Sleeping Beauty (1949 film)

Sleeping Beauty (also known as Krasavitsa spyaschaya in its original Russian title) is a 1949 Soviet animated feature film directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and produced by Soyuzmultfilm. The film is based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale of the same name, "La Belle au bois dormant," as well as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Sleeping Beauty.

The story follows Princess Aurora who, cursed by an evil fairy Carabosse, will prick her finger on a spindle and die on her sixteenth birthday. A good fairy mitigates the curse, changing death to a hundred-year sleep. On Aurora's sixteenth birthday, the curse comes to pass. A century later, a brave prince awakens her from her slumber with a kiss, breaking the curse and restoring the kingdom to its former glory.

The animation style of Sleeping Beauty is characterized by its lush, richly detailed backgrounds and character designs. The film makes extensive use of rotoscoping, a technique where animators trace over live-action footage, to create realistic movement. The film is known for its vibrant color palette and intricate choreography, heavily influenced by ballet.

Sleeping Beauty received critical acclaim upon its release and is considered a landmark achievement in Soviet animation. It is praised for its artistry, storytelling, and faithfulness to both the Perrault fairy tale and Tchaikovsky's ballet score. The film has been released internationally in various dubbed and subtitled versions and remains a classic of animated cinema.