Sleeping Beauty Blu-Ray

I haven't yet bitten the bullet and bought a Blu-Ray player, but as the list of available titles grows, I'm getting more and more...eager.

This past week, Disney released a souped-up edition of "Sleeping Beauty." According to the New York Times DVD Column this past week, the film was originally shot in Super Technirama, with an Aspect Ratio of 2.55:1.

Films with unusually wide aspect ratios (like "Ben Hur" for example) always make for interesting viewing on TV. Sometimes the letterboxes themselves occupy much more of the screen than the actual frame. It must be stunning to see a picture that wide in a venue like the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.

I'm pretty sure Disney must have re-released "Sleeping Beauty" sometime in the 80's because I have a distinct memory of going to see it in the cinema with my parents. I don't believe I've seen it since.

This may seem a little off-topic, but I've always been a huge fan of hand-drawn animation. You can really see the sweat that goes into moviemaking in every frame.

-Dave Boyle