I didn’t much like Maleficent, but the problem might be my childhood adoration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent is one of the best parts of the story, a deliciously deviant villain, as glamorous as she is frightening. Here Angelina Jolie, playing the title character, delivers all that, but the plot swirling around her feels flimsy when stacked up against the original fairy tale. With the success of Wicked, revisionist fairy tales are something of a fad, and that concept is interesting. Unfortunately, here it veers far too wildly from the original. The film opens with Maleficent as a young fairy frolicking around the Moors, a magical kingdom. She falls in love with Stefan—one day to be Aurora’s father—who later betrays her to become king. In the end, she is a misunderstood hero rather than a villain, a wasted opportunity to shade the original evil character with layers of complexity.
Elle Fanning stars as the teenage Aurora, but doesn’t have much appeal, largely the fault of the script. She mostly smiles in wonder at the world around her. Although this is based on a fairy tale heavily reliant on magic, the CGI creatures populating the Moors feel silly and corny, a misguided bid to cater to younger children.
Should You See It? Angelina Jolie’s performance makes it worthy of a Redbox night —S.Z.
Viewed at Ronnie’s 20 Cine
