The travails and successes of Disney's famed animation department during the 1980's and 90's are featured in this lovingly curated documentary. "Waking Sleeping Beauty" is crafted by two insiders. They were there, man. Thus their filmmaking is as authoritative as can be. When they say Walt Disney's nephew Roy was not the buffoon that many perceived him to be but was in fact a sage man with a great heart and an unshakeable desire for Disney Corp. to return to making classic animated films, you believe them. They were there, man, and the footage presented bears this out (this documentary's director and producer are often in the frame). Viewers learn more than they likely ever wished to about former Disney President Michael Eisner (yay!) and former studio chairman Jeff Katzenberg (boo!). The struggles of the workaday animators are featured prominently. Some of the editing and voice-overs can seem choppy since the type of footage included (i.e. newsreel, Disney archival, super-8) varies greatly in quality but on the whole, "Waking Sleeping Beauty" is entertaining and thoroughly educational.
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