Waking Sleeping Beauty

Don Hahn

2009

Synopsis

By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn't care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It's the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits - "Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast ," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and more - over a 10-year period.

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Recommendations

91
The A.V. Club
A surprisingly intimate behind-the-scenes documentary.
88
Chicago Sun-Times
The most fascinating scenes in Waking Sleeping Beauty involve the infamous Disney work ethic. Friends of mine at the studio said the unofficial motto was, "If you didn't come in on Saturday, don't even bother to come in on Sunday."
83
Entertainment Weekly
The joy of cartoons meets the agony of office politics in this fascinating, inside- Hollywood-baseball documentary.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
The movie turns from good to great as the layers are peeled away and director Hahn provides an insider's look at the creative epicenter of the studio.
70
The Hollywood Reporter
Surprisingly hard-hitting and revealing. The topic is a bit specialized to draw a wide audience, but those who see the movie will definitely enjoy the intrigue depicted.
70
Village Voice
Tying it all together is Hahn's transparent love for the art of animation and for Disney--its history and once geek-heavy in-house culture. Hahn balances that love with a critical eye that allows him to sing the praises of unsung heroes while letting the a--holes hang themselves.
60
Time Out
The film’s tendency to wax sentimental occasionally undermines its authority, but you won’t find better behind-the-scenes looks at the era’s mouse-eared power struggles or at the making of modern Disney classics.
60
The New York Times
A sly retrospective exercise in corporate self-congratulation masquerading as an insider’s tell-all.

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