Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Movie Review

Yawn.

To King David (Casper Van Dien) and Queen Violet (Catherine Oxenberg) a child is born, heir to the throne, Princess Dawn. All of the kingdom is invited to celebrate the birth and bestow magical wishes upon the infant. Only one resident goes uninvited, and she appears to spoil the fun. Queen Tambira (Olivia d'Abo), avenging the shun, curses Dawn, stating that before her sixteenth birthday she will befall an injury by the tip of a spindle that will cost her her life. A counter-curse is placed on the princess, stating that rather than perish, the kingdom -- all but Tambria -- will fall into a great slumber until such a time that true love's kiss will awaken the princess and lift the curse. The king orders all spindles removed from the kingdom and a wall erected to keep them out. Sixteen years later, Dawn (Grace Van Dien) is tricked into poking herself on a spindle by none other than Tambria herself, disguised as a handsome bread delivery boy. Fast-forward one hundred years. The kingdom lies in ruin, and a team of adventurers embarks on a quest to reap the rewards of rescuing the fair princess and lifting the curse.

The happy couple.

Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sleeping Beauty features a typical Asylum transfer. In general terms, the transfer satisfies in every area. the HD photography offers very crisp and strikingly accurate and well-defined textures, notably fine facial lines and clothing seams. Colors are bright and cheery, even across some dreary and poorly lit backdrops. Black levels appear adequately deep and even, and flesh tones raise no alarms. The image does suffer from some minor issues. Spiky noise interferes from time to time. Skies frequently appear washed out. Distance shots lack the same sort of crisp, striking definition as their up-close counterparts.

Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sleeping Beauty sports a satisfactory DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track delivers smooth, well-defined, and spacious musical notes. Ambient effects are nicely enveloping, whether chipping birds or light wind. Action sound effects, such as blasting magical spells, are full and robust. Dialogue delivery is clear and focused through the front-center channel.

Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sleeping Beauty contains the usual Asylum extras, plus the added bonus of a deleted scenes section.

• "Making Of" Featurette (1080p, 8:08).
• Gag Reel (1080p, 1:28).
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 2:08).
• Trailers (1080p): Additional Asylum titles.

Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Purists will find much displeasure in The Asylum's Sleeping Beauty, but it satisfies as a generic Adventure film with familiar refrains and the usual small budget Asylum annoyances, like thrift store wardrobes and mediocre-to-poor special effects. On the plus side, the acting isn't atrocious and the film plays with a fair pace. The Blu-ray is technically sound. The video fares best in close-up shots and the soundtrack does what it must. Supplements are few and practically worthless. Rent it.