Maleficent, Darling, Simply Maleficent

[MouseEXP]

As a movie on its own I think it was good, but not great. Especially if you have no idea on how the original Disney movie goes.

Everything below could be a spoiler, so don't read unless you have seen the movie.

The main problem that I have with this movie, is that Maleficent is known to be one of the greatest Disney Villains of all time.

This movie goes away with all of that and now I am afraid that Maleficent will now be looked as a good person. It ruins the original attention of the character.

Other issues...
The good fairies are now good pixies.
The good pixies do not have their original names.
The pixies are shown as idiots. Sure they were sort of like that in the original, but they take it to the extreme in this version.
Maleficent's crow goes in and out of animal and human form. That character is better in crow form than any of the transformations.
King Stefan is a bad guy? I mean why would the fairies err pixies be a part of this families gathering? Was this ever explained?
The crow turns into a dragon?

Side thoughts:
If the overall thoughts on Maleficent as a good guy changes peoples thinking of the character, does that mean she is changed for Fantasmic? Maybe she will now save Mickey...ugh... jk

 

[GAN]

The main problem that I have with this movie, is that Maleficent is known to be one of the greatest Disney Villains of all time. This movie goes away with all of that and now I am afraid that Maleficent will now be looked as a good person.

I agree. What's the point -and where does this go? Maybe there is a part II where she will become the person we are all familiar with? My wife LOVED the movie ...they kind of lost me with the first fairy -I was hoping for something much darker, not this "new" and improved Maleficent.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

Unfortunately for those that don't like it, I think this is the plan with all these stories. It started with wicked; tell a more complex story from the villains view point and make them either not really a villain or a villain who is redeemed.

There is an interesting love/hate relationship with our story villains. Everybody loves a good villain, but once they love them, they don't want them to be bad. Can't have your cake and eat it, too. Well, maybe you can...

One thing Disney can do is take their characters for in the park from any point in the story. They have many characters showing up that died in their story. They can still have evil maleficent from either version just by taking them from the appropriate part of the story.

I think many people and children especially (count me in) will love Maleficent even more now that we can see her as good. Kind of like Darth Vader being a fantastic bad guy, but redeemed in the end.

That doesn't mean everyone will like it. Some like their villains pure evil and want them kept that way.

I like the complexity this teaches. No one is pure evil nor is anyone pure good. It is good for kids to see characters with depth.

There is also the unwritten rule I have mentioned before. You can do anything you want with an animated story when you transfer it to live action and people will separate the two. If this had been an animated retelling it would have failed miserably and been hated.

Expect to see more of the same with other villains. If you dislike that idea, you'll have to stay away from the theater for a decade or so. I like multiple versions of the same story. I can watch and enjoy them all. I even liked the 1998 Godzilla and the new one.

 

[tajz90]

I find it interesting to see different takes on old stories. This one was very fun!

 

[Ulysses]

My wife and I each echo the opinion that the movie was "good, but not great."

I felt that beyond Maleficent herself, and to some degree Diaval (played by Sam Riley), the rest of the cast was one-dimensional and uninteresting.

Although my absolute biggest gripe with the movie was the portrayal of the pixies (formerly known as 'the Good Fairies'). Most of their shtick was straight from the reels of the Three Stooges, and it grew to be annoying. For most of the movie I just thought it was humor that was lost on me, or 'okay, they're just not up to the task of raising a human child.' However, when they're having a picnic, and literally starting attacking one another over a misunderstanding, it may as well have been delivered with one of them echoing Curly Howard's "nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!" line.

Although on the positive side, I'd absolutely re-watch the movie just for Jolie's performance. She really was magnificent as Maleficent.

Overall, I'd rate it a 3.5/5.

 

[GAN]

Unfortunately for those that don't like it, I think this is the plan with all these stories. It started with wicked; tell a more complex story from the villains view point and make them either not really a villain or a villain who is redeemed.

I get the whole take and, hey, in the end it's just a movie. However, in Wicked -the WWotW is still wicked, we just get an understanding of the why? No? To me anyway, Maleficent certainly does that -but in the end I see her as good and I'm not necessarily looking for that from her! Sure, we can all accept that when she appears as the "Evil" Maleficent in the parks, etc. that this is from a different point in time than the last time we saw her -but really, I'm not sure I have time for that. I say, be done with her!

 

[Music City Mama]

We saw it today (Me, DH, DSs 11 and 7). We all enjoyed it a lot.

