Image (1959 poster for Sleeping Beauty) available via Wikimedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sleeping_beauty_disney.jpg


Last night, I searched through youtube.com , desiring to see clips of the animated movies produced by Walt Disney that were so popular in my early childhood and before i was born. These are works of brilliance, intensive labor, and much love.

I watched 'Zip a dee doo dah' from Songs of the Old South, and bits from Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Lady and the Tramp, and Fantasia. I also looked at scenes from later films such as The Jungle Book, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (produced by Disney's company after his demise). While the clips show signs of fading and editing, there is still richness in the sparkling effects, music, and humor. Little birds and mice appear in these works, and there are the marvelous intricacies of forests and architecture. (Sleeping Beauty reportedly benefited from a lot of research on Renaissance era art and structures). The foreboding cliffs, twisted rose vines, and smoke and thunder of scary scenes are a thrilling pleasure too. You can't help feeling like a kid watching animals and humans interacting at knee-high level, where grownups might miss the merriment and drama among the flora and fauna entirely. Having never seen Alice in Wonderland, I'm cheered to discover Alice learning from a couple of bespectacled little mammals behind steaming teapots that there are 364 Happy Unbirthdays to celebrate every year.