Review of Maleficent (2014) by Examnyisis — 08 Jun 2014
Immediately as the film starts, a narrator tells us about Maleficent's back story. We are shown who she is, but most of what the audience knows is delivered through narration. We meet Stephen shortly afterwards.
Maleficent falls in love with him because the narrator says so. However, Stephen is "ambitious" because the narrator says so. Stephen leaves Maleficent behind. She is sad because the narrator says so.
.. The narrator eventually eases off halfway through the film. This is a poor way to impart exposition to the audience in a film, and the rest of the narrative is unfortunately weak due to further poor characterization of the antagonist and supporting characters.
Jolie's performance as Maleficent saves her character somewhat. I DID like the feminist message at the end, clumsily executed as it was. Ultimately, this film suffers from very basic narrative and character deficiencies resulting from poor exposition and cliche overuse.
This film is not necessarily terrible, but one should not expect to find a profound feminist narrative here.
This review of Maleficent (2014) was written by Examnyisis on 08 Jun 2014.
Maleficent has generally received positive reviews.
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