Educational Media Reviews Online

Sleeping Betty presents a “new” take on the traditional story of “Sleeping Beauty.” As with the Perrault classic, the viewer is treated to a sleeping heroine, surrounded by distressed courtiers, as attempts are made to awake her.

Drawn and presented in beautifully bright, colored line drawings, the animation will surely present a vivid and visually arresting imagery for students; elements of three dimensional-looking art will surely provide a wonderful “show” for children and interested viewers. While the format will draw students into the film, the narrative might be confusing for some audiences.

Caricatures of professions and historical characters are presented in their attempt to rouse Princess Betty. The courtiers (including Henry VIII, Queen Victoria, representations from playing cards, and phantasmagoric characters) watch as a stereotyped doctor, a witch, and others fail to rouse Betty. A Prince Charles of Wales character travels to Betty’s beside, and is shown encountering mild, conventional obstacles along the way. The narrative beautifully evinces some mild concern from the characters that the prince might awake Betty, but in the end the princess is only roused by her alarm clock.

For contemporary classroom or home educational settings, Sleeping Betty provides some evocative points for discussion. Foremost, the conclusion is certainly a topsy-turvy take on the classic tale, and surely nicely frames criticism of the fable: in this film, Betty needs no one to wake her up; one must consider that in setting the alarm, she has set her own schedule, so to speak, and no one is able to break her from her own self-dictates. And with criticism against and contemporary thought honing in on the empowerment and self-determination of children in general and young women in particular, Sleeping Betty presents a fresh attitude. Too, the introduction of historical characters presents a fine opportunity for discussion regarding them. Even the witch character is presented in “surprising” conditions: Our hag, while still conventionally “ugly,” means no harm and, bumblingly, tries to help.

Attendant to the film comes a lesson plan for Sleeping Betty/Isabelle au Bois Dormant in both English and French, which provides two classroom sessions of age-appropriate questions, such as asking students to compare other Grimm’s tales to the film as well as to team up and explain anachronistic, absurd, and humorous elements in the narrative as well as identifying famous people. In fact, the lesson plan might prove itself more useful than the bright and “fun”—though certainly slight—film itself. In fact, teachers may find that they could present such lessons in class by employing only the cherished texts without the benefit of the film itself.

There are a few other concerns with Sleeping Betty. Primarily, the film markets itself to 10-14 year olds, but this age range is on the one hand too young and too old. For instance, the youngest children may have no cultural grounding for the anachronistic elements (such as famous personages), but 14 year olds in contemporary Western society might scoff at viewing a remake of the “Sleeping Beauty” fable. Of less concern, but still pointed narrative elements, are the story’s fondness for (perhaps age-inappropriate) images of characters with axes or saws in their heads as well as the tiny but evocative point that, while only shown pretty much from the shoulders up in bed, Betty seems so terribly thin—a point educators might want to consider in a film that is, in essence, about young ladies’ self-empowerment.

That said, any pointed criticism of the somewhat slight Sleeping Betty is perhaps being too harsh. Overall, the film is an arresting, beautifully drawn and colored reworking of a conventional and well-known fable. Sleeping Betty is recommended for collections of literature and children’s literature.