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Cannon Movie Tales are film adaptations of classic stories which were made in the late 1980s. Because the first, "Rumpelstiltskin" received mostly mediocre reviews (though it wasn't bad) the rest were never released theatrically, debuting on video instead. "Sleeping Beauty" is one of the lesser ones. It was directed by David Irving , who also directed "Rumpelstiltskin" and the worst one, "The Emperor's New Clothes". The script meanders all over the place, introducing two "Elves"(who stop the story dead in it's tracks every time they appear) and a silly subplot involving the lack of available spindles which only serves to introduce a tacky and irrelevant "production number" which is, by far, the worst of all the songs. The acting, by Morgan Fairchild (the Queen) and Tahnee (daughter of Raquel) Welch, is bland to the point of somnambulence. Only Sylvia Miles, as the Evil Fairy makes much of an impression, and she has only a few scenes. Most of the singing voices are dubbed, including Fairchild and Welch, who can't possibly have had a worse singing voice than the off-key substitute (Linda Lopresti) used for her songs, (or CAN she?) The sets and costumes evoke the proper mood,which, unfortunately, the script and direction consistently undermine. Producer Menahem Golen reportedly loved fairy tales, so how could he let them get away with this? It is watchable, but what a disappointment.

Really good.The opening 10 min are wonderful,but drags untill Fairy Red shows up and then it is pure fun.Kids will love it.I saw it on the Disney Channel in 95 or whenever it was last shown(It was a long time ago).The film has great songs and costumes my fav is either"Dare Me","Our clothes are worn and tattered",or"How Good It Is".Buy it now.You won't be dissapointed.

Elf (Kenny Baker) is told by his master to do some good for the kingdom. He decides to give a gift to the Queen (Morgan Fairchild). The Queen asks for a child and the Elf collects ingredients for a magic potion. The King throws a party for the new princess Rosebud and invites all nine fairies. However, they only have eight golden plates. The King invites everybody except for the Fairy of Red. She takes offense and curses the princess. At 16, Princess Rosebud (Tahnee Welch) will get prick by a spindle to kill her. The White Fairy is able to modify the curse to put her to sleep for 100 years until she's awaken by a prince. To stop the curse, the King decrees all spinning wheels to be destroyed.

This is a Golan-Globus production which means saving money is key. The sets look good enough. It is definitely not top level. The story is told in a very flat manner. The actors are professional but they aren't used well. The movie has no flow. It may be better served to get rid of the elfs and concentrate more on either the Queen or Rosebud.

I recorded this for my 9 y-o daughter so she could watch it. She hasn't moved from watching it ....about an hour ago!

The cast is good. There isn't a whole lot of dialog. The music is synthesized (not a true orchestral soundtrack) So...if that bothers you, like it does me....be forewarned.

The songs are mediocre at best. If you have a musical "ear", the songs (and the singing) will sometimes make you cringe.

On the up-side, the scenes are beautifully shot. Very colorful and the costumes are wonderful.

However, like I said....it's a good movie for the little ones.

Cannon Movie Tales tackles Sleeping Beauty, with Raquel Welch's daughter Tahnee in the title role. I think this might be her biggest part outside of the Cocoon movies, where all she had to do was look good. That's saying something since she doesn't show up in this until about the halfway point. Before that, it's all set up with her parents and elves and fairies and singing. Directed by David Irving (brother of Amy), the rest of the cast includes Morgan Fairchild as Sleeping Beauty...err, Rosebud's mother the Queen, David Holliday as the King, Jane Wiedlin and Sylvia Miles as good and bad fairies respectively, Kenny Baker and Shaike Ophir as elves, and Nicholas Clay as the Prince who awakens her with a kiss. Yes, Sleeping Beauty's name is not Aurora here but Rosebud. I prefer that since it allows me to view the ending to Citizen Kane in a whole new light.

For the most part, I enjoyed this. It's not perfect, of course, and it doesn't compare to the animated Disney classic. It's not even the best of the Cannon Movie Tales series. But thankfully it's also not the worst. As with the others, the biggest issue (besides the low budget that means we have cheap sets and costumes and special effects) is that they take a short story and stretch it to the breaking point. The best part of the movie are the really cheesy songs, many of which are (unintentionally?) funny. The song about ripped pants (I kid you not) had me rolling. The cast does a fine job. Most of them are playing it up like they are in a kids movie. It's not very good but it's worth a look for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are the corny songs.