There aren’t many things I remember from my childhood.  The memories I do have come in bits and pieces.  While some people can remember the names of their earliest teachers and childhood friends I’ve never had such an ability.  At best I get a feeling here, a small recollection of a trip there, just enough to assure me that my childhood did happen.  Here’s the story of one such snippet.

There was a summer during my elementary school years when I had a great morning routine.  My sister was taking care of my brother and I while mom worked and every morning it was wake up, get breakfast, pop in a video.  Our apartment was a place of joy and wonder as each morning I got to spend some time with my favorite animated movie.  It was the summer of Aladdin, which also makes it the summer of friggin’ awesome.  I loved that movie and watched it over, and over, and over, and over.  Eventually I grew up, became a man, and bought Aladdin on DVD so I could watch it over, and over, and over.  This happy time led to me being able to recall at least 95% of Aladdin word for word.  Every song, every scene, all of it.  If you’ve ever wondered why I proudly call myself a geek I give you exhibit A.

Aladdin and The (equally as awesome) Lion King hold very special places in my heart.  While they stand as the cherry toppers on the sundae of my childhood my whole past is littered with scoops of goodness with one consistent label: Disney.  I love Disney.  Or as the kids of today would say, I <3 Disney.  It was with this love that I came to be interested in a new documentary titled Waking Sleeping Beauty.

(Image from http://www.entertainmentgeekly.com)

There was no way I could have known about the issues plaguing Disney when I was a kid.  I didn’t care about anything beyond the stories and songs.  Beauty and the Beast, the aforementioned Aladdin and Lion King, even The Little Mermaid, my love for Disney in its golden era (which I believe it was) runs deep.  Through interviews, home videos, and many other first hand sources Waking Sleeping Beauty shows us the drama behind the magic.  Have you ever wondered what Michael Eisner or Roy Disney thought about their work?  As a kid I didn’t.  As an adult, hell yes.

So who wants to go to San Francisco with me to see this?  Documentaries aren’t exactly known for their widespread theater distribution so knowing that I am only two hours away from a screening fills me with glee.  March 26th can’t come soon enough.  <3

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