It wasn't a great movie, but it was good -- it kept my interest. And while I feel that Frozen was probably a "better movie", I had no real desire to see it again after I left the theater, but feel like I could watch Maleficent again in the very near future.

Agree with everyone else re: the fairies. I don't understand the name changes and they weren't even endearing in an annoying sort of way -- we just didn't like them. Maybe because the one was Umbridge from Harry Potter, we already hated her.

I also agree that that other than Jolie, the other characters were just okay. Elle Fanning was just so-so and the actor who played King Stefan got on my nerves. We did enjoy the action and my 7 year old immediately came home and started pretending he was a "dragon god" with wings like Maleficent and he and Maleficent were fighting King Stefan and his men. So, my boys enjoyed it. My 11 year old is a purist and I thought he wouldn't like the twist, but he understands it for what it was and really liked it a lot.

So, overall, thumbs up from my family.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

I get the whole take and, hey, in the end it's just a movie. However, in Wicked -the WWotW is still wicked, we just get an understanding of the why? No? To me anyway, Maleficent certainly does that -but in the end I see her as good and I'm not necessarily looking for that from her! Sure, we can all accept that when she appears as the "Evil" Maleficent in the parks, etc. that this is from a different point in time than the last time we saw her -but really, I'm not sure I have time for that. I say, be done with her!

Maybe they could have done an interesting twist where she has to die to save Aurora. That might have been interesting and still ended with her death. In all the old movies from the 30's and 40's, the "bad girl" star would turn around in the end but had to die for her sins. That might have been a very moving ending and made it at least have the same ending as the original but with a different motivation.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Agreed! Saw it this evening. I absolutely loved it! So did my wife, and she is a tough sell on movies. The story and its twists were wonderful. I read that Angelina and Elle really hit it off and you could tell when they worked together. Angie was magnificent. It wasn't too scary and it was pure Disney. The creatures and characters were great. And Jolie communicated so much with a look and made the movie work. She's a fine actress. And Vivienne Jolie-Pitt is adorable!

Now I'm going back to see it in 3D!

I took my kids to see it last night and we all loved it. Exceeded my expectations. It was wonderful. Angelina was amazing and the visuals were breathtaking. 6 thumbs up from from our clan

I agree with you guys. DD14 and I just came back from seeing it, and we both loved it. I wasn't anticipating enjoying it as much as I did, but I love the reimagined story line--much more depth, and a much better message, IMO. DH and DS17 didn't want to see it, but we'll be dragging them back in 3D! (We just saw the regular version).

 

[Yellowstonetim]

My wife and I went again this afternoon and took some young friends. I loved even more the second time. One thing I noticed this time was how amazing the Christening scene is; it looked, felt, and particularly sounded just like the original. That was cool.

I also looked carefully at the CGI creatures since that was a common complaint. I thought they looked wonderful and creative. The water sprites were pretty cool and unique.

I also thought the acting was fine. If there were any problems, they were all due to length. A few minutes here and there would have fleshed out a number of characters. But all that was minor.

They do an excellent job with the story. Now I need to go back to see it in 3D.

This weekend it is estimated to make $70 million, Angelina's best opening ever. And people exiting gave it a Cinemascore of A, which is very good and bodes well for word of mouth. This means it should have decent legs. We will see next weekend.

 

[Retro Magic]

I saw this last night after much anticipation. The movie was definitely not what I expected. I was expecting much more of an origin story for the traditional villainous character of Maleficent with only a small part towards the end involving the story of sleeping beauty. Originally expecting the movie to showcase strictly Maleficent's origins and relationship to Diablo, Flora, Fauna & Merryweather with the end of the movie culminating where the traditional story of Sleeping Beauty begins. This I would have prefered.

The reasons of why the Maleficent we KNOW of, is evil, still remains unanswered.

But in the end, we have a movie that takes the character of Maleficent and gives us a brand new story twist based on her with only minor similarities to the story of Sleeping Beauty and its characters. With that said, while I did not think it was great, I did still really enjoy the movie! However, I do feel the movie and story could have GREATLY benefited by being longer. Maybe the DVD will have a directors cut? Numerous parts felt very rushed and unexplored.

I do hope going forward in the parks, etc that this version of Maleficent does not replace the original. To me they are both completely separate and different characters from one another, only sharing slight comparisons. Disney can not take away arguably its top most menacing Villain

 

[surferdave]

Disney can not take away arguably its top most menacing Villain

They could replace her with Aurora's dad.

