Review of Maleficent (2014) by Dcedmonds — 13 Nov 2014

"Maleficent" 10 Scale Rating: 7.5 (Very Good) ...

The Good: Jolie seems like she was born to play Maleficent as she was perfect in bringing the classic villain to the big screen. A mere cock of her eyebrow or well-timed menacing glare would often times be enough to get the point across. Perhaps the best performance of Jolie's career. The story itself is well done and Maleficent's transformation from wronged fairy to evil queen was one of the highlights of the film. As a fan of the classic tale, I was more than a little apprehensive with a film casting Maleficent as an anti-hero, but it was well handled and believable. The special effects were also, for the most part, top notch as expected.

The Bad: However, a few of the denizens of the fairy realm were poorly done and looked like cartoons. That was especially frustrating since the overwhelming majority of the film was an amazing spectacle. While I was fine with most of the liberties the film takes with the story (you are indeed warned that this is NOT the story you know, but instead is what really happened), there is a key part near the end that drops the film down a notch. I scratched my head at this particular scene as it almost makes you wonder why they made the film to begin with. Copley is hit and miss and on occasion over-acts. I sort of expected this from him though as it seems to be a common issue for him.