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Once Upon a Dream: From Perrault's Sleeping Beauty to Disney's Maleficent (Disney Editions Deluxe
With its themes of a beautiful princess, a dashing prince, and love triumphing over powerful magic, "Sleeping Beauty" remains one of the most beloved of all fairy tales. The story was first published by Charles Perrault in 1697. Perrault's vision of the ageless, enchanted princess slumbering in her vine-encrusted tower has fascinated readers and artists for more 300 years three times as long as the heroine slept. This heavily-illustrated book will trace the history of that fascination, which has manifested itself in literature, fine art, poetry, music, and film.
The most celebrated cinematic version of Sleeping Beauty is Walt Disney's, the glorious finale of the animated fairy tales he began in 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Although Briar Rose/Aurora was the most beautiful and beautifully animated of the Disney princesses, the film was dominated by Maleficent: Perrault's shriveled old fairy was transformed into the epitome of the lovely but terrible sorceress of fantasy literature.
The book will conclude with the development and creation of Maleficent, including interviews with Angelina Jolie, Imelda Staunton, Linda Woolverton, Sean Bailey, Joe Roth, Don Hahn, and director Robert Stromberg (Oscar-winning art director of Avatar and Alice in Wonderland); behind-the-scenes details and photography; costumes, props, and makeup; and plenty of movie magic!
- GenresNonfictionArtFairy Tales
176 pages, Hardcover
First published June 17, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
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February 27, 2015Seeing Eyvind Earle's early concept art, Marc Davis' creation of Aurora and Maleficent, and full page storyboards are worth the purchase. Part 1 & 3 about the origins of Sleeping Beauty and the recently released Maleficent movie didn't hold much interest to me.
April 12, 2020
Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney films and one if my top 5 film favorites. So I was delifhted to come across this book. It's an excellent behind the scenes look at the evolution of the tale through to Disney's film adaptations. This oversized book covers a lot of material from folk lore, to Perrault's defining first-written version, through the ballet set to Tchaikovsky's classic music. Disney's animated movie pulled a majority of the melodies from that famous score, adapted and rearranged to suit Disney's new take on the story. A vision brought to life by Eyvind Earle.
The book describes how Walt was dusappointed how prior films had lost the initial style concept by the time they were completed. He was adamant that would not happen with this one, and everyone from the animators to the directors, to actors had to keep to Earle's style.
One of the highlights of this book is an exploration of the animation work: the challenge of drawing for a 70mm wide screen format (the only Disney animated film to use it); the role of clean-up artists; and which animators created the definitive version of each character. I found it hilarious that "nobody wants to do the prince"!! Straight characters are the hardest characters to draw and make come to life. Unlike stretchy, squishy comic character. Aurora and Philip came to life thanks to Milt Kahl and Marc Davis. One million drawings and five years later Disney had his Sleeping Beauty.
This book is beautiful, with thick paper suited to showcasing a lot of full color artwork, including historical paintings used as research/inspiration and a wealth of concept art for both films. And, every piece has a citation. There are also a lot if film stills.
One of my favorite sections covers Maleficent's dargon form in the animated film. How they kept so much of her within the drafon so viewers knew it was Maleficent; how the eagon is snake-like in movement and pupil-less eyes. It made for a frightening sequence.
One minor quibble I had qas tgat some wuestions were left unexored, like why Fauna's color changed from yellow to green or Maleficent's from red to purple.
This is an oustanding book for fans of the Disney films, but also for art aficionados. Highly recommended.
The book describes how Walt was dusappointed how prior films had lost the initial style concept by the time they were completed. He was adamant that would not happen with this one, and everyone from the animators to the directors, to actors had to keep to Earle's style.
One of the highlights of this book is an exploration of the animation work: the challenge of drawing for a 70mm wide screen format (the only Disney animated film to use it); the role of clean-up artists; and which animators created the definitive version of each character. I found it hilarious that "nobody wants to do the prince"!! Straight characters are the hardest characters to draw and make come to life. Unlike stretchy, squishy comic character. Aurora and Philip came to life thanks to Milt Kahl and Marc Davis. One million drawings and five years later Disney had his Sleeping Beauty.
This book is beautiful, with thick paper suited to showcasing a lot of full color artwork, including historical paintings used as research/inspiration and a wealth of concept art for both films. And, every piece has a citation. There are also a lot if film stills.
