Maleficent

The vengeful fairy, Maleficent, is driven to curse an infant princess, only to discover that the child could be the one person who can restore peace to their troubled land.

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Introduction

Disney should just stick with doing new stories instead of remaking the classics, Maleficent delivers on that, while its not a 10/10, it still captivates the fans of Disney and captures their curious minds of “Who was Maleficent”? Directed by Robert Stromberg.

“As a beautiful young woman of pure heart, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) has an idyllic life in a forest kingdom. When an invading army threatens the land, Maleficent rises up to become its fiercest protector. However, a terrible betrayal hardens her heart and twists her into a creature bent on revenge. She engages in an epic battle with the invading king’s successor, then curses his newborn daughter, Aurora — realizing only later that the child holds the key to peace in the kingdom.”

Characters

Angelina Jolie was a perfect cast for Maleficent, with her sinister looking smile, sort of reminds me of Cameron Diaz but in an opposite way. The depth of her voice also added to the towering image of her among the other fairies. Her best scene was when she crashed the celebration of Aurora’s birth in the castle. A perfect reimagining of probably one of the mist iconic scenes in Sleeping Beauty.

Aurora (played by Elle Fanning) played her part beautifully. She herself radiates innocence, and that made her all the more likeable and fitting to be the victimized Aurora.

The three stooges, I mean fairies, added that right amount of comedic relief. Though they weren’t as big a part as they were in the original animation, nonetheless, their presence and acting were memorable.

Should I watch it?

In my opinion, yes. Though the storyline is entirely different from the original, and Maleficent’s character has more depth here in the live-action, even so, I recommend to give this a try. It gives you more insight to Maleficent’s personality, other than she’s pure evil. Its a big “what if” in the minds of some people, and I think the director gave it justice.

Creature design

The world of Maleficent was very whimsical and mysterious, its like Lord of the Rings with Spiderwick Chronicles and a dash of Alice in Wonderland. From the smallest of creatures to the towering Ents, each creature contributed greatly to the feel of a fantastical world.

It was great to see that they retained the shape of Maleficent’s horn, that was iconic. Also, the wings were awesome, the size of it and the wing-claw was very noticeable. The way she used them to create wind magic or something, it reminded me lf The Harpy, a game boss in the hit videogame Suikoden 2 on the Playstation.

The transformation of the raven was also done beautifully.

What I didn’t like

• It was predictable. Even though its entirely different from the original animation, it was predictable in a sense that they used the same old character tropes and twists.
• I’m a bit torn with how they presented the three fairy godmothers in their fairy form.

Conclusion

Anyone who grew up watching “Sleeping Beauty” would definitely be interested in a story about Maleficent. It was well-paced, different storyline but they were able to retain that Disney magic. A very good watch for kids and kids at heart.