Review: Maleficent
*Mild Spoiler Alert
Do NOT forget to rate this post when you finish.
Keeping up the re-imagining trend of classic fairy-tale/fantasy movies, 'Maleficent' is an enjoyable movie to watch, for the most part at least.
This movie talks about a young 'Maleficent',
who is a powerful fairy tasked to guard The Moors, a forest kingdom full of
magical creatures that border the neighboring human kingdom. One day, young
'Maleficent' meets young 'Stefan', and an unlikely relationship between two
people from different kingdoms forms. But as time passed, 'Maleficent'(Angelina
Jolie) grew and her powers became stronger and 'Stefan'(Sharlto Copley)'s greed
to get the throne of the human kingdom grew too. One day, 'Stefan' betrays the trust of
'Maleficent', which allows him to take the crown. And from there started the
story of 'Sleeping Beauty' that everyone thinks they know, but really the story
of this fairy turned vengeful sorceress is shown. 'Maleficent' starts to watch
'Aurora'(Elle Fanning) grow into a beautiful young princess, but what she
didn't realize that she will form an unexpected bond with her. This bond could
eventually stop the feud and war that has been going on for ages between the
two kingdoms. Other characters include a raven shape shifter and 'Maleficent'
confident 'Diaval'(Sam Riley), the three fairy godmothers 'Knotgrass'(Imelda
Staunton), 'Thistlewit'(Juno Temple), and 'Flittle'(Leslie Manville), young
Prince 'Phillip'(Brenton Thwaites), and King 'Henry'(Kenneth Cranham).
If you have been living for the past 5 years,
you will surely notice that Disney have been ordering movies that are
reimagining classic stories all of us know. Some of these movies have been a
massive success like 2010's 'Alice in Wonderland', whilst other being a modest
success like last year's 'Oz: the Great and Powerful'. And for those who don't
know next year there will be an adaptation of the iconic movie 'Cinderella',
and other projects being prepared to be produced are 'The Beauty and the Beast',
'The Jungle Book', 'Cruella' from '101 Dalmatians' and sequels for both 'Alice
in Wonderland' and 'Oz: the Great and Powerful'. For this movie, the idea was
that the classic movie was to be re-imagined and told from the perspective of
the evil character, that many were intrigued by but never truly knew the reason
behind her intentions. In general, 'Maleficent' is sure to be an entertaining
movie for all those who were waiting for its release. However, there were
really major problems underneath this entertainment and many were wondering if
"Angelina Jolie" wasn't present, would it still be as interesting?!
And the answer would be unfortunately no, without "Angelina Jolie"
and the amazing visuals, 'Maleficent' would have been a failure.
This movie is the directorial debut of
"Robert Stromberg", and it shows. "Stromberg" has worked
before as the special effects artist and designer of 'Alice in Wonderland' and
'Oz: The Great and Powerful'. The special effects of this movie are astonishing
and the design of this magical world was beyond magical, which solidifies
"Stromberg" ability to create a wonderful cinematic world. The problem
here is that the world created, with all the creatures in it, did not serve a
true purpose within the story. And speaking of story, the screenplay of
"Linda Wolverton"('Aladdin' and 'Alice in Wonderland') is not a solid
one. The solid changes made for the sake of this re-imagined story could be
accepted if it served the whole story, but unfortunately after telling us the
origin story of 'Maleficent' and the christening of 'Aurora', the story
decreases in importance. Moreover, the story felt rushed like they wanted to
finish the middle part and get right to the climax and ending of the movie,
plus the changes in the characters actually undermined the story and the
characters that were loved in the original animated movie. Composer "James
Newton Howard", known for composing 'Snow White and the Huntsman' and
'Catching Fire', provided a beautiful score that complimented this dark retelling
film. And "Lana Del Ray" provided us with a beautiful version of
'Once upon a Dream', which completely fitted this movie.
Ever since its announcement, the producers
promised a darker reimagining of the classic animation, still the darkness
wasn't as many expected it to be and was actually toned down. The movie could be
divided into two parts: before and after the christening scene of 'Aurora'. The
beginning of the movie was full of the back story of the titular character, and
in my opinion this was my favorite part of the entire movie. This part took its
time to develop the character and what drove her to commit what we all know.
After this scene, the movie felt rushed to end and to pass on all the other
remaining characters, which felt very much underdeveloped and didn't get their
chance to shine or see them as we liked them in the classic animated movie. The
world created was beautifully done and executed, but unfortunately it did less
to nothing to actually serve the story as it should've had. The world created
felt made in order to allow the story to take place; however, the usage of it
wasn't done as it could have been. Many changes were made to the movie in terms
of the characters and events, yet the christening scene was the best scene of
the entire movie and was recreated in a near perfect manner, that sure
everyone who saw it got the chills. My favorite scenes through the entirety of the movie
were, the early battle scene between the humans and 'Maleficent''s forest army,
'Maleficent' looking after 'Aurora', ''Maleficent' and 'Diaval''s interaction
scenes, and the climax battle. The ending movie was perfect for the story being
told. That being said it didn't have a true impact nor the innovation that
today's movie have.
