50 Day Movie Challenge: Day 12

My 50 Day Movie Challenge!

For those just tuning in, while browsing the internet, I’ve come across posts from other bloggers doing 20, or 30 day challenges all about movies, so I decided to mash up a bunch of those questions and came up with 50 that I’m going to attempt to answer consecutively over the next month and a half (or so). If you’d like to try and do it too, feel free! I’ll post all the questions as I go along, and I hope you enjoy my answers!

Day 12: What is your favorite animated movie?

This could be a tricky question, because there are so many incredible animated films out there, but my favorite by far is Sleeping Beauty.

It’s one of Disney’s earliest “princess” films and for my tastes, it’s one of the best. The animation is hand-drawn, which, I’m sorry to all the tech fiends out there, is so much better than many of the current films being made. It just has so much wonderful detail and skill built into not only the characters and how expressive they are, but also the backgrounds and settings. It’s such a gorgeous affect. And I’m not saying I don’t like animated movies out today, because many of them are awesome, but I just feel like films with the detail of the older handmade illustrations have so much more life to them.

Now, what makes Sleeping Beauty my favorite above all those other, older, movies is the classic fairytale feel to the story. Even though the leading lady is not the most feminized or take charge of the bunch, I still like her, and the overall story. Also, this film has the best Disney Villain of all time, and one of the two best leading men Disney has ever created and the supporting cast is pretty spectacular too.

First there’s Maleficent. Who doesn’t love her as a villain? Even though they recently tried to redo her story and make her a sympathetic character, I like her much better as a wicked, evil fairy with no remorse, and the ability to turn into a kill-you-all dragon! She’s so much fun when she’s enacting her plans for revenge, and let’s face it, she’s pretty successful. If it weren’t for the stupidity of some of her minions, she might have actually won. (Also, she had to contend with a prince who actually knew what he was doing for once, and that doesn’t always happen in Disney films…)

So let me now bring this discussion around to one of my all-time favorite leading men. Can we just take a moment to appreciate how wonderful Phillip is? First he’s a go-getter. He sees a girl, admires her, and manages to win her over right away. Next when he’s threatened by a bunch of goblins or ogres (or whatever those things are) he actually holds his own pretty well — even when hopelessly outnumbered. And even then he’s not backing down. He rushes headlong into danger in order to save his princess, rides through fire, crumbling bridges, giant thorns, oh, and let’s not forget Maleficent, who transforms herself into a dragon and tries to eat him. I mean, after all that, he still wins the day and the girl. He’s the ultimate hero.

And yet, when it comes down to it, he wouldn’t have been as successful without the support of a certain trio. These ladies, who provide most of the comic relief in the movie, are the ones who enable the prince to be his most heroic self (providing him with a certain magic sword and freeing him from his chains, and all). I think they might be the real, deep down reason why this movie stuck with me as my favorite for all these years. Their bickering and facial expressions are priceless, and they all have personality for days. I love that even after happily-ever-after, they’re still fighting over pink or blue.

In the end, this fantasy has everything I want, dragons, swordfights, and a little true love to carry the day.

And that’s Day 12 for you!