There are quite a few things about Disney classics that fascinate me. Some of it's storytelling/character stuff, but it's primarily on the animation front. There are effects and techniques that are used in these pre-renaissance times are still just extremely uniquely stunning to me. I love a lot of the renaissance stuff too, with movies like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King being absurd feats of animation that I don't believe will ever be topped.
But I don't think there's anything that sums up this love that I'm trying to describe, and really my love for animation and cinema in general, than the character of Maleficent in 1959's Sleeping Beauty.
I could watch her all day. Fuck I could watch just that scene alone all day. Her design is stunning. Equal parts terrifying as she is beautiful, with a presence that could stop Satan in his tracks. Her characterization and absolutely perfect voice acting from Eleanor Audley somehow match the insanely high quality of her design. With a chin that's generally always held high, a type of awareness that tells you to your faces she's toying with you, a blazing neon green aura that evokes elements that seem familiar yet foreign in their horror, and a voice that can serenade you in one moment and break your spine in the next. She's a character that is realized so fully that if you watch her enough you can skip dinner.
Oh, and we haven't even gotten to the dragon yet.
This entire sequence has some of my favorite effects in cinema history. From the fucking dope as shit whirlpool looking thing she uses to transport herself to infront of the Prince, her dragon transformation, and just the dragon itself and the effects that go along with it. I've never really liked dragons. Shenron's really my only exception and he barely qualifies as a typical one. But I fucking adore her dragon. Something about it's design just does....everything for me. That fucking perfect green and black/purple pallet, it's shape, and just the effects...god the effects.
I love her. I think she's one of the greatest animated achievements period. Funny thing is, I really don't even like the movie Sleeping Beauty that much. Basically every scene without her I could take or leave, which is like 80% of the movie. But she's just so incredible that it's impossible not to take notice. I'll watch the movie that I don't care for 80% of just to get some glimpses of her.
Brilliant.
But I don't think there's anything that sums up this love that I'm trying to describe, and really my love for animation and cinema in general, than the character of Maleficent in 1959's Sleeping Beauty.
I could watch her all day. Fuck I could watch just that scene alone all day. Her design is stunning. Equal parts terrifying as she is beautiful, with a presence that could stop Satan in his tracks. Her characterization and absolutely perfect voice acting from Eleanor Audley somehow match the insanely high quality of her design. With a chin that's generally always held high, a type of awareness that tells you to your faces she's toying with you, a blazing neon green aura that evokes elements that seem familiar yet foreign in their horror, and a voice that can serenade you in one moment and break your spine in the next. She's a character that is realized so fully that if you watch her enough you can skip dinner.
Oh, and we haven't even gotten to the dragon yet.
This entire sequence has some of my favorite effects in cinema history. From the fucking dope as shit whirlpool looking thing she uses to transport herself to infront of the Prince, her dragon transformation, and just the dragon itself and the effects that go along with it. I've never really liked dragons. Shenron's really my only exception and he barely qualifies as a typical one. But I fucking adore her dragon. Something about it's design just does....everything for me. That fucking perfect green and black/purple pallet, it's shape, and just the effects...god the effects.
I love her. I think she's one of the greatest animated achievements period. Funny thing is, I really don't even like the movie Sleeping Beauty that much. Basically every scene without her I could take or leave, which is like 80% of the movie. But she's just so incredible that it's impossible not to take notice. I'll watch the movie that I don't care for 80% of just to get some glimpses of her.
Brilliant.
Also I don't care about Angelina Jolie I'm sorry I actually actively hate that shit and think it just makes her worse. Please let's not mention it and act like it never happened.
Last edited:
