The Sleeping Beauty (2010, R)

Not to be confused with the similarly titled Sleeping Beauty starring Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), this French film ( originally entitled La Belle Endormie) is a small twist on the original fairy tale.  It's in a slightly more modern setting, but that doesn't impact the film very much, especially at first.  The interesting thing about this story is that most of it follows the sleeping 6-year-old princess Anastasia (unconnected to the daughter of Czar Nicholas of Russia) through her dreams during her prolonged slumber.  It's kind of like Alice In Wonderland but a little less wacky or like The Wizard Of Oz minus the ensemble cast (there are other characters in this film, but the only main character is Anastasia).  Each dream or story segment often works as its own short story (the first one especially feels more like the climax of another story) and often feel like a classic fairy tale. 

The movie very much changes gears for the final segment after she wakes up 100 years later but looking 10 years older (not sure why the difference), at which point the film becomes more of a romance movie.

I found the main character immediately charming and likable when her idiosyncrasies were displayed (much like each of the characters in Amelie).  The stories and settings have a fun quality of fairy stories and often have dream-logic in which the character accepts unusual circumstances as a matter of course.  There's an element that curiously crosses over from the first sequence to the second, and I'm sure the possible reasons for this could be a topic of discussion/debate/theory.  Anyway, I like anthology films, and dreamlike films (Malice In Wonderland and What Dreams May Come are some of my favorite dreamlike ones), and this film seemed to hit all of those notes very well.  There was not much use of special effects in the film; hardly any was needed.  The fairy wand effect in the setup scene could probably be done on someone's laptop, but it didn't hurt the film at all.  The snow later on seemed pretty well blended in to the shot though.

If you liked Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic series, especially the volumes of one-off stories, then you'll like this film (especially the first majority of it).  If you liked The Wizard Of Oz/Alice In Wonderland, then you'll probably like this movie.  I'm pretty sure that the entire reason this film has an R rating is because of portrayal of the female form, which has implications in one scene of this film, but is actually quite tastefully done (no "action shots").  Well, a sex scene, but noone's naughty bits were shown during it.  For me, this film is a solid 4 stars.  I loved the earlier dream parts, but the final wakeful segment didn't do as much for me... I think it's the style of romance story that some love but I don't.  There might be cultural differences that made the barrier (I liked the romance in Amelie and Romantics Anonymous more).