Waking Sleeping Beauty: Critic Reviews

The joy of cartoons meets the agony of office politics in this fascinating, inside- Hollywood-baseball documentary about how Disney, against all odds, revived the art of feature-length drawn animation.

Sly retrospective exercise in corporate self-congratulation masquerading as an insider's tell-all.

Waking Sleeping Beauty covers a dream era in the history of animation, but it could have delved a little deeper to keep us wide-eyed and engaged.

More Belle, more Ariel, more Simba -- and less of Eisner and Co. -- would have made a more interesting movie.

A documentary about the lucrative rebirth of Disney's animation arm between the years 1984 and 1994, it's a warts-and-all tale of clashing egos and the eternal war between art and commerce.

A few too many industry asides, but filled with behind-the-scenes moments.

Whatever happened, happened. The fact remains that those years were revolutionary, and if not for them, it's a good question whether Pixar, DreamWorks and the other animation production sources -- and Disney Animation itself -- would still exist.

Even in its sanitized state, this movie about the generational revolt that reinvigorated Disney's animation department in the 1980s and '90s is fascinating

Waking Sleeping Beauty doesn't have as much behind-the-scenes juice as you'd hope.

It's got a terrific inside Hollywood sensibility plus an unblinking candor that lets the chips fall where they should. Which, given who made it, is something of a pleasant surprise.

Carries the mystique of Walt Disney, whose animated features can be regarded as a genetic line with ups and downs as compellingly dramatic as the history of royal families.

Combining honest commentary with archival footage, Waking Sleeping Beauty offers a refreshing look at a side large companies often steer clear of.

[Director Don Hahn's] interviews are used as voice-over to a lively mix of Disney film clips, behind-the-scenes footage and rare home movies taken by Disney staffers.

Featuring interviews with such luminaries as Tim Burton, John Lasseter, Don Bluth, Michael Eisner, the late Howard Ashman, the irascible Roy Disney and others, the film is a self-congratulatory dud.

A subpar movie about exceptional ones, and you won't really care who was responsible.

It's not one of those documentaries whose appeal stretches beyond people who are already interested in the subject, but animation buffs will eat it up.

[It] may not be thrilling, riveting viewing for some, but for animation fans, and for aficionados of Disney, the movie is must-see.

Instead, it's a fascinating look at how a group of talented, flawed individuals managed to pull together for a while and make some beautiful and lasting films. There's something kind of magical about that, too.

It's a not-so-great movie about some great movies.

Waking Sleeping Beauty will matter only to those who grew up on Walt Disney's animated films. In other words, all of us.

Feature animation had an explosively great year in 2009, so it's startling to be reminded in Waking Sleeping Beauty that it was all but dead 20 years ago.

It's a must-see for any Disney purist, but is also an emotive, stunningly valuable documentary in its own right.

The entire story is worked into a perfect success story package, concluding right before the studios more controversial period begins, which just goes to show, you can always have a happy ending, if you know where to stop the story.