Waking Sleeping Beauty 2009

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's a not-so-great movie about some great movies. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: It could have been comfortably twice as long. But what's there is an unusual peek inside the Mouse House, one delivered by a director who seems to love the studio without letting that cloud his judgement. Read more

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Even in its sanitized state, this movie about the generational revolt that reinvigorated Disney's animation department in the 1980s and '90s is fascinating Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The joy of cartoons meets the agony of office politics in this fascinating, inside- Hollywood-baseball documentary about how Disney, against all odds, revived the art of feature-length drawn animation. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It's got a terrific inside Hollywood sensibility plus an unblinking candor that lets the chips fall where they should. Which, given who made it, is something of a pleasant surprise. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: A few too many industry asides, but filled with behind-the-scenes moments. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Waking Sleeping Beauty doesn't have as much behind-the-scenes juice as you'd hope. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Whatever happened, happened. The fact remains that those years were revolutionary, and if not for them, it's a good question whether Pixar, DreamWorks and the other animation production sources -- and Disney Animation itself -- would still exist. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The movie turns from good to great as the layers are peeled away and director Hahn provides an insider's look at the creative epicenter of the studio. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: The film's tendency to wax sentimental occasionally undermines its authority, but you won't find better behind-the-scenes looks at the era's mouse-eared power struggles or at the making of modern Disney classics. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Waking Sleeping Beauty covers a dream era in the history of animation, but it could have delved a little deeper to keep us wide-eyed and engaged. Read more

Ernest Hardy, Village Voice: A documentary about the lucrative rebirth of Disney's animation arm between the years 1984 and 1994, it's a warts-and-all tale of clashing egos and the eternal war between art and commerce. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: More Belle, more Ariel, more Simba -- and less of Eisner and Co. -- would have made a more interesting movie. Read more