Maleficent

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Beaumont, Andrew, Jess, Jim, Bri, Michael

Disney goes back to the vault looking for something to generate cash and comes out with a big expensive reworking of Sleeping Beauty that tries to take the Wicked route with its villain.

Designer Robert Stromberg gets promoted to the director chair and as to be expected delivers a beautiful looking film. The design of the creatures, the world, the lighting and imagery are all top notch. Unfortunately we've come to expect this level or wonder as standard. What makes a film really stand out is its story.

And we know the story of Sleeping Beauty. The way they rework it is not as clever as I was hoping for. At least in Wicked, The Wizard of Oz story is in tact and and merely coloured in a different light from the reading of the story set around it. Here though they need to actually alter the story of Sleeping Beauty to make their new version work, which doesn't seem as cool. It means when I go back home to watch Sleeping Beauty, I have to think "that version is wrong."

Angelina Jolie looks to be having fun. The characters around her really don't have anything much to play though. I feel like there were a lot of missed opportunities, especially with the relationship between her and the king. But despite Maleficent's flip flopping of good and evil everything else is pretty black and white. 

Those 3 fairy godmothers are kind of freaky. And a little horrifying in their ineptitude. 

No one else in the kingdom got put to sleep. I always hated that Disney's Sleeping Beauty felt the need to have a meet cute with the prince before Aurora falls asleep, at the expense of the kingdom falling asleep for 100 years. She's really more of a napping beauty. That problem is compounded even further here. 

There are some fun sequences, a lot of really pretty creatures. There was a dragon. It was not Maleficent, but it was still there. Eh it's forgettable but not entirely offensive.