasy
DVD
C

This was never one of my favorite Disney movies, even limiting the choice to '50s animation.  The first quarter hour is mostly about Cindy waking up, interacting with the animals of the household, and of course singing.  The co-directors were Clyde Geronimi (who also did Bambi), Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske.

Bambi

Bambi
Disney
August 21, 1942
Children's, Fantasy
DVD
C+

I think as a child this was never a favorite of mine, and it has nothing to do with Bambi's mother being killed.  There's too much macho posturing and yet too slow a pace much of the time.  This time around, Thumper was still my favorite character, and I could've watched sequences of him and his siblings for much longer, although admittedly that wouldn't be that eventful either (but cute as heck).  Bambi's mother's death, and the fire sequence, didn't really have much of an emotional impact.  I still like Old Owl's "twitter-pated" lecture (yes, back before Twitter was capitalized and changed history) and the lighter, brighter moments.  Not a classic, and I don't imagine most modern children warming up to it more than I did, and yet worth revisiting. 

Note that I'm using the "fantasy" tag for the talking animals.  I've tagged all the directors listed at IMDB.