The Sleeping Princess

Have seen a lot of the cartune special cartoons over time (some first time viewings recently, others re-watches), and while they are a mixed bag in quality there are plenty that are well above average and more. Burt Gillett did do a good deal of great work in his earlier career, with some of the best Disney cartoons (i.e. 'Lonesome Ghosts' coming from him), but his later work varied with some good cartoons but also some rather average ones. Really liked the idea for 'The Sleeping Princess'.

It is not everyday where you see the 'Sleeping Beauty' story being told from the point of view of the Wicked Fairy. While really liking the different idea, 'The Sleeping Princess' doesn't quite come off in execution. It looks absolutely beautiful and has its moments, but it also felt rather bland and like it didn't do enough with the premise and executed it too ordinarily. When it comes to the cartune special cartoons, 'The Sleeping Princess' is one of the average ones and it is average late mid/coming into late career Gillett (didn't really feel like him).

There are good things. The best thing is the animation, which is absolutely beautiful. The colours are vibrant and lush, while the meticulous and elaborate attention to detail in the backgrounds and fluid transitions are notable, as are some nice humorous touches. Close behind is the music score, which is fantastic throughout the entire cartoon. Even when the story is uneven in pacing the energy and character in the music are consistent and in a great way.

Did like the character of the Wicked Fairy, who is amusing and sinister. There are some amusing moments visually in the first third.

On the other hand, a lot doesn't work so well. It did start losing energy and had a running out of ideas feeling towards the end of the middle act. That the story was slight was absolutely expected, but was not expecting it to feel like a different cartoon that felt rather predictable and phoned in.

While the Wicked Fairy is great, the other characters are very bland. The cartoon is low on laughs, with the second half being far too cutesy for my tastes and while the telling the story from the villain's point of view idea sounded great it lacks wit and is too predictable.

Summing up, didn't quite do it for me. 5/10.

What happened to Burt Gillet's career? He went from directing some of Disney's best late black and white cartoons to directing some awful, puerile color works for van Beuren. Then he worked for Lantz for three years and seems to have vanished from the credits after 1940, even if he lived for another third of a century.

Although he directed some of the Andy Panda's, this version of Cinderella from the viewpoint of the Wicked Fairy seems a bit shaky, as if the script bounces uneasily between hep music and humor to making fun of the efforts, as if there were too many cooks for this bowl of broth. Perhaps that had been Gillet's problem all along: maybe he had prospered at Disney because of the strong staff, then floundered at van Beuren because of the weak staff. Perhaps he was simply not cut out for the top spot.

This is a beautiful cartoon, though, with some lovely color compositions and a combination of graceful and humorous visuals. Perhaps you will enjoy it for that.