Well, well! I wasn't sure what to think when I first heard about Disney's new 'Maleficent' movie. Another of those 'could either be really terrible, or really good' kind of movies, ya know? But after I looked up the trailer, I was quite intrigued.
It wasn't the typical 'oh no, villains who do bad things aren't really bad' story we've been seeing a lot of lately; it was looking at the motive behind an established fairytale character who seems to have at least a slight issue... (I mean really, who in the world would want to curse a baby who's too young to have done anything to anyone? What is that fairy's problem?!) But it follows the fact that what she did was still wrong, and she learns the consequence of her actions. (Ah ha! Novel idea!)
And after reading a family-safe review of the film, it looked like it was very clean as well, so we decided to go see it.
(I was also really interested to see the scenes that had been nearly matched with the old animated Sleeping Beauty. Some of it, like parts of Aurora's christening, were matched nearly movement for movement. Pretty fascinating!)
So, to begin with, Maleficent didn't always go around cursing babies -- actually, she never cursed anything. She used to be an eagle-winged fairy who protected the kingdom of mysterious creatures where she lived.
One day, while she was still quite young, she met Stefan, a human from the next kingdom over. The two became best friends, and spent long hours together over many years. Maleficent and Stefan eventually believed that they loved each other, and on her sixteenth birthday, Stefan gave her what he said was 'true love's kiss'.
(One of two kisses in the film, with the other being the obvious waking-of-the-sleeping-Beauty-kiss near the end. I've mentioned before on this blog that I don't, shall we say...appreciate...kisses in movies at all for multiple reasons. But I did appreciate that the filmmakers didn't overly draw these out like they often do. >_< Anyway...)
Then all at once, Stefan's ambitions started to get the better of him. He no longer came to visit Maleficent -- that is until he found out that if he took something he knew only he could get from her, he could become the next king.
(Here I found a plot hole that bothered me a bit; people don't just turn on their best friends [& even consider killing them] only because of greed and ambition. It might lead to that, but all of the sudden, out of the blue? Best friends one minute, attempted murder the next?! It just didn't work for me... It may have been somewhat because they rushed through the set up a bit at the beginning... Or it's just a plain old, nasty 'plot hole'!)
So a heartless Stefan drugs Maleficent and takes her wings, claiming to have killed her, and thus securing the throne for himself.
When Maleficent wakes up and discovers what he's done, she is understandably overcome by anguish, severe physical pain, and heartbroken anger -- which she begins to take out on the other creatures in her kingdom.
In an effort to find out the reason for Stefan's betrayal, she enlists the help of a crow (whom she turns into and out of a human at will) to 'be her wings'. The crow discovers Stefan's becoming king, and Maleficent's hurt and anger quickly turns into full-blown rage.
(I was really pleased with the actor who played the crow; he wasn't trying to make himself seem fabulous or anything, so his acting was honest and believable. Plus he had some great lines. :P He was an excellent balance to Maleficent and made the whole crow thing quite interesting.)
When, not long after, the crow discovers that now-King Stefan's wife has had a baby girl, Maleficent anger comes full-circle, and she sets out to exact revenge; to take something precious from Stefan as heartlessly as he stole from her.
And so, she crashes Aurora's christening. Though the king does beg Maleficent not to do anything, he's clearly unrepentant of his own cruelty.
Maleficent does not hesitate to curse the tiny princess with a death-like sleep when Aurora turns sixteen, and sets 'true love's kiss' as the only way to free her, since she believes that true love does not exit.
So the king sends baby Aurora away with three good fairies to be hidden until the day after her sixteenth birthday and burns all the spinning wheels in the kingdom, while sending out all his soldiers to hunt Maleficent down for good.
Though the three fairies disguise themselves as peasant women and adore the little princess, they are horribly ignorant on how to care for a baby. They try to feed her whole vegetables, sleep right through her crying and forget about her, among numerous other things, and still feel that they're doing quite well with their task.
Maleficent, who stayed nearby only to play tricks on the three easily-upset fairies, ends up sending her crow with milkflowers to feed the baby, and looks in at the princess from the window. But she's rather put out when Aurora isn't the least bit afraid of her.
(little Aurora is played by Angelina Jolie's then-4-year-old daughter, Vivienne)
In fact, all throughout her sixteen years of growing up, Aurora is never afraid of the tall, dark fairy with black horns, watching from the shadows. And Maleficent, though she claims she hates children, comes around often out of curiosity -- and to continue pulling pranks on the other three clueless fairies.
When Aurora nears her sixteenth birthday, she meets Maleficent face to face and begins to really grow on the fearsome fairy with her charming smile and a bright love of life Maleficent forgot long ago.
It seems all is well, and Maleficent eventually even tries to take back her curse on Aurora, but finds that her own spell cast in anger is too strong for even her to revoke.
And then comes the fateful day of Aurora's sixteenth birthday. Though Maleficent tries everything she can to save her, (even bringing the young Prince Philip -whom Aurora met once before- to try to help) but the cursed death-like sleep still claims Aurora before the sun sets.
The elements of the traditional ending are still present in the story, but with a little bit of a twist I won't give away.
All in all, I quite enjoyed the movie. The rich, tapestry-like colors and scenes in the film were very beautiful, and James Newton Howard's score was of course fabulous.
I didn't exactly care for the film's resolution of justice between Maleficent and Stefan in the end, and there was a very annoying 'Catwoman' moment for Maleficent toward the end that totally took me out of the story and didn't even remotely fit. :P But Angelina Jolie played the part of Maleficent perfectly; she was very elegant and other-worldly, and used her different tones of voice and minimal movements to great advantage for the character.
I thought all the characters were played very well. The film was well cast and the costuming was real and beautiful. And there was a good message about not exacting revenge for yourself or it will just come back down on your own head.
So, all that said, I think I would definitely recommend seeing Maleficent for yourself. Though you may find yourself being a little more careful of spinning wheels in the future, and looking at large black crows in a very different light. :P
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