Meanwhile, the evil fairy, dubbed Maleficent, is a cold, flamboyant villainess who, for better or worse, overshadows everyone else in the film (but then, the villain always does). The Disney version of the tale whittles the number of good fairies down to three, giving them the appearance and personalities of elderly women. Understandably, Disney's telling departs from Perrault here as well, because in Perrault's version, the King and Queen are the sole members of the court who do not succumb to the sleeping spell, and, eventually die of old age. Despite the precautions taken, the curse is fulfilled (accidentally, in most versions of the story) and the princess does indeed sleep for a century, after which a prince awakens her. Although a good fairy is able to alter the spell, the princess is doomed to sleep (along with the court) for 100 years.
Uninvited is an evil fairy, who shows up anyway, and curses the child with death on her 16th birthday. The original story is as follows: When a baby girl is born to a King and Queen, they invite seven (or, in the Grimm version, twelve) Fairies to the christening. While the Charles Perrault version of the tale is given as the source, there are new variations. However, like it's predecessor "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) which was Disney's first fairy tale, as well as his first full-length film, this screen adaptation of "Sleeping Beauty" strays from it's origins. But time has been kind to the film, subsequent reissues have finally put it in the profit margin, and both viewers and critics are appreciating it for the beautiful fantasy it has always been. The extra expense needed to showcase the widescreen film properly, together with the lukewarm reviews, prevented "Sleeping Beauty" from turning a profit at the box office when it was released (with much fanfare) in 1959. Also new and trend-setting was the style of the animation-a more realistic, geometric design which, surprisingly left many critics and audiences cold. The six-track magnetic stereo sound was a step upward from the "Fantasound" system employed in "Fantasia" (1940). The widescreen Technirama 70 process had never been used for an animated feature. The then-record budget (six million dollars) was the largest ever for an animated motion picture. "Sleeping Beauty" was envisioned by the great Walt Disney as his masterpiece-the feature-length cartoon par excellence.
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