Greetings,
I seem to remember a time when villains were just villains, and that was it. When stories and movies needed them, they came, did their villainy things, entertained us with those things and then left, one way or another. Well, those good times seem to be gone forever. Now every bad guy needs a back story, and I don't necessarily have a problem with that. Actually, I enjoy when they can be not as one dimensional as they have tended to be on several occasions in the past. I don't even mind all that much if they are made a little sympathetic. A LITTLE. Yeah, there has to be a line drawn, and with many films these days, including the new Maleficent, they didn't really think to do that.
So Disney's Maleficent is being touted as, basically, Sleeping Beauty from the villain's point of view. Obviously, that means she gets back story. Fine. And from the trailers and whatnot, you can easily see that Maleficent is about how she is who she is because she was wronged in some way. Again, fine. It makes sense. But the way in which she was wronged is so far beyond where I thought they would go. I found this to be a negative and a positive, if that's possible. Positively, I like the way that she has more of a reason for cursing Aurora than "What! You didn't invite me to your party?", though that is the reason for it in many different versions of Sleeping Beauty. Negatively, it's just one more incident of taking an amazing, strong-willed, female character and making it a statement about how women get broken so easily that one unforeseen moment will control the rest of their lives. Yeah, I think some of us are a little tougher than that...BOYS! Actually, in this case, I shouldn't say that, since they had nothing to do with it. Yes, I seriously cannot believe a woman wrote this screenplay.
Okay, the story. Without giving too much away, we see Maleficent as a child fairy with wings and everything. She lives in the magic land of The Moors, where all the, of course, magical creatures live. They are separated from the world of the humans and their bad, crooked king or whatever. Anyway, she grows up as the protector of The Moors, does battle with the king and then, eventually loses her wings. I assumed after that she would turn evil, but it's more like she's just jaded. Soon, Aurora is born and the curse thing happens, and then things just go nuts. By nuts, I mean that the story is so completely different from anything you might be thinking. Look, I expected some changes, naturally, but holy crap, this thing...I don't even know. And that's all I can say without being too spoilery.
So let's talk about some of the cast. Angelina Jolie as Maleficent. I am not a fan of hers for many, many, many reasons. I used to be a big fan of hers, but things happen. Still, I must say, she did a decent job here. She certainly looked the part, and she really did nail a great sinister sounding voice. A lot of high pitched "Hmmm"s, if you know what I mean. Then, there's Aurora played by Elle Fanning. Now, some vicious people were saying that she is "not beautiful enough to play Sleeping Beauty". Well, she doesn't look much like the one from the Disney animated movie, but that one looked about twenty-five years old. So, no, Elle Fanning does not look like her. She looks pretty and fresh and SIXTEEN! Because she is sixteen, as is Aurora, and this is what they're supposed to look like. Moving on. As far as her acting goes, I think she did a good job. Elle, I see as a young actress who is coming into her own, but who has a lot of potential to become great. She's proving it with roles like this.
We also get a Prince Phillip in this, played by Brenton Thwaites. He's barely in it, maybe two or three scenes, but he does fine for what he gets. One of the highlights, however, is a character named Diaval played by Sam Riley. He's the raven, but he becomes a shapeshifter, so he's a guy sometimes. This was a very enjoyable character to me. He was funny and even touching at times. Of all the changes made from the original, I'd say this was the best.
And now, more bad news. King Stephan played by Sharlto Copley. Wow, I despise what they did to his character in this movie. I know he was barely a character in the original, but if they wanted to increase his quantity, why could they not have improved his quality? They did not. But what was done to him has nothing on the fairies. HATE! HAAAAAATE! Remember the fairies from Sleeping Beauty? Remember Flora, Fauna and Merryweather who were funny, who took wonderful and vigilant care of Aurora, who, even though they bickered, still loved each other and were great friends? Well, forget that! They suck in this movie! Aside from the creepy CGI when they're tiny that is done on Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville, who do an okay job with the acting, for the record, these characters are totally different. Not in a good way. First, their names are changed to Knotgrass, Thistlewit and Flittle...why? I don't know. And they are just incompetent. Again, I won't go into detail, but their time of taking care of Aurora, whilst I think they meant it to be funny, was ridiculous. Just...no!
So will I say anything else good about Maleficent? Yes. I absolutely love how it looks. The visuals are breathtaking, and I didn't even see it in 3-D. It's colorful and huge and the landscapes are stunning. I give them an A on this part of it. It would have been an A+, but...creepy fairy CGI, as you remember. And, as much as the story bugs me, it was still interesting. You won't be bored in this film, and it's only about an hour and a half, so it finishes rather quickly. Would I recommend to see it in the theater? I suppose if you are really into the visual aspects of film, it is certainly one you would be wanting to see on the big screen. You really get to see everything that way. Otherwise, if you're not that interested, wait. It is worth, at least, one watch, but where and when you watch it is not such a big deal.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
