Maleficent [M]

Before she cursed the infant Princess Aurora, Maleficent was a kind-hearted woodland fairy who fell in love with a human boy from the rival, neighbouring kingdom. But the boy grew into a man and became consumed with a desire for power. In order to become king, he drugged poor Maleficent and cut off her wings. We know what happened next, but what we didn’t know is that Maleficent and Aurora developed a special bond during that sixteen-year lead up to the curse’s fruition. 

As I understand it, there is an infatuation at the moment with making darker remakes of classic fairytales. With the success of Snow White and the Huntsman, how could there not be really? It’s sort of like what Marvel did when the green light for The Avengers was lit: suddenly movies for all the characters in the Avengers were being made because there was reason. For me, I was deadly excited to go see a film that was shaped in trailers as being the Sleeping Beauty story told from Maleficent’s perspective. What I got was half and half. As with most of the movies coming out this year, Maleficent suffered from flimsy and unstable writing, but I think the bigger folly comes in the form of creative control on Disney’s part. As a Disney production, I suppose we can understand why a darkened and sinister version of the classic animated feature (which was creepy enough when you really think about it) was a tad undesirable. But seriously, the war-torn scorned lover story really butted heads with the sugared ‘twist’ on true love’s kiss and to me, it seemed like the movie took a cheap shot and reused the end of (spoiler alert) Frozen. I’m a lover of Disney and a lover of villains and I’m here to say that this movie tries to achieve both and really highlights the truth that it really can’t be done, at least not without the aid of animation. 

Before she cursed the infant Princess Aurora, Maleficent was a kind-hearted woodland fairy who fell in love with a human boy from the rival, neighbouring kingdom. But the boy grew into a man and became consumed with a desire for power. In order to become king, he drugged poor Maleficent and cut off her wings. We know what happened next, but what we didn’t know is that Maleficent and Aurora developed a special bond during that sixteen-year lead up to the curse’s fruition. 

Well, I’ve had my rant and pretty much all that is wrong with the film can be found in there. I don’t want to rant too much because I risk giving away key plot points and entirely ruining the film for everyone (which I probably have already done, but anyway). Instead of ranting further on all that was wrong with this film, let’s turn our attention to what was right with it… 

I must admit that I’m not a fan of Angelina Jolie, I have nothing against her personally I just don’t shine to her. But I do have to admit that the casting choice of her as Maleficent was spot on. Her already pronounced cheekbones and wide eyes could very well have made her the only candidate for the role and she delivers a relatively captivating performance that gets batted with a lot of emotional charges so fair play to her! The scorned/cheated lover worked well for Mila Kunis’ Wicked Witch of the West so why not for Jolie’s Maleficent? And Angelina does have this strikingness about her. 

The script could have been better, though I have to admit that I did enjoy the word-for-word rendition of the infamous curse scene. I think Angelina grandiosed it up a bit too much, but the venom and the words were there so I did like that. 

Starring Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple Sam Riley, Kenneth Cranham, and Brenton Thwaites, Maleficent was a bit of a disappointment of a film I have to admit. Believe me, I really want to say that it was good or at least fine, but writing and limitations of the studio’s creative control (I think; that’s what it felt like) really brought it down. I wouldn’t recommend wasting dollars at the cinema; if you’re still slightly intrigued, wait until the DVD release.