Maleficent – Villain or a Hero?

Walking into the movie theatre with tickets for Maleficent clutched in my hands, I’ll admit I was a little nervous. Sleeping beauty being one of my favourite fairy-tales as a child, I was hesitant, as I did not want to leave disappointed (as I was in the previous Snow White remake starring the oh-so animated Kristen Stewart). After 97 minutes of intense fairy action, magical forests and of course, evil humans getting their butts kicked, I must say, I was impressed. For once, a remake of a classic fairy-tale had not been a total let-down.

Starring the talented Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, the movie was a refreshing twist on an age old fairytale we all know so well. Her wonderful acting had us sympathizing with one of the most feared and hated villains of our childhood. No one could have played it better. She single handedly carried the movie forward, as the rest of the cast did not really have much of an impact, which I must say left me a bit dissatisfied. The goody-good Princess Aurora, played by Elle Fanning, bordered on annoying and the three dim-witted fairies (played by Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton and Juno Temple) left me slightly irritated. Their constant stupid antics, which I suppose were aimed at making the audience laugh, didn’t really have the desired effect.

Additional stand-out features of the film (other than Maleficent herself, of course) were the thrilling special effects. The enchanted forest was designed to look like something out of a dream and the flurry of magical creatures were absolutely wonderful. From pixies to enchanted trees, the entire scenery was beautifully portrayed. Watching the movie in 3-D was definitely a visual treat, especially watching Maleficent soar through the sky with her giant wings.

The lack of music from the original fairytale left me considerably upset. I waited eagerly throughout the movie for Lana Del Rey’s haunting rendition of the classic ‘Once Upon A Dream’, but it was sadly left out of the film. Music has become the essence of all Disney fairy-tales, especially a fairytale such as Sleeping Beauty. The use of songs from the original movie would have definitely given the movie a huge boost and would have left the audience with a more enjoyable experience.

Using more of the original dialogues from the 1959 Sleeping Beauty would have been a lot more fun to watch as was obvious during the christening scene in which the writers stuck to the original script. It left the audience excited as they could more easily relate Maleficent to the original Sleeping Beauty.

Although Maleficent had a few misses, it did have a considerable number of hits as well. The movie was a definite success, being one of the highest grossing movies of the year and becoming a success with children as well as more grown up audiences. In the end, all credit definitely goes to Angelina Jolie for giving such an enchanting performance.  This movie has left me anticipating more such remakes, such as the upcoming Beauty and the Beast film which is set to begin filming sometime this year.