As a child, you can only dream of where Snow White, Peter Pan, and Cinderella came to life. At that time, few would have guessed that nestled on the Disney lot in Burbank, California, animators gathered in the Inking and Painting building to draw what would likely become another of the company’s iconic characters. In the documentary, “Waking Sleeping Beauty,” director Don Hahn allows you past the studio security gate and inside a renaissance time in Disney’s animation department.

The film looks back at the decade of Disney animation from 1984 to 1994. In the mid-1980s, the once celebrated animation studios faced on uncertain future as a string of box office disappointments made executives weary of new cartoon projects. Yet, Roy Disney, Walt’s nephew and a member of the board of directors, wouldn’t give up on the flagging animation department and brought in a new group of young executives including Michael Eisner (from Paramount), Jeffrey Katzenberg, and animation president Peter Schneider.

Continue reading →