From the moment "Angelina Jolie"
was casted as one of the most iconic villains in Disney movies, everyone knew
that she would be the star of this movie. And surely this happened and
"Jolie" was a joy to watch. Through the entirety of the movie, you
feel that "Angelina Jolie" had fun molding this character and trying
to play with this character, especially seeing that the movie will be giving an
origin story. The talent of this amazing actress truly showed, juggling the
drama and the humorous tone (especially in the scenes with 'Diaval').
"Elle Fanning" provided a solid performance as princess 'Aurora',
though this version of the character is hard to grasp knowing the character
that we knew in the original movie. Her special chemistry with "Angelina
Jolie" was very interesting. "Sam Riley" played the only male
character who had a significant part within this movie, and his character was humanized, as 'Maleficent''s confident was one of the positive things of
the film. The remaining male characters from King 'Stefan'(Sharlto Copley), his
relationship and role with 'Maleficent''s history, and Prince 'Phillip'(Brenton
Thwaites), who had very limited part when compared with the original movie, was
very shocking and diminished their importance that could have been used in a
much better manner. "Imelda Staunton", "Juno Temple" and
"Lesley Manville" portrayal of the three fairies had much more comedy
and less importance to the overall story than the animated movie, which
personally I wasn't fond off and expected a bigger role. As for the other mystical
characters from the woods were exquisitely executed yet had basically no role,
which was surprising. The narration done by "Janet McTeer" was acceptable, yet felt at some points forced.
-'Maleficent' Info:
-Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, Ben Thwaites, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville and Kenneth Cranham.
-Based on: -'La Belle au bois dormant' by Charles Perrault.
-'Little Briar Rose' by The Brothers Grimm.
-Studio(s): Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
-Directed by: Robert Stromberg.
-Screenplay by: Linda Woolverton.
-Music by: James Newton Howard.
-Running Time: 97 minutes.
-Budget: $ 180,000,000.
-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 241,410,378.
-Foreign: $ 516,342,000.
-Ratings: -IMdb: 7.5/10.
-Rotten Tomatoes: 50%.
-Metacritic: 56%.
-PERSONAL RATING: 7.7/10.
-'Maleficent' Trailer:
*Mild Spoiler Alert
Do NOT forget to rate this post when you finish.
 |
| Official 'Maleficent' Poster. |
 |
| "Angelina Jolie". |
 |
| "Elle Fanning". |
 |
| "Sam Riley" and "Angelina Jolie". |
 |
| "Elle Fanning" and "Brenton Thwaites". |
 |
| "Sharlto Copley". |
 |
| "Juno Temple", "Imelda Staunton" and "Leslie Manville". |
 |
| "Angelina Jolie". |
Ever since its announcement, the producers
promised a darker reimagining of the classic animation, still the darkness
wasn't as many expected it to be and was actually toned down. The movie could be
divided into two parts: before and after the christening scene of 'Aurora'. The
beginning of the movie was full of the back story of the titular character, and
in my opinion this was my favorite part of the entire movie. This part took its
time to develop the character and what drove her to commit what we all know.
After this scene, the movie felt rushed to end and to pass on all the other
remaining characters, which felt very much underdeveloped and didn't get their
chance to shine or see them as we liked them in the classic animated movie. The
world created was beautifully done and executed, but unfortunately it did less
to nothing to actually serve the story as it should've had. The world created
felt made in order to allow the story to take place; however, the usage of it
wasn't done as it could have been. Many changes were made to the movie in terms
of the characters and events, yet the christening scene was the best scene of
the entire movie and was recreated in a near perfect manner, that sure
everyone who saw it got the chills. My favorite scenes through the entirety of the movie
were, the early battle scene between the humans and 'Maleficent''s forest army,
'Maleficent' looking after 'Aurora', ''Maleficent' and 'Diaval''s interaction
scenes, and the climax battle. The ending movie was perfect for the story being
told. That being said it didn't have a true impact nor the innovation that
today's movie have. |
| "Elle Fanning". |
 |
| "Angelina Jolie". |
'Maleficent' is surely an enjoyable dark
fantasy reimagining of the original animated movie, thanks to "Angelina
Jolie"'s involvement and portrayal, yet it is not the best Disney re-imagined
movie ever made.
 |
| Official 'Maleficent' Poster. |
-Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, Ben Thwaites, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville and Kenneth Cranham.
-Based on: -'La Belle au bois dormant' by Charles Perrault.
-'Little Briar Rose' by The Brothers Grimm.
-Studio(s): Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
-Directed by: Robert Stromberg.
-Screenplay by: Linda Woolverton.
-Music by: James Newton Howard.
-Running Time: 97 minutes.
-Budget: $ 180,000,000.
-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 241,410,378.
-Foreign: $ 516,342,000.
-Ratings: -IMdb: 7.5/10.
-Rotten Tomatoes: 50%.
-Metacritic: 56%.
-PERSONAL RATING: 7.7/10.
-'Maleficent' Trailer:
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