In an enchanted world populated by magical and powerful fairies and assorted creatures, a young fairy named Maleficent lives peacefully and joyously among her brethren. After a chance encounter, she begins to develop feelings for a human named Stefan, who comes from the fairy's bordering neighbors, and eventual enemies, the human kingdom. Over the years, Stefan's lust for power and leadership of his kingdom leads him to commit a terrible act towards the fairy, hoping it will culminate in speeding up his ascension towards the throne. Enraged and saddened, Maleficent begins a long and arduous path towards evil, which will culminate in a dark gift for the newly-crowned king's firstborn, Princess Aurora.
Despite what some of my friends or frequent visitors of Into The Hive may think, I'm always welcome to a new interpretation of a classic story, especially in the realm of classic fairy tale lore. Perhaps Bill Willingham's acclaimed graphic novel series Fables is partly to blame, or it may be my own maturity and attitude towards films of all variety which has helped. When I first caught a glance of Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning as noted and famous Disney stalwarts Maleficent and Aurora, I was somewhat intrigued, but my apathy towards anything Disney-related that ISN'T animated wasn't leading me towards a ticket purchase. The first round of teasers and full-length trailers did little to bring about any enthusiasm, and discovering that this was in the hands of a first time director made me skeptical, even though this has worked for a multitude of films in recent memory. But for every Evil Dead or District 9, there is always an Aliens vs Predator: Requiem. So, where does this one lie in the pantheon of risk takers?
Though she has her number of naysayers, Angelina Jolie was born to play this role. She brings layers to a character that had never particularly captured my own affection. Admittedly, I was always more of an Ursula or Cruella de Vil fan, and even though she's guilty of chewing the scenery on a handful of occasions, Jolie manages to make you sympathize with the titular tragic villain whose heart may not be as dark as the original story from The Brothers Grimm would have you believe. This version of Maleficent has the right to be furious at the human race, and it can be argued that she is a stronger female role model than most modern day heroines (she's inarguably better than someone like Twilight's Bella Swan). Disney also must have listened to the masses' feedback about Sharlto Copley's villainous turn in last year's Elysium as well, since he plays the twisted and paranoid king whose slow descent into madness doesn't exactly inspire empathy from the public, be it in the theater or from his own servants. He may be difficult to understand for younger audiences though, but being from South Africa and attempting a Scottish/Irish/Brad Pitt-from-Snatch accent will do that to you. As for the supporting cast, Sam Riley, best known for playing Joy Division's Ian Curtis in Control, portrays Maleficent's right hand….erm, crow, and he's fine for what he is (he could be a dead ringer for Dominic Cooper or Orlando Bloom). The trio of the good fairies are all entertaining and more lively than I expected them to be (being led by the usually brilliant Imelda Staunton certainly helps), but goodness gracious, did all of their humorous bickering and banter have to feel like throwaway gags and routines from The Three Stooges? At least they weren't making Groucho Marx-style puns, otherwise I would have groaned rather audibly in the cinema hall…..actually, now that I've mentioned that, puns such as those would have been pretty awesome, if not incredibly out of place.
A large chunk of Maleficent's visual effects are pretty gorgeous to look at, if not flat out enchanting (makeup is provided by the extraordinarily talented Rick Baker). I went into the film initially having paid for a 3D experience, but the 2D reel was mistakenly played instead. While it didn't upset me in the slightest (I was given a refund for any future screening of my choice. Too bad this didn't happen with Rob Zombie's Halloween), I imagine that a three dimensional screening would have actually looked very impressive, post-conversion or not. From an all around visual standpoint, Maleficent looks pretty damn good and the cinematography is adequate. Great detail has gone into the wings of Jolie's character, and especially with her very elegant, if not slightly ghostly appearance, which is all the more fitting given that she has remained a mystery or myth to many simple-minded humansx. Part of me wonders how much of it actually comes from Angelina Jolie's natural beauty and how much came from computer generated imagery, and in this case, the perplexing nature of this works to the film's advantage.
While it seems like I'm fellating nearly everything related to this picture from that which surrounds Angelina Jolie, this does bring me to two rather vocal complaints that I have. First off, I get that your picture is called Maleficent, so naturally, you want her to be the main focus and be the most well-rounded and developed character. This is understandable. That being said, would it have been so hard to do this as well with your supporting cast? Aurora's presence doesn't feel nearly as important as it should, and even after the introduction of Prince Phillip (the man who would break the "Sleeping Beauty" curse in the source material), we don't get a good sense of who he is and why he cares for her. Yes yes, I know it's just storybook love, but I guess I just expected a bit more from this particular subplot, and I feel it detracts from all of the potential praise it could receive from critics and moviegoers alike.
The second criticism, and perhaps the oddest thing about Maleficent overall (well, odd by a fantasy movie's standards at least) is its criminally short running time. If I remember correctly, Disney has been hyping this particular re-imagining for close to, if not more than two years. With a case such as this, why make the final project a mere ninety seven minutes long? That is just absurd, and I felt a tad bit bamboozled when it seemed to just suddenly end. Something as grandiose as this deserves to at least cross the two hour mark. I do know that this particular motion picture went through several reshoots, so perhaps they're saving what was left on the cutting room floor for the presumably stacked Blu-Ray release to come.
Still, in terms of recent retellings of classic fairy tales and Disney lore, Maleficent stands above the competition (it is infinitely better than Tim Burton's messy 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland), if not a bit awkwardly. They've also accomplished the impossible by piquing my interest as to what the upcoming Kenneth Branagh-directed Cinderella will end up looking like.
Then again, I doubt it will have fire-breathing dragons, so it'll probably be less than stellar.
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