Review of Maleficent (2014) by Nicholasbert — 20 Aug 2014

The twisting of a classic fairy-tale is never easy - and it definitely shows how Disney is running out of original ideas, but the film in itself is not that bad, although completely dependent on Angelina Jolie's acting.

Indeed the other actors are not quite up to the task, with the weird accent changes (I suppose the growingly Scottish accent of Stephan symbolizes his embitterment) and the exaggerated facial expressions... but if you have in mind it's a fairy-tale, it's all quite forgivable and forgettable. And Angelina looks like she could get a couple more pounds on her legs and neck, to be fair.

This film has a grand plot hole - I'm sure some have noticed. In my opinion, 10 to 20 minutes more of duration added to the ending could have fixed it, and would have probably made Maleficent a much better movie, but as we know, Disney don't like their movies to be more than 100 minutes long.

I wasn't expecting intelligent writing, big plot twists, witty dialogue, so I wasn't disappointed when I found none of those: again, the perspective is that of a fairy-tale, and it is, after all, a film meant for children. I just hope they have watched the animated Sleeping Beauty, or even better read the fairy-tale, before they watch Maleficent.