In honour of the recent 54th anniversary of the release of Sleeping Beauty, this entry is dedicated to one of the most iconic Disney Princesses, Princess Aurora.
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Photo Courtesy of Cor104 on DeviantArt
http://cor104.deviantart.com/ |
On January 29th, 1959, Sleeping Beauty was released to theatres It starred Mary Costa as Sleeping Beauty, Bill Shirley as Prince Phillip and Eleanor Audley as Maleficent. The story starts off with the celebration of the birth of the king and queen's daughter, Princess Aurora. As everyone is together celebrating, the evil Maleficent makes a visit and gives the precious baby a horrible gift. Before her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. After Maleficent disappears, one of the three good fairies, Merryweather, gives her a gift that will make it so that if she pricks her finger on that spindle, she will rest in sleep instead and be awoken by true love's kiss. Her parents order that all spinning wheels be burned.
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Photo Courtesy of Cor104 on DeviantArt
http://cor104.deviantart.com/ |
Still fearful of their daughter, the King and Queen agree to let the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather take care of their little girl in a cottage in the woods. The fairies raise her as their own without the use of magic, under the name of Briar Rose. On the day of her 16th birthday, Briar Rose is out picking berries and meets a stranger, with whom she dances with and falls in love. They agree to meet again at her cottage later that evening. However, when she returns home, the fairies tell her the truth about who she is and take her to the castle where she will be married to Prince Phillip. Saddened, she leaves with the fairies but as soon as she is left alone for a few moments in a room in the castle, she is led by Maleficent to another room with a spinning wheel where she pricks her finger. Meanwhile Prince Phillip is off to chase some girl that he met in the woods, which happens to be Briar Rose. Maleficent quickly captures him as he gets to the cottage and locks him in her dungeon. With the help of the three good fairies, Prince Phillip must defeat the evil Maleficent and kiss his princess.
Aurora has remained one of the main Disney Princesses and is one of the most popular. Her beautiful long blonde hair, classic pink and blue dresses and stunning features have made her the dream of many young girls. She, along with Snow White and Cinderella, will continue to be the three classic princesses of Disney. Maleficent will also continue to be one of Disney's most iconic villains. I love that she is remembered for both forms that she took during the movie. More often than not, it's usually the normal version of her you see but occasionally, we are lucky enough to see the larger-than-life dragon version of her.
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My husband Scott and I with Princess Aurora on our Disney Cruise
Photo from personal collection |
When you go to any Disney Park, chances are you will see Sleeping Beauty around. She even has her own castles, most notably, the one in Disneyland in California. You can also find Maleficent as well, in various shows including one of my favourite Fantasmic, where she is the main villain of that show. Personally, I got to meet the lovely Princess Aurora on my Disney cruise and she was a delight. And I did see Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios in Disney World and that is without a doubt one of the coolest shows I have ever seen. The way they bring Maleficent to life in a battle against Mickey Mouse is imagineering at its finest. She even breathes real fire!
You can also see Princess Aurora in the hit ABC drama Once Upon A Time. So far she has made appearances in the first half of the second season. She is portrayed by the lovely and talented Sarah Bolger, who puts a new spin on the princess. In the show, she, along with Mulan try to help Mary Margaret Blanchard (who is actually Snow White) and Emma Swan (Mary's daughter), get back to the real world which they were sent from. She struggles with different issues along the way, including the loss of her beloved Prince Phillip and the side effects of the sleeping curse.
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Photo Courtesy of Daekazu on DeviantArt
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So as you can tell, Sleeping Beauty is a movie that has changed and shaped the Disney landscape. It is an amazing movie that I enjoy watching time and time again. Hopefully we'll continue to see more of this lovely lady in other places. Personally, I hope to see more of her in Once Upon A Time.
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