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There will likely never be a more enjoyable documentary about Disney animators than Frank and Ollie](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/frank-and-ollie/1634/main?icid=movsmartsearch), Theodore Thomas’ 1995 film about two very close members of the famed Nine Old Men. As far as informative chronicles go, however, the new film Waking Sleeping Beauty](Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009) - Movie | Moviefone) is at least a fascinating continuation of the studio’s history and is every bit as captivating as its more recent predecessor and concurring account,* The Pixar Story](The Pixar Story (2007) - Movie | Moviefone)*. Whether you’re one of those hardcore Disneyphiles or merely a passive or nostalgic fan of the brand like myself, it’s an engrossing and entertaining journey back to a significant moment in the company’s past.
*Waking Sleeping Beauty *interestingly enough begins exactly as *The Pixar Story *does, with a home movie shot by animator Randy Cartwright as he tours the animation building in 1980 (introduction to a young, pouty Tim Burton gets an easy laugh). But while the earlier film quickly leaves the Disney lot with the firing of John Lasseter and the formation of Pixar, *Waking Sleeping Beauty *tells us what happened to the struggling department left behind. Specifically we’re given a peek at the Mouse House between 1984 and 1994, the decade of the Disney Animation renaissance (which arguably ended when Pixar released its first feature, Toy Story](Toy Story (1995) - Movie | Moviefone), through Disney in 1995, thereby re-converging these parallel film histories).