Maleficent

My family and I went out to Meadowhall in Sheffield and while we were there, shopping and scoffing food, we decided to go to the cinema.  Between the four of us, we wanted to see different films so we split off into pairs and my sister and I went to see Maleficent because it was different than the others films and I wanted to see how they were going to recreate this classic fairy tale that was part of my childhood when I was growing up.

Maleficent is the 2014 action fantasy film by Robert Stromberg and rewrites the history of the classic Disney villain.  Stars of Maleficent include Angelina Jolie (Salt, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) who doubles as an executive producer, Elle Fanning (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Super 8), Sharlto Copley (District 9, Elysium), Sam Riley (Control, On the Road), Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises, Atonement), and Lesley Manville (Another Year, Vera Drake).

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Fantasy fans; Disney fans

Favourite Characters: Diaval; Maleficent

Favourite Part: Maleficent: I hate you, Beastie.

Good Points: Recreated fairy tale; beautiful setting; hints of humour

Bad Points: Predictable plot; Aurora fades in the background to Maleficent; found accents slightly irritating

Maleficent tells the story of Sleeping Beauty villain of the same name, a powerful faerie who lives in the Moors - a magical realm that borders a human kingdom.  When Maleficent (Jolie) was young, a human peasant enters the Moors and when she goes to investigate, she meets Stefan (Copley) who she begins to fall for and he for her.  However, Stefan is ambitious and wants to become king of the human kingdom and his ambition is what gets in the way of their relationship and things get worse for Maleficent because of this and she becomes vengeful for understandable reasons.  The film continues the same way as Sleeping Beauty and we get to see another side of the story because as Chris Colfer of Glee fame in one of his novels said, "[a] villain is just a victim whose story hasn’t been told."  Stefan marries the previous king's daughter when his ambition gets the better of him and together they have a child, Aurora (Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, Jolie's daughter, and Eleanor Worthington Cox as young Aurora and Fanning as teenaged Aurora), and Maleficent is informed by her new servant Diaval (Riley) which leads to the iconic christening scene.

The recreation of a classic fairy tale made the film interesting because it brought a new perspective to an old story.  Showing Maleficent's side of the story shows that a villain can be more than the great evil the hero/protagonist has to go up against in the end.  I have always found re-imaginings interesting because that's how they're changed over the years, through different interpretations that have been passed down and maybe in the future, this will be the new version of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.

The digitally created setting for the Moors, both when Maleficent is a child and when her heart has been broken, were beautiful, visually hypnotising.  There was a great amount of detail put into it from the random creatures flying about to the vegetation and landscape that Maleficent whips around when she is swooping about.  I appreciate these pieces of animation because they are pieces of artwork and if I could, and there was such a thing, I would visit a museum of animated landscapes as I know how much work goes into them and believe that 3D animators should be shown more appreciation as there is a lot of imagination and teamwork that is put in.

Villains have a tendency to be the funny ones in kids' films so that they are less scary for children and Maleficent follows this trend.  While the true villain is Stefan in my opinion, Maleficent is considered the traditional villain in the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale and there are often bits of humour in her dialogue as she watches Aurora from afar and bickers with Diaval.  I enjoyed those humorous moments because they made a dark story light and enjoyable every so often and were the times I thought Jolie was outstanding as Maleficent, making the character her own.

I adored Diaval, a raven who was turned into a man by Maleficent and became her confidant once her wings are stolen, because I found him to be one of the only characters that were three dimensional nor completely demented for no apparent reason and wasn't overshadowed by Maleficent.  While he is her subordinate in a way, Diaval still stands up to Maleficent as Aurora grows up, believing the curse that Maleficent cast can be broken in a fit of petty revenge.  The scenes between Diaval and Maleficent were some of the most entertaining scenes as the characters had this rapport which I loved as they bickered with one another more and more like an old married couple as the story progressed over the sixteen years which felt like a natural development for them.  Diaval had another one of my favourite lines, "What have you done to my beautiful self?" when Maleficent transformed him from a raven to a man the first time; I loved it because it showed this sassy character in one simple line who had the potential to be as great as Jolie's Maleficent and Riley didn't disappoint.

While not truly wicked like Eleanor Audley's Maleficent, Jolie's Maleficent has evil moments where her vengeful natural gets the better of her as she lashes out at Stefan through his daughter which is understandable because of his betrayal and allows us to understand that maybe there is another point of view to this tale as villains could be considered the heroes of their own stories.  Angelina Jolie was born to play this role as she had the presence required and stole the show for me which in turn has made this film one of her memorable roles in my book; Jolie has made this role her own and has the potential to be as iconic as the 1959 version.

Most of us know the fairy tale, or those of us who grew up watching Disney films including Sleeping Beauty, and know how the plot goes, there is already some things we can predict in the film so I can't complain about that because I have watched a large number of Disney films repeatedly since I was able to sit up.  However, I did finds some other parts predictable such as how Maleficent lost her wings and the very ending which I found disappointing because I like a hint of unpredictability when I watch a film in the end.  It just seems like lazy script writing when you can predict an ending and in my opinion, undermines the intelligence of the audience.

In contrast to Jolie's Maleficent, Fanning's Aurora fades into the background as she just runs around the forest with this inane grin which makes her come across as incredibly naïve and somewhat irritating.  She never really develops as a character and could be easily forgotten if we didn't already know the importance of Aurora and her story from the 1959 animated film.  As other reviewers have said, maybe it was done on purpose so to draw attention to Maleficent and her story and while Jolie is fantastic as the iconic villain, she is let down by a naïve princess, an insane king, and some hopeless secondary characters (not including Diaval) that don't bring anything to the film.

As someone who has an English accent, albeit a slight Yorkshire one, I found the overly proper English accents in this film to be quite grating at times because they felt very forced.  If they wanted the characters to be English, they should have hired English actors to play the parts; another solution could have been to keep Jolie and Fanning with their natural accents as it wouldn't detract from the story because the film is set in a fictional kingdom and the location is ambiguous.  While they make a fair attempt at an English accent, it hit the ear wrong at times which was disappointing; fortunately, neither Jolie's nor Fanning's accent was as bad as Anne Hathaway's attempt at a Yorkshire accent in One Day so it could be overlooked in the grand scheme.

Maleficent: I hate you, Beastie

This was a fantastic line I thought, just because it made me laugh as Maleficent was completely straight-faced as little Aurora just looked up at the fairy with this little smile and happy eyes.  In this moment, you could tell that Maleficent was going to grow to love Aurora despite her determination to not allow the latter into her heart as Maleficent has sworn off love, believing it not to be real, which though predictable, is very lovely in the end.  I also loved that Maleficent tries her hardest to be evil in this moment by calling Aurora "Beastie" but it immediately becomes affectionate, just as every nickname I know does, and all Aurora does is smile, melting everyone's hearts.

There were two saving graces in this film; Diaval and Maleficent as the actors fit together naturally as they worked together and bickered with one another.  The visual effects were stunning, the reimagined fairy tale was interesting because it made me reconsider other villains' stories, and the humour interlaced in the film brought my rating up but the predictability of the plot really underwhelmed me as it felt lazy and maybe rushed in the final product.  As well as the forced accents and Aurora fading into the background this film could have been greatly improved with a bit more time behind it.  Overall, it was enjoyable to see a new twist on an old tale with Jolie making a fantastic Maleficent - I couldn't imagine anyone else in the role - and her servant, Diaval, acting as the voice of reason but it could have been improved and part of me is glad I didn't rush out to see this film on its opening weekend.

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