Sleeping Beauty

I was, VERY MUCH, reminded of the 1980's version of "The Clash of the Titans", in Special Effects, Acting AND Storyline. Not all, but most of the acting was awful, which is always possible to eek past if the writing is any good and the writing wasn't all bad... inconsistent, but not all bad. The special effects were somewhat sophomoric... again... a pass may be given in that I really loved the 80's version of The Clash of the Titans in spite of it. I told myself it was a little retro in that respect and rather an accidental, if not deliberate homage to Harryhausen. Whether or not it was didn't matter, in that is what I told myself throughout the movie and without that thought to cajole me along, I think I would have liked it much less. The zombies... were the worst of the bunch right after royal mama and papa's acting. Again, I made allowances as ... well... zombies are vacant so... why shouldn't their acting be as well? There is quite a bit of violence. And, often, very graphic, I wouldn't recommend it for young children. Aside from some of the 'acting', the directing seemed to be this movie's biggest problem. Some scenes were very choppy. Sadly, parts which would have been key to the story must have lay waste on the cutting room floor. There was often confusion during key dialogue. Someone would be talking but you never knew who was saying what as the camera was hardly ever on the person talking, during the castle siege. The story was certainly an interesting take on the classic. I find the introduction of zombies to be a new one on me... but current with this generation's trend toward fixation on them... so I get it. I did find it a bit lacking in the 'making sense' department. Certain things the baddie was capable of, in the end, could have... easily, been used as a means to an evil end all along... Think 'Dorothy's Ruby Slippers'... but I guess the writers missed that glaring "oops" and opted to create a whole lot of unnecessary fight scenes in spite of it.*SPOILER ALERT*... If she could order the 'undead' to kill Dawn for her... Why didn't she just do that 100 years ago? Did it really take 100 years and this particular group of adventurers to inspire her to come up with that solution? And if she was capable of seeing everything in her castle... how was she not able to see young Newt? And if she could conjure one dragon, why not 2? or 200? 6 guys wouldn't be able to get past that many at once or live to tell any tales about them either. Still... as the story goes, without these inconsistencies there would be no story so... Take a gulp and pretend it doesn't matter... after all... it IS fiction. It isn't a bad movie, I didn't hate it. It isn't really a good one, I didn't love it, but it IS mildly entertaining and a nice little jaunt from reality.. I liked it. It was certainly an original take on an old tale. Watching it once won't hurt. And much of the scenery is just stunning. A beautiful backdrop for a mediocre movie. At least... that part is worth a look.

Casper Van Dien's directorial debut is a triumph on all fronts. The Asylum has had a fair bit of success with retelling fairy tales in various ways- somewhat modernized (Jack The Giant Killer; pretty damn great) to full on horror (Hansel & Gretel; creepy as hell). This is probably their most faithful adaptation, and without a doubt their best film to date.Boasting the greatest score of their filmography, this movie starts perfectly. The slighted fairy Tambria curses Princess Dawn, and then fights three good fairies! She promptly kills them. That is how this movie opens! It's impressive and immediately grabs your attention. Thanks to solid directing, beautiful cinematography, and tight editing it thankfully never lets go.The bulk of the story takes place 100 years after Dawn succumbs to her curse, and involves a prince and his men trekking to the magical kingdom to save her from Tambria. This involves them fighting wyrms, zombies, booby traps, mind control spells, a sea monster, and themselves. It all works within the story surprisingly well, and the movie isn't afraid to go dark.The costumes are excellent and don't look like costumes, but actual period wear. The location shoot provides a great deal of production value, especially the castle. The stained glass windows are beautiful.This was a family affair as Van Dien not only directed but stars as the King, his real life wife the Queen, and eldest daughter Grace plays the titular beauty! His other children also have brief roles. Grace acquits herself amazingly, and is easy to buy as a headstrong but scared princess. Granted, she's sleeping through a large section. When she's awake though, she exudes natural charisma.Olivia D'Abo is the evil fairy Queen Tambria and makes for a wonderful villain. Shamelessly evil (thank goodness) she wields a badass attitude and is quite threatening ("Amazing Spider-Man 2" take notes! This is how an interesting villain is handled!). Finn Jones as Barrow, the whipping boy is excellent. His frustrations at his place in life is shown, but just below the surface, adding some nice layers. Edward Lewis French as stuck up, selfish Prince Jayson plays the cocksure bad boy to the hilt, but restrains himself before it becomes grating! Add on a nice twist reveal of his character's true motivation and you end up with a truly engaging ensemble of actors all playing complex and interesting characters.Composer Joseph Metcalfe, who has worked on other Asylum productions (and the awesome JCVD vehicle "Hard Corps"), outdoes himself, and wider, more mainstream released films with his score for this. Ephemeral, eerie, graceful, sweet, and everything else when needed, I can't recall a greater score to an Asylum film, nor one that is utilized so perfectly with the onscreen action.Having received it a few days after it's release, I was very excited once it arrived. I happened to have seen the two worst films of the year (so far) just days before turning this on. This low budget retelling of a classic fairy tale blows " Godzilla (2014)" & "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" so high out of the water it's remarkable! In a year in which the Asylum had already released some their most ambitious and well made productions to date ("Android Cop" & "Mega Shark Vs. Mecha Shark" are excellent) this is their best, by large and far. Real care and effort were extended to every end of the film, and it shows. Absolutely one of the best films of the year!

