Waking Sleeping Beauty

Don't expect a hard-hitting, no-hold-barred expose (this is still Disney, after all), but this movie still has some fascinating insider tidbits about the Disney Renaissance. Worth a watch for any serious Disney fan.

Fascinating stuff, but a bit disjointed.

Fascinating look behind the scenes at the resurrection of Disney's animation department and what true movie magic is made of. A tad superficial when it comes to explaining the details of the formative years around 1987 and what really happened to ensure the great successes to come, but a must-see for any with movie history interest.

A well crafted insider look into the drama of Disney Animation Studios during the 80's and the perfect storm of creative awesome responsible for the 2nd Golden Age of Animation (i.e.. Little Mermaid - Lion King). Incredibly interesting to an animation fan such as myself, I could watch hours more of these people.....but probably only appealing to those interested in the subject.

I'm a sucker for origin stories and anything that show behind the scenes stuff in filmaking, so its no surprise I liked this film. Pretty tame and by the book, as far as docs go, but good fun if you want to see some great older footage from the Disney Animation Studios circa 1964 thru 1984.

"It twists, turns, and avoids unpleasant aspects of the Disney company, both immediate and historical." - Aaron Cutler

Jeffrey Katzenberg is such a douche. I'm an animation fanatic so I was obviously very interested in this. I felt that the ending was very abrupt though - Katzenberg's departure isn't nearly enough of a denouement to finish a movie with. For example, I would have liked some more insight as to why Pocahontas failed while Lion King succeeded, or some sort of comparison to the present and some reflection on how the studio's losses affected the animators.

Remember when Disney wasn't just out there to make money? Me neither, but this proves there was a time...a long time ago.

A surface level retrospective on the Disney's dark age following the death of Walt, leading up to its renaissance under Eisner and Katzenberg. While it isn't as comprehensive as one would hope, it's a good viewing for House of Mouse fans.