I saw the film this morning. We thought it was great. Not too scary for my 5 and 3 year old either. I loved the twist on the typical sleeping beauty story and thought that Angelina was amazing as Maleficent. The only real similarity with the original Disney version is the christening scene. The rest is very different. Not sure about some of the dodgy accents though :-/
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!
The score by James Newton Howard was very good also.
If there was one flaw - and it was a very minor one - it could have been a little longer and fleshed out the story just a little, maybe 10 minutes. But I cannot complain too much because most directors overstay their welcome.
I loved the morals but cannot say too much about them without spoiling the movie.
SPOILER ALERT... SPOILER ALERT......................................................
Well it is kind of an indirect spoiler alert: Two main characters both choose evil. One is eaten from the inside with guilt and greed and hatred, and is consumed. The other is influenced by love, and experiences regret, and then exhibits true repentance!! What a change. And innocent love is the catalyst.
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Kudos Disney! Another movie with depth.
If Gene and Roger were here, they would go:
Now I'm going back to see it in 3D!