As for little ol' me, I enjoyed it. It's a Disney movie, full of Disney magic and the Disney fan in me was pleased. However, the more critical side of me was left with an overwhelming feeling of "is that it?"
The highlight of the film was Angelina Jolie: she plays Maleficent with the perfect, devastating beauty and evil that I would expect from her. She lifted Maleficent from the animated movie into live action effortlessly. I enjoyed seeing the tale of Sleeping Beauty from her point of view; we were able to understand her motives a little better and the lead up to the curse itself. The scene where she realises she has lost her wings is heartbreakingly sad, Jolie acted beautifully. I also liked seeing the development of her relationship with Diaval the raven/man, he acted as the conscious to Maleficent's evil schemes.
Aurora herself is played by one of my favourite young actresses, Elle Fanning. Aurora is likeable enough but slightly annoying (was that just me?), Fanning plays the role as the usual wide eyed affability of a Disney princess and the character is given a little more depth than in the animated version. She holds up well against Angelina Jolie's scene stealing performance.
As for the whole matter of True Love's Kiss, I like the route that newer films and TV shows (Once Upon A Time, Frozen) have taken towards this very important fairy tale tradition. The newer "twist" presents a much more realistic view of true love; it comes from a deeper bond than just the initial attraction of the fairy tale favourite, love at first sight. Some people have argued that it has been overdone recently, but I'm all for shaking up the somewhat antiquated views of real, true love.
My main problem with this film is that it wasn't sure what it wanted to be. At times, it was dark, but then this darkness wasn't consistent and wimped out of what could have been some disturbing scenes. Sleeping Beauty is a dark story and I would have liked to have seen a return to that in this live action interpretation.
As I suspected, the film was visually beautiful. Some amazing, sweeping shots of the Fair creatures Moores and impressive, shadowy portraits of Maleficent with her wings in all their glory. However, like with Oz, at times it just wasn't satisfying enough, wasn't dark enough, wasn't impressive enough.
Have you seen Maleficent? What did you think?
I really agree with everything you have said.
ReplyDeleteI was like a song that want to have a really gut crunching belting solo chorus but instead it stays consistent and goes no where.
Like you said, The Disney side of me felt satisfied by the film but the media critic in me was wanting a bit more.
Great review :)