 

[BrianL]

So I finally saw this last night. It was pretty good, and I loved the production design and score. I'll be talking SPOILERS here, so....

I liked the use of the alternate castle for the Disney logo. THe score by James Newton Howard was also wonderful. I could have done with out the narration pretty much throughout the movie. It explains nothing that isn't apparent. I also got a little disappointed when it got a little "Frozen-ey" on us at the kiss scene (not that it wasn't totally obvious how that would go, but it had the ladies in the row in front of me in teasr so it must have been okay). Minor gripes aside, it was still quite an enjoyable movie, with great visuals and action (more than I might have expected), and Angeline looked so fantastic throughout.

Good for Disney to get a live-action hit this year as they've had a few big-budget whiffs recently. This was a great effort all around.

 

[BroganMc]

I hated it.

It *******ized the classic story too much. Far too much male hatred in the film for my taste. The villain (i.e. Stefan) did some truly heinous Game of Thrones-worthy things. The two "good guys" in this film were a spineless lackey and a doofus teenaged boy. The good faeries/pixies were annoying, prattling morons.

Maleficent was changed from an outright evil baddie to an abused woman with a score to settle. I don't care for that kind of story.

By the climax I was so overwhelmed with the pro-feminist warrior angle I busted out laughing. It wasn't nuanced at all. No shades of gray. Maleficent was betrayed and abused so lashed out until she got revenge on her attacker. She was just misguided for a time in attacking his daughter first. I the end, she destroyed him. Heaven help poor Aurora and Philip if they do later fall in love. I doubt this Maleficent will believe it or allow Aurora follow her heart. She came off as more of a black widow type of character. I can see her encouraging Aurora to use Philip to beget a child then destroy him before he betrays her.

 

[family1]

SPOILERS

.....Ok..I have loved Disney for many years...there hasn't been much I haven't liked but it is just really hard to mess with the classics!! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??? Took kids to see this today and I didn't like that they changed the fairies and made them morons, to the point of almost letting a baby fall off a cliff...why change their names and make them dumb but leave them as smart educated teachers on princess sofia? Yes, princess sofia school teachers are the three fairies from sleeping beauty! It was just an annoying change for goodness sake..also gripe #2 the whole lets take the villain and make her a victim and take the parents and make them just as evil..just wasn't good. What does that teach? It's ok to justify doing bad things to others if something happens to you? UM NO! Then gripe #3 no true love kiss from Phillip...why even have a prince he was in the movie a whole whopping 30 seconds..and what is exactly wrong with a prince rescuing a princess...??? That's why it's fairy tale! Gripe #4 this was supposed to be a movie about a villain...but was really a way to change sleeping beauty...Just didn't like it. My daughter fell asleep so we will stick with the classic for her!

 

[Yellowstonetim]

Once again it apparently comes down to: You either like the twist in the story or you don't.

Obviously I do. I think the lessons are clear and very good - important, even. I hope they twist away at more classics. I always have the original to watch anyway. This doesn't change that at all. It is like two books about a point in history that disagree. Believe the one you want to believe.

The 3 fairies

A number of people have complained they didn't like how they turned the 3 fairies into idiots. This I don't understand. The 3 fairies in the original were also childish idiots that were incompetent at raising a child. In fact, in the original, it was the stupid fairies having a childish fight that caused Aurora to be discovered by Maleficent! Now in the new one they let the child get in danger, but that was to allow Maleficent to step in and save the child (out of simple curiosity at first). So I didn't see the new fairies as any worse than the originals.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

And how is Maleficent doing?

After a solid $170 million opening ($70m at home and $100m international) Maleficent held well, is now at $127mil at home and $208 international. It is now expected to make over $200 million at home and over $400 million international, so it is a hit. There is also the potential for more. $600 million could grow to 7 or more.

Here is a great article about the modern adult twist on fairytales. I like what it has to say and it references Maleficent and others:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...l-movies-sharkey-on-film-20140608-column.html

From 'Maleficent' to 'Game of Thrones,' a magical time for adults

"As to Hollywood's interest in the genre, it's as simple as follow the money. From the billions Jack Sparrow has raked in for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise to the $70-million opening weekend "Maleficent" just had, there is money to be made in fairy tales for the post-adolescent audience. Operating on the "Field of Dreams" inverse, if you come, they will build it."

 

[Yellowstonetim]

Below is a review and then an excellent article that explains the important message of Maleficent and the reason I like the movie so much.

