Sleeping Beauty

Something hit me in recent days. I've become a HUGE Disney fan again!

It's all thanks to my little sister. She is about 5 years old and in the perfect Barbie and Disney + princess age.
It was some time ago when we bought her the Bambi DVD which used to be my favourite movie when I was little.
After watching I just felt like crying, because of its profoundness.
I realized that people at that time were just so much different than people today. It was a time of war or right after war, hence the movies were earnest, profound and were still done with so much love.
Every scene was so thoroughly thought out. Everything had a sense and contained a message. Not just what the producers wanted to convey, no, it was the view of people at that time.

After this 'renaissance' I immediatly got Cinderella and Snow White (which is unavailable on DVD in this country and which I bought in China therefore) and I could immerse myself into that time.

Finally Disney released the 50th anniversary edition of Sleeping Beauty for which I waited so long.
I instantly bought it and it exceeded all my expectations.
When I was little Sleeping Beauty had never been my favourite Disney movie; I liked Bambi, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast much more.
Now I understand why I had always missed this one, because Sleeping Beauty is not a cute little story. Neither its art nor its plot.
Bambi has a serious story too, but animals are cute, children like them even without understanding much.
With Sleeping Beauty Disney went a completely new way, no longer did they draw cute supporting characters to extend movie length (like the mice in Cinderella), but concentrated on the main plot. That is why this movie is so serious and not 'fun' to watch.
And the most crucial yet groundbraking reason for Sleeping Beuaty's uniqueness is that it is like a moving illustration.
All backgrounds and animations are done in such a perfect way, every scene could be just out of a medieval painting. No longer do I have the feeling that this is an animated movie, but it is a medieval masterpiece that has come to life.

I will never get enough of this movie, it's a masterpiece, and unfortunately there will never be an animated movie on that level anymore in future; neither in artistic nor in storied aspects.