Maleficent

I'm not French, this is my favourite poster for the movie

I have never seen such hype for a live action fairy tale-fantasy movie like this since Snow White & the Huntsman (which I personally don't like)! Starring Hollywood starlet Angelina Jolie as the title character, this movie shows the tale of the Disney 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty, but from the perspective of the infamous villain, Maleficent, this time portrayed as the protagonist and a tragic character. Also starring Elle Fanning (Dakota Fanning's younger sister) as Princess Aurora & written by Beauty & the Beast screenwriter Linda Woolverton, this movie instantly got both it's lovers & haters ever since the first trailer & promotional photos came out mostly because of Jolie's casting. Now that this has finally came out for the whole world to see, will this movie be as beautiful as the 1959 classic, or will this movie put you in an eternal slumber from boredom? Let's find out! By the way, this one won't have spoilers like my Frozen review!

Story: When it comes to plot, you'd expect it to just be the same story of Sleeping Beauty but from Maleficent's perspective, like Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Well, yeah kind of, but boy do they change a lot of it! Heck, the only scene remained intact from the 1959 movie is Aurora's christening when Maleficent curses her, and even then she's the one to add the True Love's Kiss part of the spell! And she's not the one to turn into a dragon at the climax, which felt shoehorned in by the way to try & be faithful to the original movie, which I was really disappointed with! Anyway, this version shows Maleficent as a fairy (yes, in the original movie she was a fairy) & how she became evil after Stefan (Aurora's father & the actual villain of his story) took her wings to fake her death so he could become king, with the rest of the movie following the Sleeping Beauty story, as well as the relationship between Aurora & Maleficent over the years. The concept is actually good, but the issue I have is the execution. The movie feels like it's trying to cram in way too much into 90 minutes which makes some parts feel underdeveloped & rushed, like Maleficent as a child at the start, her relationship with Stefan & Aurora's life in the forest with the three fairies. By the way, the romance between Aurora & Philip is virtually non existent, but you could make a very slim argument that it was intentional as it's not the focus of the movie. The best way to describe it is the basic plot of Wicked but with Sleeping Beauty with little a bit of Cinderella mixed into it. Another issue I have is the inconsistency of the narration, as Aurora's narration often comes & goes & is used to explain things instead of just showing them to us as the movie doesn't have time to because of it's restricted time of 90 minutes (this was probably due to the reshoots & this movie is an example of how obvious it is that they did that due to the inconsistencies mentioned)! If it had an extra 30 minutes or so, it could've been that much better! Another problem I have is the morals. Listen up, the movie is trying to show a sympathetic side to Maleficent rather than the menacing villain she's famous for. That's fine & all, but all it did was show a basic black & white perspective on the good vs plot, but the roles being reversed. But there's one thing I absolutely loved: the twist (you'll only know it if you've seen the movie, like I said no spoilers) & the last 30 minutes or so were done pretty well & are finally when you can get into it (except for the dragon this time round being Diaval instead of Maleficent). And it is nice seeing the relationship between Aurora & Maleficent compared to the Disney movie where they never ever interacted together once, and it can get pretty heartwarming to watch. Honestly, I feel like I've been lied to as the advertising made it out to be a prequel/spin-off with showing how Maleficent became evil, but the final product ended up being a botched up remake of the 1959 film.

 

Visuals: Yeah, there's no denying the visuals of this movie are amazing! The production & costume designs are so so beautiful to look at! They really remind me of the 1959 film including the colours of the fairies, the cottage they live in, King Stefan's castle & of course, Maleficent's costumes & magic. They obviously take a gothic/dark twist to them while still having that Disney fantasy look to them. The flying scenes with Maleficent as a fairy at the start & climax are just beautiful with the camera movements making you feel like you're flying with her, kind of like How To Train Your Dragon. The designs of the creatures where Maleficent lives are just beautiful with the CGI being used very well, and the environment is so colourful & thankfully, the movie does take time for you to sink it all in. The cinematography is also really good, with the use of lighting being well used, especially during the famous kiss & when Aurora pricks her finger on the spindle of the spinning wheel. Another part I love is the use of slow motion as it's used effectively, including scenes where Maleficent has to drag both Aurora & Philip while floating in mid air, which is actually a pretty cool effect. The scope with the castle & forests are all beautiful to look at & it does feel like a fairy tale environment that Disney would come up with. The only issue I really have is the CGI faces of the actresses as the fairies! They have that uncanny valley look to them which felt really disturbing to watch! Despite that, this is easily the best part of the movie & are what you'll remember it most for, next to Angelina Jolie's performance of course!

Characters: Maleficent in this version is a fairy who protects the moors until Stefan takes her wings & has a vendetta against all humans for destroying her world, which is a pretty legitimate reason as to why she becomes evil, specificially, with Stefan due to being in love with him for years (yeah, you kind of see it coming as it takes up the first 5 minutes of the movie). Angelina Jolie's performance is easily the best part of the movie & she does have a chance to be both over the top & have emotional scenes, both of which she does perfectly. Despite that, her motivation for being evil is just the same as Theodora from Oz: The Great & Powerful & she's just too good for her 360 change to be realistic after Stefan castrates her wings off her. Aurora is pretty much the same beautiful young princess from the Disney movie, except surprisingly not as boring to watch. It felt nice seeing more of her fun & spunky side as she barely had any screen time in the original. But still, I felt like they focused on her being more pretty than anything else. The 3 fairies, this time named Knotgrass, Flittle & Thistlewit (why?) have been completely butchered into bad comedy reliefs doing slapstick & are just intolerable. They don't serve as much to the plot as they did in the original & they are actually pretty bad looking after Aurora (seriously, she nearly falls off a cliff as a toddler at one point & they never even notice). Prince Philip is the same generic boring nice prince like he is in the original & doesn't even appear until the last 20 minutes of the movie! King Stefan, now the villain, becomes paranoid & insane after stealing Maleficent's wings believing she's coming for him after she curses Aurora. It is actually a very interesting take for Disney when it comes to villains, but I wish he had more screen time to see him gradually become insane instead of immediately seeing him be insane after Aurora is taken to be raised in the woods. Now is there anyone I forgot...oh yeah, Diaval! This time the raven is turned into human by Maleficent & is her confidant/spy for her, & I surprisingly enjoyed him as he also becomes her moral conscience during the movie as he sees her start to care for Aurora. They are not the worst or most boring characters, but some need a little bit more development/screen time to make them a bit more interesting (besides Maleficent).

Overall, it may be a mixed bag, but it's still pretty passable for what it is. The visuals are gorgeous & Angelina Jolie's performance are amazing, but the plot & characters fall flat due to the restricted screen time & the fact that it attempts to be so much like the 1959 film despite it being horribly retconned. If it had that extra 30 minutes, it would've been that much better! That's the sad part cos the plot has so much potential to be more developed! I would probably recommend this to those who love fantasy adventure versions of fairy tales like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Snow White & the Huntsman & Oz: The Great & Powerful, or even those who are fans of Sleeping Beauty to watch it at least once as it is actually worth seeing on the big screen. With the live action Cinderella & The Jungle Book movies coming out next year, let's hope that they learn to come up with a compromise in both story & visuals instead of the visuals being eye candy with no effort put into the plot!
Story: 3/10
Visuals: 10/10
Characters: 4/10
Overall: 5/10