Maleficent

I didn’t see a point in making a film based off Maleficent. But now I get it. It’s a story that caters itself to trending themes of fairy tales, classic story reboots, and most importantly, newly introduced morals to fairy tale scenarios. Maleficent isn’t necessarily evil, according to this film. She’s broken, looking for healing in the wrong places. I’ll go along with it for now.

Maleficent isn’t a bad movie. Far from it, it’s actually rather good. It takes themes that have been trending and introduces them in an unlikely place - through a villain who to me embodies the classic Disney baddie. It looks great, having some great sequences especially in the air, and some really great fight sequences that include one of the coolest dragons I’ve ever seen on screen. But it’s not without its problems. The biggest being that this magical world isn’t very magical to me. I was very conscious of the movie that I was watching, and the creatures, while imaginative, were too derivative of recent movies such as Oz: The Great and Powerful to feel original or organic.

But obviously no one is going to see this movie for anything except the effects and Angelina Jolie. And both are pretty top notch. In particular, any time Maleficent demonstrates any of her powers, its a special effects marvel. Sure, I’m pretty conscious of watching a movie screen. But it’s not unbearably so, and it works well enough to have a certain amount of my suspended disbelief. Angelina Jolie is dynamite, perfectly embodying the classic Disney villain while allowing her personality to come through enough to show herself having the fun. She’s a great casting choice, probably the perfect casting choice.

But there are problems with Maleficent. My biggest is the complete lack of explanation for Maleficent’s slow turn around. Is it really because of Maleficent’s heart and humanity…or is it the spell cast by the fairies? That leads to a pretty huge distinction in character. Then there’s the fact that the film is called Maleficent, but really didn't do enough to keep it from being Aurora’s story as it went on. Then there’s the admittedly beautiful but unbelievably predictable outcome of the story, and it’s unfortunate considering the potential creativity in this film idea. It all works fine as is, but I was hoping for more.

I recommend Maleficent. But It’s definitely not one to have high hopes for. I understand the division of opinions, and while I edge toward the more positive side of the arguments, I can’t think of Maleficent as being as brilliant as it could have been.

Rank - 3/5