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Sleeping Beauty

Animated Feature Films

Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 Walt Disney Productions animated film adapting Charles Perrault's fairy tale, following a princess cursed at birth to fall into an enchanted sleep, and set to a score adapted from Tchaikovsky's ballet of the same story. The film is distinguished by a deliberately stylized, angular visual design, led by artist Eyvind Earle and inspired by medieval tapestries and Gothic art, a marked departure from Disney's earlier softer, rounder house style. Sleeping Beauty was extremely costly to produce and underperformed at the box office on release, a disappointment that led Disney to abandon further fairy-tale-based animated features for roughly three decades, though the film has since been reassessed as one of the studio's most visually accomplished works.

Facts
Classification
Original Language
English 1
Award
National Film Registry 2
Release Year
1959 1
Country
United States 1
FAQs

Is Sleeping Beauty in the National Film Registry?

Yes. Sleeping Beauty was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2019.

Yes. The Library of Congress complete National Film Registry listing includes Sleeping Beauty, the 1959 film, among the films inducted in 2019.
Connections

Created By

Walt Disney, Figures
Source Sleeping Beauty (1959 film) (Wikipedia)

In Medium

Animation, Media Forms
Source Sleeping Beauty (1959 film) (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases

Original Language

Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Sources
1. Sleeping Beauty (1959 film) (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead sentence, Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-09-12
    Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution.
  • Lead sentence, Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-09-12, original language
    Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution.
  • In Medium: Animation
View the Source
2. Library of Congress, National Film Preservation Board: Complete National Film Registry Listing
Library of Congress, National Film Preservation BoardNational Film Registry listing row: film released 1959, inducted 2019
Quote, National Film Registry listing row: film released 1959, inducted 2019
Sleeping Beauty 1959 2019
View the Source
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