Movies Like Sleeping Beauty

Frequently asked about Sleeping Beauty

Common questions people search for, with answers written by us at MoviesPack.

• What curse does Maleficent place on Princess Aurora?▾

  At Aurora's christening, Maleficent curses the infant princess to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die before sunset on her sixteenth birthday. The good fairy Merryweather softens the curse so that Aurora will fall into a deep sleep instead of dying, able to be awakened only by true love's kiss.

• Why are there only three good fairies instead of the original four invited to the christening?▾

  The king and queen invite three good fairies — Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather — not four. In Disney's telling this is simply the established number of benevolent fairies in the kingdom. The three fairies each bring a gift: Flora gives the gift of beauty, Fauna gives the gift of song, and Merryweather uses her gift to soften Maleficent's curse into sleep rather than death.

• How do the fairies try to protect Aurora from the curse?▾

  The three good fairies take Aurora into the forest under the alias Briar Rose and raise her as a peasant girl for sixteen years, keeping her hidden from Maleficent and away from any spinning wheel. They also persuade the king to ban all spinning wheels in the kingdom and have every wheel collected and burned. Despite these precautions, Maleficent's magic ultimately leads Aurora to a hidden spinning wheel in the castle on her sixteenth birthday.

• How does Prince Phillip defeat Maleficent at the end of the film?▾

  After Maleficent traps Prince Phillip in her dungeon, the three good fairies free him and give him the Shield of Virtue and the Sword of Truth. Maleficent transforms herself into a massive dragon to block his path to the castle. Phillip hurls the Sword of Truth, blessed by the fairies' magic, directly into Maleficent's heart, killing her and allowing him to reach Aurora and break the curse with a kiss.

• What happens to the rest of the kingdom when Aurora falls under the sleeping curse?▾

  When Aurora pricks her finger and falls into the enchanted sleep, the three fairies cast a spell of slumber over the entire castle so that everyone — the king, queen, knights, and servants — sleeps alongside her. This ensures that when Aurora eventually wakes, she will not find herself alone in a kingdom that has aged and moved on without her.