'Maleficent' A Review

Maleficent is a retelling of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the villain Maleficent. Once upon a time the countries of fairy and man lived next to each other under an uncertain truce. A young fairy Maleficent and a young boy Stefan became friends. Years passed and a romance grew. Unfortunately the human king became ambitious and attempted to invade the fairy kingdom but was thrown off by Maleficent. The king was injured during the battle and decreed any man who killed Maleficent would become the next king. Stefan overcome with greed used his friendship with Maleficent and through a despicable act became the next king. Maleficent, overcome with this betrayal, rejects the human world and sets her sights on revenge.

Visually the film is rich and engaging. Lush colors, interesting creatures, and memorizing naturescapes. Angelina Jolie as Maleficent puts in an interesting and layered performance as the hero/villain and titular character. She brings an incredible amount of believability and realism to all the fantasy. We see her go through a complex change and the film does a good job of creating a story with a lot of moral ambiguity. Unfortunately her character is the only one that is developed, that has any depth. Aurora and Stefan are both terribly underwritten and Elle Fanning and Sharlto Copley do nothing to heightened the limping script. Fanning is vacant, seemingly reading her lines from cue cards. Copley is brash and braying with no hint of an actual personality, more appropriate to an 80's action movie like Running Man.

Worth the watch for the visuals and for Jolie's performance. Low expectations yield high reward.

Rent It.