Review of Maleficent (2014) by Johnny T — 22 Jan 2015

Maleficent is an admittedly great-looking, sometimes creepy, often plodding and utterly unconvincing re-imagining of a famous romantic fairy tale as a female empowerment metaphor. Maleficent desperately tries to create a character whose motivation you will understand and empathize with. But the screenplay and direction are such a tangled, thorny patch of conflicting ideas that it's hard to tell what that motivation is supposed to be. However, Angelina Jolie's magnetic performance outshines Maleficent's dazzling special effects; unfortunately, the movie around them fails to justify all that impressive effort. There's several moments where the titular character sits around watching other people and waiting for things to happen. In order to re-invent it from her POV, there were bound to be a lot of things that don't make sense, such as believable motivations. The material seems too dark and violent for the target demographic, who could have difficulty finding a rooting interest in characters that possess more degrees of villainy than heroism. There's an ultrasappy, unnecessary and modern spin on the classic happily ever after. You know, because so many people have complained for centuries that the end needed a do-over. For all its ambitions and striking visuals, Maleficent is a dreamlike miasma of bad ideas.

VERDICT: "Not So Hot" - [Negative Reaction] These films are truly terrible films. They are not the worst things ever made, but they are definitely awful and should not be seen by anyone. (Films that are rated 1.5 or 2 stars).