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Charles Solomon
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Once Upon a Dream: From Perrault's Sleeping Beauty to Disney's Maleficent (Disney Editions Deluxe (Film)) Hardcover – June 17, 2014

by Charles Solomon (Author), Don Hahn (Introduction)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 81 ratings
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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!
Previous page
  1. Print length
    176 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Disney Editions
  4. Publication date
    June 17, 2014
  5. Dimensions
    9.5 x 1 x 11.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1423199022
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1423199021
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles Solomon is an internationally respected critic and historian of animation. He has written on the subject for TheNew York Times, TV Guide, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Modern Maturity, Film Comment, and The Hollywood Reporter. His books include The Toy Story Films: An Animated JourneyTale As Old As Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast Disney Lost and Found The Prince of Egypt: A New Vision in Animation The Disney That Never Was and Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and the first film book to be nominated for a National Book Critics' Circle Award.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Disney Editions; First Edition (June 17, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1423199022
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1423199021
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.5 x 1 x 11.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 81 ratings

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Charles Solomon

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
81 global ratings
Beautiful Book
5 Stars
Beautiful Book
The is such a beautiful book, with wonderful illustrations, pictures, and stills. A lot if interesting information. Great for a Disney fan and lover of Sleeping Beauty.
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Top reviews from the United States

Jmaynard
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous exploration of Disney's films
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2020
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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.
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DEWEY M.
5.0 out of 5 stars THE SUMPTUOUS FANTASY WORLD OF "SLEEPING BEAUTY."
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2014
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Ever since the release of the huge coffee-table book celebrating Disney's "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs", I wondered when "Sleeping Beauty" would get a book devoted to it. Well, it has finally arrived and it is well worth the wait.
Charles Solomon digs deep into the origins of the Sleeping Beauty story; starting with Perrault and including information on some other rather gruesome versions. We all know that the music from the Sleeping Beauty ballet is featured prominently throughout the Disney film. But, did you know that Engelbert Humperdink, composer of the "Hansel And Gretel" opera, also wrote a largely unknown and unsung opera version of "Sleeping Beauty"?
The heart of the book is the creation of Disney's 1959 "Sleeping Beauty." For reasons which I've never completely understood, "Sleeping Beauty" has always suffered unfavorable comparisons to "Snow White." This book finally gives "Beauty" some long overdue praise. "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty" are similar in terms of genre, but in terms of style, they couldn't be more different. "Snow White" has a muted, watercolor, cozy color palette. "Sleeping Beauty" represented a thrilling departure from the usual "house style" of animation at Disney. "Sleeping Beauty" features a bolder use of color and design to express character and emotion. And credit for all this mostly goes to Eyvind Earle, whom Walt Disney entrusted with the styling and creative vision of "Sleeping Beauty."
"Sleeping Beauty" may lack the groundbreaking appeal of "Snow White" and the emotional pull of "Dumbo", but, artistically, there is no other Disney film like it. Every time I watch "Sleeping Beauty", I am mesmerized by the visuals and design. This book captures many of these arresting visuals in multi-page layouts and spreads, which left me mesmerized all over again. This book proves that Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" is, indeed, a work of art.
Such perfection was expensive, however. "Sleeping Beauty" was in production for nearly six years at a cost of six million dollars. If Disney continued making animated features as lush and detailed as this, the studio would be bankrupt, and it had been on the verge of bankruptcy before. So Disney quickly employed a cheaper look for the next animated feature "101 Dalmations". "Sleeping Beauty" opened to a mixed reception from critics who simply did not understand how truly special it is. "Sleeping Beauty" was ahead of its time, and time has been very good to "Sleeping Beauty." The film found a following with fantasy fans, eventually earning praise as Disney's undisputed post-war masterpiece. Fans may also appreciate the fact that while the artistic design is beyond brilliant, the story is told in simpler terms. The plot of "Sleeping Beauty" is a straightforward tale of good versus evil", free of the "comedy padding" found in "Snow White" and "Cinderella." Moreover, Disney artists had, by this time, learned how to more successfully animate human beings. The Princes in "Snow White" and "Cinderella" are mere footnotes and afterthoughts. But Prince Phillip in "Sleeping Beauty" is a strong, masculine figure who actually has to fight to free Aurora and the Kingdom. Phillip's battle with Malificent's dragon is still one of most thrilling climaxes in cinema history.
I was less interested in the final portion of the book, devoted to the "Sleeping Beauty"-inspired 2014 live action film "Malificent." "Malificent" features several striking visuals and an arresting central performance by Angelia Jolie. But "Malificent" is part of the current mania, started by the book and Broadway Musical "Wicked" and expanded to absurdly preposterous degrees in the TV Series "Once Upon A Time", of taking "evil" characters, giving them their own backstories and making them sympathetic. But should Malificent, perhaps the greatest Disney fairy-tale villainess of all time, necessarily be made nice and understood? "Malificent" misses the point that, by robbing Malificent of her Title as "The Mistress Of All Evil, Malificent is robbed of much of her appeal and allure.
Fortunately, the "Malificent" film is separate from "Sleeping Beauty. " And "Sleeping Beauty" is really what this book celebrates, a masterpiece that is one of a kind and the last of its kind.
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Nuleo
5.0 out of 5 stars It's an amazing book !!!
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2014
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The media could not be loaded.
 This time I've decided to make another review of a very recent book, this with the arrival of the live action movie adaptation of Sleeping Beauty... Maleficent. And this one is another book by Solomon.