One of my favorite sections covers Maleficent's dargon form in the animated film. How they kept so much of her within the drafon so viewers knew it was Maleficent; how the eagon is snake-like in movement and pupil-less eyes. It made for a frightening sequence.
One minor quibble I had qas tgat some wuestions were left unexored, like why Fauna's color changed from yellow to green or Maleficent's from red to purple.
This is an oustanding book for fans of the Disney films, but also for art aficionados. Highly recommended.
March 11, 2020
Really good insight into the story of Sleeping Beauty as Disney property. From the early hand drawn animated film right up until the Jolie live action adaption of Maleficent. Some great behind the scenes images, concept art and a look into the creative process in both of these films.
December 19, 2019
It was a kinda mode... kinda kill...
Great Debunk... or let's say showing the true story... but I feel like I have grown up!
Great Debunk... or let's say showing the true story... but I feel like I have grown up!
August 7, 2014
This book is movie and animation magic brought to life, aka book form. Being a huge Disney fan, I loved seeing the behind the scenes of one of my favorite childhood Disney movies. I'm fascinated with the behind the scenes, and history of things, especially with what inspires a story. This book gave me all that and more.
Though this book was released around the same time as the movie Maleficent was, fans of the story of Sleeping Beauty, and Maleficent will enjoy all this treasured coffee table sized book offers. From the history and making behind the original story that started it all, to the movie, and story magic of Walt Disney's beloved Sleeping Beauty, and finally to what inspired the movie, Maleficent. This book is broken up into three sections. Section I gives the history of the original story, Section II takes fans on the behind the scenes of the making of Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty movie, and Section III is the behind the scenes on the movie Maleficent.
I was totally fascinated about the similarities, and the changes between all three stories/movies, and what inspired those changes and why. I loved the rich details that went into Disney's versions of their movies. No little detail went unnoticed. Most importantly, I was fascinated about the differences between Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent as movies. I liked that while they had some similarities with their stories, over all Maleficent is it's own story, and one that introduces fans to her Fae world. Being a huge fan of Disney's trademark animated films, I loved reading about all the details that went into making Sleeping Beauty the most.
I think fans of all ages will enjoy this book. There is a lot that readers will get to know about the movies, and stories. There's a beautiful collection of artwork, the history of the stories, and the movie magic that went into Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent all captured within the pages of this book. It's definitely one I'd recommend spending the afternoon looking through and reading.
Though this book was released around the same time as the movie Maleficent was, fans of the story of Sleeping Beauty, and Maleficent will enjoy all this treasured coffee table sized book offers. From the history and making behind the original story that started it all, to the movie, and story magic of Walt Disney's beloved Sleeping Beauty, and finally to what inspired the movie, Maleficent. This book is broken up into three sections. Section I gives the history of the original story, Section II takes fans on the behind the scenes of the making of Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty movie, and Section III is the behind the scenes on the movie Maleficent.
I was totally fascinated about the similarities, and the changes between all three stories/movies, and what inspired those changes and why. I loved the rich details that went into Disney's versions of their movies. No little detail went unnoticed. Most importantly, I was fascinated about the differences between Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent as movies. I liked that while they had some similarities with their stories, over all Maleficent is it's own story, and one that introduces fans to her Fae world. Being a huge fan of Disney's trademark animated films, I loved reading about all the details that went into making Sleeping Beauty the most.
I think fans of all ages will enjoy this book. There is a lot that readers will get to know about the movies, and stories. There's a beautiful collection of artwork, the history of the stories, and the movie magic that went into Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent all captured within the pages of this book. It's definitely one I'd recommend spending the afternoon looking through and reading.
March 6, 2015
Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" is my favourite animated movie. I saw it for the first time when I was 4 in my teacher's home. I think that it was then that I decided to become an artist. I'm writing this so that you would understand what that movie means to me. I have been waiting for a "Sleeping Beauty" Art of Book for ages!
This book does not disappoint, but it also does not satisfy. I wish it had more art. The Animated section has mostly stills and artwork that I have seen in other books. Disney spent 6 years on the movie, I would have liked to see more concept art that never made it to the screen.
The Fairytale section of the story was interesting enough, but the author describes some artwork we never see. Why didn't they include this artwork in the book?
Maleficent section feels rushed. I also think they could have chosen more art for this section as well.
