Review of Maleficent (2014) by Stuart K — 06 Feb 2015
The directorial debut of Oscar winning visual effects supervisor and production designer Robert Stromberg (Avatar (2009), Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)). This is a re-imagining of Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959), by re-imagining, it turns what we thought we knew about Sleeping Beauty on it's head, and you could say the tables are turned here.
Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) is a powerful fairy living in the Moors, which has had a fractured relationship with the human kingdom, Maleficent as a girl fell in love with Stefan (Sharlto Copley), who later betrayed Maleficent and stole her wings as a trophy for the dying King Henry (Kenneth Cranham).
Stefan is made king, and Maleficent swears revenge, and she curses his daughter Aurora (Elle Fanning) to fall into a deep sleep by pricking herself on the needle of a spinning wheel when she's 16.
However, Maleficent begins to regret making that curse... It touches on human feelings and guilt, something the original never gave a second thought to, however there is a lot of imagination and style about the film, but it does have a very dark heart.
It could have been a better film, but it's a lot better than most of Disney's recent offerings.
This review of Maleficent (2014) was written by Stuart K on 06 Feb 2015.
Maleficent has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