A nice review: http://www.timesofmalta.com/article...ntertainment/Entertaining-fantasy-romp.522646

Maleficent: A Story of Repentance
http://thefederalist.com/2014/06/10/maleficent-a-story-of-repentance/

‘Maleficent’ is just the latest film in Angelina Jolie’s ongoing crusade to reshape how you think about good, evil, and forgiveness.

June 10, 2014 By Rebecca Cusey

Unlike most superstars, Angelina Jolie regularly walks into refugee camps and spends face time with war victims, hearing their stories and trying to puzzle out the mystery of man’s inhumanity to man.

Over the last few years, she has quietly brought what she’s learned to the big screen, and her blockbuster fairy-tale, “Maleficent,”is part of it.
While we in America bicker about shades of feminism, the definition of bigotry, the limits of faith, and degrees of free speech—all important topics—Jolie has walked further down that road, exploring what brings a person to a concentration camp or killing field.

“Maleficent,” a reworking of Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” from the perspective of the titular evil fairy, surprised everyone.

Most expected it to be an apology for the villain, along the lines of “Shrek” or “Wicked.”

Those stories make the case that the villain is simply misunderstood. They argue that the euro-centric, patriarchal, cisnormative, everything-normative world has gone crazy and the sane ones are those who buck the system.

But “Maleficent” is something very different. Critics walked out of “Maleficent” shaking their heads. They expected irony, delicious irony, sticking it to the status quo, but instead, they saw a sweet and sincere story of evil-doing and repentance.

When Ordinary People Do Evil
It’s no accident that Jolie’s first appearance in front of the camera since 2010, and a film which likely would not happened without her championship, echoes the themes of her directorial debut, “In the Land of Blood and Honey” (2011).

“In the Land of Blood and Honey” tells an ambitious and brutal love story set in the midst of the ethnic cleansing 1994’s Bosnian War.

Just before the war, an ordinary Serbian soldier boy flirts with a pretty Bosnian girl in a nightclub. The next time they see each other, his army unit has swept her from her home as they try to rid the country of Bosnians. Because she is pretty, she escapes a bullet to the head, only to be condemned to sexual slavery.

The soldier tries to protect her from the others in his unit, but his mixed loyalties and moral incoherence slowly transform him from a decent man into a war criminal.

The film is a meditation on what can make ordinary people do evil things.
As is “Maleficent.”

The Gift of Repentance

The Disney villain’s backstory starts with Maleficent, played by Jolie, as a kind, gentle, and innocent child utterly betrayed by a human being. Maleficent fights back, cursing her betrayer’s innocent newborn daughter with a death-like sleep .

Then the story takes a turn.

As Maleficent watches the innocent but doomed princess, she comes to love the child she calls “beastie.”

She repents of her curse. She tries to change it, desperately tries to undo it. Finding the damage irrevocable, Maleficent feels the weight of her evil choice.

Only when she confesses her guilt, sincerely apologizes, and promises to spend her life trying to make up for it, do things change. She plants a sorrowful kiss on the sleeping girl. It is this kiss, this kiss of true love and devotion, of repentance and restitution, that breaks the spell and wakes the princess.

Jolie’s next film promises to keep the theme going.

“Unbroken,” which Jolie produced and directed, will come to theaters this Christmas. An adaptation of the bestselling nonfiction book about Louis Zamperini, it portrays an American prisoner of war who was horribly mistreated in Japanese camps but went on to speak powerfully of forgiveness, reconciliation, and faith.

Jolie is putting her considerable influence and fortune into movies about the depths to which ordinary people can sink and the ways in which they can be reconciled.

She is reframing the problem of evil outside our usual American battle lines. Evil cannot be simply explained away and excused by difficult circumstances, as liberals are eager to do. Nor can it be overcome merely by show of force, as some conservatives believe.

Instead, her films call people of all kinds to take responsibility for their evil deeds, to move beyond their righteous grievances, and to step into eternity, away from time’s endless cycle of vengeance and retribution.

Rebecca Cusey is a film critic. She lives near Washington DC with her family.

 

[Penny Pincher]

I have to say I'd not really considered seeing this as not a massive fan of the live action Disney stuff, but Angelina Jolie's recent comments about what the film is *really* about have made me quite curious to see how Disney built such a dark topic into a summer blockbuster. I may yet buckle and go see!

 

[Disneylover99]

I just got back from the theatre....I LOVED IT!!!! And I was a weeping mess throughout the last part of the movie. I'm glad I didn't read any reviews or know about the plot beforehand though.