Here’s a trivia: my childhood suffered from a severe lack of animated Walt Disney films.  It wasn’t until I was well into my college years thay I saw one (I chanced upon Aladdin on the Disney channel one rare night I was home).  Not to say that I grew up not being familiar with the stories – my mother and my Ninangs would always give me picture books to read, but even I can admit that I missed out on the Disney magic that comes with the genius soundtracks (to this day, I have yet to watch a scene from Cinderella and Snow White).  My friends just use this to rationalize why I am a cynical bitch the way I am and I guess that is a big factor.

Anywho, Sleeping Beauty was one of the more forgettable stories from my books because the big hoorah was that she wakes up after some random dude kisses her.  Bo-ring.  Let’s see if bringing Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning into the mix can change that impression.

Here’s my round up of Robert Stromberg (known for his visual effects work on Alice in Wonderland and Pan’s Labyrinth)’s Maleficent.

Please note that there may be spoilers.  Read at your own risk.

THE STORY:

The film is a re-telling of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty as told from the evil fairy’s point of of view.  In this story, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie – The Tourist) is a beautiful but powerful fairy in charge of protecting the moors she lives in, along with all the creatures that reside there.  She has no qualms with the humans and in fact made a friend and eventual lover out of a young boy named Stefan (Sharlto Copley – Elysium), who grew up to be a squire of the human king.

Things get messy when said king tried and failed to conquer the moors.  Enraged and humiliated, the king offered his kingdom to anyone who can vanquish Maleficent.  Blinded by greed, Stefan tricked and betrayed Maleficent, leaving her weak and wingless.  Seeking revenge on this act of betrayal, Maleficent gate crashes Aurora (Elle Fanning – Super 8) – Stefan’s princess daughter-‘s christening, casting a curse to be fulfilled on the day of her sixteenth birthday.  In an effort to keep Aurora safe, the king entrusts her in the care of her three fairy godmothers Fittle (Leslie Manville – Romeo & Juliet ), Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and Thistlewit (Juno Temple – Afternoon Delight).  But it isn’t long before sixteen years pass and Maleficent’s curse comes knocking to collect.

THE GOOD:

1. Angelina Jolie.  It’s movies like these that make me think that she’s one of our generation’s most underrated actresses.  While I won’t entrust her with a heavy drama type of role, I have to admit that she was extremely effective here.  There were only a handful of lines but most of the feelings and emotions were conveyed by her eyes.
2. Elle Fanning, although severely underused, had the lightness and innocence that made her Aurora believable.  She just has that indie-hippie vibe that made Aurora distinctly adorable.
3. The visual effects were stunning.  I haven’t said this since James Cameron’s Avatar, but I kinda regret not seeing this movie in 3D.
4. That in the end, it’s still a movie for the kiddies.  It’s not like Snow White and the Huntsman that attempted to reshape the fairy tale into something for the adults, which was nice because the film stayed true to the whimsical feel of the original story.
5. The needle pricking scene was genius.  That was a nice twist and I think I prefer that version to Aurora being tricked into doing it.
6. Vivienne Jolie-Pitt played one of the younger Aurora’s and she was just so cute!  Nepotism or not, that was one of the more heartwearming (if not the most) scenes in the entire movie.

THE BAD:

1. The shaky camerawork during the fight scenes.  It was pretty obvious that the director isn’t used to shooting action sequences.
2. The wasted potential.  They wasted so much talent, it really is a shame. Most notable are Sharlto Copley, who valiantly tried to make as much as he could with what he was given, and Sam Riley (as Diaval), who seemed to possess a lot of comedic prowess.  I wish that they were given more and I think had these two characters been given the proper amount of time to shine, the movie would’ve come out more balanced.
   
3. The extremely brisk pacing.  So brisk that it feels like an audiobook in some parts.

THE UGLY:

1. The characters were very thin.  Not literally, of course, but the way they were written was extremely lacking.  Aside from Maleficent, everybody else seemed to suffer from a serious lack motivation. The characters only seemed to get their directions from the fairy tale book and their actions were mechanical and warranted explaining.

All in all Maleficent was a good movie.  Although there were no huge surprises (the fact that Angelina Jolie is in it is clue enough that the filmmakers would change crapload to make Maleficent more palatable), it was still a pleasant version of the fairy tale.  The visual effects were great and while the writing wasn’t quite up to par with the cast’s talents, performances were still solid.  I’ve got to say though: Disney’s really working their butts off to basically undo everything they’ve established with the earlier Disney films.  With films like this and Frozen, I kind of can’t wait for what they’ll send out next.

THE VERDICT: 7.4/10.  See it (in 3D if you can).  Kinda reminded me of Wicked.

*All photos are lifted from the film’s IMDB page.