To be fair, if this was a project by a first time film student, then well done. For someone more seasoned, it definitely needs work. I get the feel someone rented a helicopter to shoot some scenery, borrowed some clothes from the anachronistic society, and perhaps even made some of the work in an Olive Garden parking lot with angles to make one think it was an old setting. I get it, it had a low production budget, so one had to make due. But looking past that, I see that the film attempted to use Finn Jones (Game of Thrones) as its green light. Well played; people will certainly identify him in such a role. However, his fate like many of the other actors in the script has conflicting dialogue. "We can't do this...let's do it anyway". Obviously, it wasn't a very thick plot noting it dotes on the classical story, but again, it simply isn't well produced. Noting the focus that was given to Finn's character, it should have spent a bit more on character development to make one want to identify with him as the protagonist. If not for the guessed intention of using Jones noting his notoriety in Game of Thrones, one would be spending time guessing who the hero was, except that his character borrows a bit from Cinderella in that he has a good heart and takes a beating. It's a challenge to make a film of this undertaking with a reduced budget. There are probably corners that could have been cut to make it more efficient such as removing the filming of the mountains, the CGI swamp thing, and such to spend the production in other areas, but as it is, it appears to be a novice creation. Granted, it attempted to make its spin using ghouls, lizard/dragon creatures, and fairies taking one for the team in revenge. However, these somewhat original takes on the story was not enough to safe the film.

Omg.....................what a load of rubbish. I bought the film for my love of fairy tails with the intention of watching it with a younger audience in mind as it's rated 12 on the description above, but to my shock there is the lightest of nudity in it but still unsuitable for children, the only thing I loved about the film was the scenery, that's magnificent and breath taking, as for the visual effects and the acting well the less said about that the better. DO NOT BUY THIS THINKING ITS SUITABLE FOR KIDS, ITS NOT EVEN THO ITS RATED HERE AS FOR 12, THE ACTUAL PACKAGING SAYS 15.

Not what I was expecting. I was hoping for something along the lines of Snow White and the Huntsman but the characters were all boobs and curls with modern make up and hair, poor costumes, dreadful music, I could go on but I didn't watch this to the end. I will be dropping it off at the charity shop. Sorry guys just not up to my expectations.

Not what I was really expecting (film wise), though a fantastic & unexpected twist. However, this is not a PG film - it’s a 15 certificate (due to some nudity).

So bad couldn't even watch it after about 10 minutes really bad, low budget, and I am a big fantasy fan. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

thank u for sending the d v d to us we like this one , hope 2 watch it again soon