Two of the men are killed by this creature while one escapes with one of the little mushroom fairies. They are stopped and attacked by a creature with large horns. The man grabs for them, and he manages to get a few. Three men approach a tree where little mushroom fairies are hiding. Maleficent has a buddy cop sort of thing going on with her raven, Diaval, which is quite amusing.The film opens in the Moors. It’s a hauntingly beautiful update to the Disney classic. The song that plays over the credits is a cover of “Once Upon A Dream” sung by the aforementioned Lana Del Rey. Here, song is replaced by the much more sensible gift of happiness. In the original Disney movie, Princess Aurora gets the gift of beauty and the gift of song. Knotgrass is played by Imelda Staunton, who still looks like Dolores Umbridge in all that pink. The fairies have inexplicably been renamed Knotgrass, Thistlewit, and Flittle. Jolie even managed to match Eleanor Audley’s tone. A lot of the dialogue in the christening scene is taken directly from the animated film. They did a great job of matching Disney’s original Sleeping Beauty which is particularly impressive, given how stylized that movie is. Have I mentioned how ridiculously beautiful the movie was? It honestly might be the straight up prettiest live action movie I’ve ever seen. Making cameos in the movie are Pax and Zahara (spot them as the only non-white children in the christening scene). Also taking you out of the movie is Angelina Maleficent declaring that she doesn’t like children. I will say Young Aurora is played by Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, which takes you a bit out of the movie. And she handpicked Lana Del Rey to sing the theme. She managed to portray a complicated character while wearing prosthetic cheekbones, crazy contacts, and horns. This movie has flaws, but Jolie is not for a second one of them. She revels in her evil smiles, which she has down pat. ![]() Then again, Fraggle Rock terrified me, so maybe I’m not the best metric. Older kids should be fine, but this movie would’ve terrified me when I was little. I can’t be the only one who saw the taking of Maleficent’s wings as an allegory for rape, can I? In addition, some of the visuals are decidedly dark and scary. the antics of the fairies, the sing-songy female narrator), while other facets of the movie are decidedly more grown-up in tone. Parts seemed geared toward a young audience (i.e. In terms of appropriate age range, again, I have to say Maleficent is somewhat unfocused. Is it about the nature of love? The strength of redemption and change? The power hatred and fear can hold over us? Or is it just about enjoying some popcorn and Angelina Jolie’s razor cheekbones? While it is a beautiful experience, the movie lacks thematic direction. Instead, she’s a complex character who makes mistakes. I was a little afraid the movie would just make up a whiny backstory and turn one of Disney’s greatest villains into an overly tropey tragically misunderstood victim. The film shows quite clearly that cursing Aurora was The Wrong Thing To Do. I really appreciated that the movie provided reasoning for Maleficent’s actions without excusing them. This is particularly problem in the beginning once Aurora grows into Elle Fanning, the movie becomes much more cohesive. That’s a lot of material to go through in a relatively short time, which is probably why there are parts of the movie that feel as though they’ve been ripped apart and stitched back together a dozen times. The film spans the time from Maleficent’s childhood until the end of the classic Sleeping Beauty tale. Fingers crossed for Cinderella, out next spring. Following the truly terrible 101 Dalmations in 1996 and Tim Burton’s bizarre take on Alice in Wonderland (2010), all Maleficent had to do to please me was to not be terrible. It doesn’t even have a direct to DVD sequel! And so Sleeping Beauty becomes the latest victim participant in Disney’s let’s take a popular animated film and make it live action endeavor. Why go to the trouble of creating something brand new when you can take something old and make money off it? Sleeping Beauty is one of Disney’s oldest franchises (the original, animated movie came out in 1959) and is also one with the most untapped potential. (A spoiler free review)ĭisney has never and will never be accused of under-utilizing a brand. ![]() Visually stunning but more than a little unfocused, Maleficent is a beautiful way to spend an afternoon, but not much more.
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