Film Review: Maleficent

You know her, you walked with her once upon a nightmare.  Maleficent, the original villain from Disney's Sleeping Beauty, is an instantly recognizable icon of evil; even if you never knew her name, there is no mistaking her tall dark figure with the twisted horns, the wicked green fire all around her, and her coldly sardonic demeanor.  Originally, she was evil just for the sake of being evil, and for all intents and purposes, that was all she needed; she was a villain we all loved to hate, and she is one of the most definitive examples of her given archetype (that of the evil witch, sorceress, or a dark queen of sorts).  But, she was a rather one-dimensional caricature that was begging to be filled and fleshed out as a deeper character.  I always wondered, what was her beef with the king and the princess and everybody else? Why was she so evil?

2014's Maleficent comes in an ever-growing line of live-action fairy-tale movies, to flip around the moral roles of the classic Sleeping Beauty tale and show a new perspective on who's really good and who's really evil.  Those who are familiar with the classic animated film will recognize the characters and scenes instantly, but they are remixed in pretty refreshing ways.  Obviously, the main goal is to make Maleficent herself a more empathetic character with a compelling backstory, so we can understand why she does what she does, and allow us to root for her.  At the same time, the other characters we always thought of as good are villainized.

Despite these interesting twists, the story doesn't really bring that much new to the table.  It's actually been a common trend nowadays to make the bad guys sympathetic (as Disney already did with Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, and Oz:  The Great and Powerful).  Thus, the story for Maleficent became predictable, even when it tried its best to be unpredictable.  The only thing that really keeps it from falling into mediocrity is Angelina Jolie's sumptuous performance as the title character, and the sumptuous visuals.

If it's fantastic visual whimsey you want, the film will certainly deliver, but not in any kind of dark or gothic manner.  Even at its darkest moments, Maleficent maintains a pretty light fairy-tale tone, offering just a few major scenes of combat and battle.  There are scenes that are goofy just as much as there are scenes that are dramatic and serious.  You could find it really delightful or really dry, and it all really depends on how invested you are in the storytelling and genre.

Fortunately, the storytelling isn't all that terrible.  Even though it retreads much of the classic tale, it moves at a pretty even rate, and it seems more interested in actually telling the story and developing a deeper pathological struggle than stringing together action setpieces.  In the end, I found it most interesting in the way it spun the characters around and developed a pathological conflict between Maleficent and King Stefan, using other characters as proxies, as if they were pawns in a 16-year-long chess game.  As this goes on, the characters experience just enough change to make them endearing and twist the plot around to its inevitable climax.

The film is pretty well-made, with decent photography and editing.  Angelina Jolie embodies the title character perfectly, while Sharlto Copley plays a perfect jerk once again.  Writing gets the job done, but I felt that some of the dialogue was weak.  This production uses good-looking sets, props, and costumes.  Special effects tended to look cartoony and fake.  Music is alright.

Maleficent falls somewhere in between the colorful, whimsical Oz:  The Great and Powerful and the gritty, serious Snow White and the Huntsman.  It is pretty much more of the same, but it's best seen for its visual flair and for Angelina Jolie's captivating performance.  Chances are that families and genre fans will love this film, while most others will be indifferent.  Probably best recommended as a rental.

3.5/5 (Entertainment:  Pretty Good | Story:  Pretty Good | Film:  Average)