MALEFICENT – The Review

MALEFICENT gives audiences a glimpse behind one of the most beloved fairy tales of all time, SLEEPING BEAUTY, as shown through the eyes of its villain. Is it enough to enchant its viewers?

MALEFICENT takes us on the journey into the legend behind the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty that we have all grow to love and know. Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) was actually a good-natured fairy in charge of protecting her magical kingdom. Somewhere along the way Maleficent finds true love in a young boy named Stefan, only to be betrayed by his quest for power. Driven by revenge, Maleficent places an irrevocable curse on Stefan’s firstborn daughter Aurora (Elle Fanning). As the child begins to grow, Maleficent’s jaded heart begins to melt, and her love for the girl she set out to hate begins to take over. Unfortunately, as her cold heart begins to grow warm, there is no escaping the curse she bestowed upon young Aurora, and she is destined to fall into a sleep like death unless true loves kiss awakens her.

Let me start off by saying that Angelina Jolie was the perfect person to play the role of Maleficent. She does an incredible job of portraying both a villain, and a heroine at the same time. Her duality is beyond impressive. Although I felt that the film lacked a character as strong as her, I felt that her performance was more than enough to carry the film. The role of Sleeping Beauty was not a shining role in this film, so I felt that Elle Fanning didn’t really have a chance to make her character her own. She was great, but in the grand scheme of things her role was secondary. They didn’t let the character of Sleeping Beauty adequately develop, or grow as a character. She was a boring placeholder. The same goes for the character of Stefan, played by Sharlto Copley. Although we see a glimpse of how his treacherous act drove him into a life of insanity, we don’t really see his struggles of growing up in poverty, nor do we see the man he came to be because of his circumstances. Audiences would really benefit to see how he came to the drastic decision to betray his one true love in such a vile way. How can we understand why exactly he would choose to betray the one true person that has loved him against all odds without a proper backstory? He is a great actor that was not utilized properly in this film.

I get that this film was originally intended for children, but when they decided to take a turn and focus on the dark, more adult aspects of this fairytale the CGI lost me. The beginning of MALEFICENT looks like a cheesy children’s film, whereas the rest of the film concentrated on darker, more dynamic imagery. These two do not blend well. Robert Stromberg, who makes his directorial debut, had an incredible amount of pressure to create a mind-blowing, dynamic film since he comes from a visual effects background, and was the production designer for OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, ALICE AND WONDERLAND, and AVATAR. He did not, however, deliver. The set design of MALEFICENT looks hokey and fake. The gnomes and fairies of the beginning world look like they could have easily been pulled from a made for TV movie. You worked on AVATAR! Did you really think that audiences would expect these half-assed CGI effects?

WARNING : SPOILER ALERT

There is one thing that I will stick up for when it comes to this film. I am sick of critics throwing out the rape-revenge theory of this film. Yes, Maleficent endures a violation that breaks her heart and ultimately changes who she is, but this is not of a sexual nature. Is this a violation? Sure. Keep in mind that this is a children’s movie, and in no way does anything sexual happen. Despite her wings being ripped off (so that her love can convince the dying King that she is dead and inherit the throne), this is not a sexual violation. Sure, something precious was taken from her, and I can get where this theory is coming from, but you kids are digging a little too deep. What ever happened to taking a movie for what it is, without throwing too much meaning into it? If this were the story of a male fairy seeking revenge after his lover stole his wings we would not be having this conversation. Does this stem from the fact that Disney has, yet again, strayed from the formula of the handsome prince coming to the rescue? Perhaps. Now that the strong female leads are taking center stage, it feels like there is a little bit of a revolt coming forward. Sure, Maleficent transformed into the villain that we all know her to be because her heart was broken, but a prince did not fix her broken heart. The love of another human being did. The love of a girl who could have potentially been her daughter broke the spell. We, as females, can all relate to feeling a desire for revenge after heartbreak. It’s human nature. Men feel it too. The fact that they show the downfalls of acting on raw emotion… that is where the true story lies. The concept of the good and evil sides of a villainous character has played a serious backseat to this ridiculous “rape / revenge” concept that people are talking about, and it’s a shame. If anything, this should be used as an example of how revenge is never the answer, no matter how badly your heart is hurting. I’m proud of Disney for reinventing the fairytale, and providing little girls with stories of self empowerment. Besides Angelina Jolie portraying the perfect Maleficent, this is the only other good thing that I can truly say.

If you are going to attack this film, attack it for its poor secondary character development and tacky CGI intro. Don’t attack this film for taking a chance to reinvent a classic fairytale into something that girls today can now relate to.

The film stars Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville. “Maleficent” is produced by Joe Roth and directed by Robert Stromberg, with Angelina Jolie, Michael Vieira, Don Hahn, Palak Patel, Matt Smith and Sarah Bradshaw serving as executive producers. Linda Woolverton wrote the screenplay.

Overall Rating : 3 out of 5 stars… because Angelina Jolie is incredible

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MALEFICENT ENCHANTS THEATERS MAY 30