Usually when there's a release of a Disney live action movie like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean or even John Carter, Disney launches an art book of the film. This time it didn't make a book out of Maleficent but of Sleeping Beauty instead.
This book contains kind of a celebration or homage to the 1959 version of the story. We can witness the growth of the Sleeping Beauty tale since the Disney version and there on to the actual Maleficent version. All of this with super interesting details about the movie. We can see Aurora's model sheet, character studies among backgrounds and art studies.
Then we are transported to the recent Maleficent movie, and even though there are not enough pages an art book should have (I mean if the Maleficent part was released as a single book), it has the right amount and it turns out to be a rather complete edition.
So this book is a deluxe edition of sorts and even if you like the 1959 Sleeping Beauty and dislike the recent Maleficent, it is still a good buy. If you enjoy both of the movies well then, it's a mandatory purchase hehe and buy the book while it's fresh because it seems to be one of those editions which may latter run out.

My score for this book is:
90%
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Top reviews from other countries

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MCFW31
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente libro
Reviewed in Mexico on March 27, 2017
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Un gran libro sobre la historia de La Bella Durmiente y Disney. Viene historia sobre el cuento original junto con la música de Tchaikovsky, la producción sobre la película en 1959 así como la creación de la película "Maléfica". El artículo llego en muy buenas condiciones a pesar de no estár protegido por plástico.
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Fulvio84
5.0 out of 5 stars Incantato
Reviewed in Italy on August 11, 2016
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Unbel libro che racconta la storia della Bella Addormentata dalle origini al capolavoro animato Disney fino ad arrivare al recente e molto meno riuscito Maleficent.
La copertina non e' entusiasmante ma sicuramente vale la pena prendere questo libro se si e' appassionati della DIsney
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Karin Koch
5.0 out of 5 stars I love it!
Reviewed in Germany on July 3, 2016
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Great visuals and descriptions and I believe it to be greatly organised from Disney's Grimms fairy tale origins, following up to the actual Disney movie: Sleeping Beauty (which is the best part!), straight up to Maleficent's movie in 2015. The last part doesn't really match up to the first two, but the visuals there are still quite impressive. Overall a 5 star book for me.
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Client Kindle
5.0 out of 5 stars Interessant, ce livre vous permet bien de comprendre l'histoire ...
Reviewed in Canada on October 11, 2014
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Interessant, ce livre vous permet bien de comprendre l'histoire de Once Upon a Dream et de comment ils en son venu jusqu'à Maleficent. A ce prix, il faut l'acheter !
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Old Movies and Old Books
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully produced book!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 8, 2015
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I love art and I love Disney and I love books and I LOOOVE when Disney release art books!

For me, Sleeping Beauty is one of Disney's finest films. It's style based on medieval art give the film a timeless quality, whenever I watch it I feel as though I'm watching a piece of artwork (which I suppose I am)

So when I found out this book was coming out I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

I liked 'Maleficent' but felt the style sadly was not at all influenced by the original film (which could've made Maleficent a fine live action film) the book however mainly focuses on the animated film.
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