All in all, Mr. Solomon's writing is interesting enough, but I sometimes feel he just gave us the surface story, and I believe he could have gone deeper. More personal stories, more human connection,... I can't quite explain, but if you read the book, you will see what I'm talking about.
This book does not disappoint, but it also does not satisfy. I wish it had more art. The Animated section has mostly stills and artwork that I have seen in other books. Disney spent 6 years on the movie, I would have liked to see more concept art that never made it to the screen.
The Fairytale section of the story was interesting enough, but the author describes some artwork we never see. Why didn't they include this artwork in the book?
Maleficent section feels rushed. I also think they could have chosen more art for this section as well.
All in all, Mr. Solomon's writing is interesting enough, but I sometimes feel he just gave us the surface story, and I believe he could have gone deeper. More personal stories, more human connection,... I can't quite explain, but if you read the book, you will see what I'm talking about.
June 13, 2014
Actual rating: 3.5 stars. If you just like to watch Disney movies, you probably won't enjoy this book. If you like behind-the-scenes stuff, then I think you will. And if you enjoy learning about animation techniques, then you'll love this book. I wish it had spent more time on the early history of Sleeping Beauty, though. The Disney versions take up the majority of the book, but that's understandable since it's published by Disney. I think they could have added more to the Maleficent section as well. Nevertheless, this is a very in depth and enoyable look at one of the most iconic fairy tales we know today.
August 10, 2014
This was a really nice book. It covers Sleeping Beauty from the original fairy tales through 18th and 19th century depictions in art, literature, theater and ballet, then from the 1950's animated film through the more recent Maleficent. Solomon mostly stays back and lets the writers, producers, directors, actors, etc. tell the stories through quotes and images, occasionally pointing out parallels. It's a really lovely book with some great stills and, while it's not a deep analysis, it provides a good overview of the important points. I'd definitely recommend it.
December 26, 2014
While the story of Sleeping Beauty will always be flawed, since our title character's agency is completely gone once Maleficent puts her in a coma, the animation of Sleeping Beauty is flawless. I enjoyed reading about the process of making this film I love so much, the Eyvind Earle worship, how passionate the animators and voice actors were, and how stubbornly difficult animating hair can be. I still have yet to see all of Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, but I appreciated that the same passions were there. I just wish there were more pictures!!!
November 9, 2015
Really good if you like behind the scenes Disney stuff. They had a small "making of" at the end of the Sleeping Beauty VHS I had as a kid, and I was entranced by it, so this book had that extra "grown-up" "real story" information I love. Dig it. I even thought most of the Maleficent (2014) section was interesting, the only disappointment was that literally all of the art and concept art for Maleficent shown in this book was digital. And call me a puritan, but I sorta hate digital art. There was only one pencil concept sketch from the 2014 film. Lame. Overall, great.
July 26, 2014
Gorgeous book, if you are a big Disney fan (and especially if you are a big Sleeping Beauty and/or Maleficent fan) pick this up for your collection. You won't be disappointed. Full of art, designs and sketches from both the classic 1959 animated film and the 2014 live action film "Maleficent" it is simply beautiful. Pure Disney magic! I greatly enjoyed reading about the creative process behind these two great movies and the stunning artwork on every single page.
February 28, 2015
A great book. Well researched with plenty of archival sketches from the original 1959 Disney classic and includes illustrations and art from some very well known artist. Towards the back of the book, Solomon goes into how Maleficent was designed and produced. Included are scene designs and a few costume sketches.
A terrific book for fans of fairytales and movies.
A terrific book for fans of fairytales and movies.
September 28, 2015
I was surprised to learn how much they disliked working on Sleeping Beauty! They did a marvellous job though. The final film is beautiful!
The illustrations in this book are stunning. Although, again, the text cuts off with pages of images in between. That is my only problem with this book. I wish the thought, or sentence at least, was finished beforehand. Otherwise the book was great.
The illustrations in this book are stunning. Although, again, the text cuts off with pages of images in between. That is my only problem with this book. I wish the thought, or sentence at least, was finished beforehand. Otherwise the book was great.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2014
Enjoyable look at the animated film and feature film.
October 27, 2014
What was I expected? I loved it
May 15, 2015
I read this specifically for the classic Maleficent in Disney's Sleeping Beauty, not the remake.
April 20, 2016
Beautiful illustrations, interesting Disney history and good background on the whole Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.
July 6, 2016
LOVE!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews