Review of Maleficent (2014) by Liam C — 29 Jan 2015

With all of the other films of its type, this seems to be one of the only ones that actually warrants existing as it changes and adds quite a lot to original story and does what it set out to do quite well.

When it started it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland (2010) which is never a good thing, I'm aware the director of this was one of the people that also did the art for that movie as well but still, it looked terribly fake and I really wasn't enjoying myself. It didn't help when there seemed to be a lot of plot conveniences near the start with things that characters say and do just to affect something later on, especially with Sam Riley's character, it all felt a bit manufactured. The longer it went on though, I found myself getting sucked into its world and it certainly does look very beautiful. Getting Robert Stromberg to direct was a smart choice because just from looking at his work, he clearly knows how to create a world and he surpassed Joseph Kosinski's 'Tron Legacy', which was actually another Disney film, for the highest budget given to a first time director by 10 million, which was still a huge risk but this film did amazingly at the box office. Both films were also, surprisingly, only up for one Oscar. Besides what I said earlier, my only complaint is some moments look like they were obviously meant for 3D and it really sticks out when they happen, it isn't all too often but it's noticeable.

At first it seemed like all the uniqueness of retelling of this story was over in the first 23 minutes but it actually kept surprising with cool and welcome changes and additions to the story. It even goes as far as to poke fun at the original storyline at parts, which I liked because the original story is the definition of a traditional fairytale and the film also has very welcome narration. Before going into this film I thought all this was going to be was the build up to the original film but I'm really happy with what happened next. I'll admit that a little during half way it did seem like it didn't know what to do but before long it got back on track with great character interactions and good comedic moments.

You can write any villain to be sympathetic to show their side of the story but in this film it actually works quite well, mostly because of Angelina Jolie's excellent all-in performance. Her love for this shows so much and she really got involved in the character design process and it's just great to see on screen, even her weakness is well written and it doesn't feel like some cheap plot point just thrown in there. The point of this is to see Maleficent's side of the story and I do think she is developed quite well and she's actually quite likeable and sympathetic. Aurora and Stefan get development as well which is nice and both actors do good jobs, especially Sharlto Copley who always plays his characters perfectly, but everyone else kind of gets forgotten about and it seems odd considering that this existed to give development to a story that didn't really have any. I'm aware these are the main 3 and I'm happy that they at least get development but it's still odd. However, I did like how one of the classic characters is absolutely useless and is completely tossed aside from the classic story, poor Brenton Thwaites, he really didn't have much to do. Sam Riley was a welcome addition and did a good job but I just wished he did more. I thought he was being built up to do the kiss because he was the one that cared for Aurora when she was younger and that would have made sense but they had something much more creative in mind, which is actually clever. Well done, film.

I might have come across like I didn't like the film that much given all the complaints that I've talked about but the honest truth is that I really liked this and if it went on longer I would have happily sat there and watched it and that's a pretty big compliment. It adds a lot to the original story and changes quite a lot to feel worth it. It gives a new perspective on a classic story and a very welcome one at that; it feels like a lot of love went into this and it shows and the cast for this film really is great and really well chosen. It might sound like I didn't enjoy it but besides the complaints I mentioned, I loved everything else and had a really good time. Also, I know it was a joke but regardless, a sequel with Maleficent fighting Ursula with the whole universe interacting wouldn't be a very good idea and would be a mess, but hey, I guess someone could make it work?