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As 'Sleeping Beauty' is one of my favourite films, Disney, animated or otherwise, and Maleficent is a contender for the scariest and most memorable female villain of the Disney canon, despite the mixed reviews 'Maleficent' did maintain my interest.
Finally watching it after being very behind with film-watching, 'Maleficent' does have enough to salvage it from being a complete waste but largely it is really underwhelming.
The best thing about 'Maleficent' is the performance of Angelina Jolie. Jolie looks incredible in her knockout costume and make-up (which are spot on for the character), and she is sinister and alluring while also bringing some wit to some scenes. The film also looks gorgeous, it's beautifully shot with eye-catching and richly atmospheric set and costume design and the director's long-time experience in special effects work clearly shows in the film. The score is whimsical, haunting, hypnotic and beautifully orchestrated, as one would expect from James Newton Howard.
In terms of story, the highlight is the suspenseful and quite powerful Christening scene, that gave the film and Maleficent's character so much promise and set the tone brilliantly. Also loved the delectably witty and subtly dangerous rapport between Maleficent and her servant Diaval, played creepily by Sam Riley, it is by far the best-executed and believable of all the character relationships in the film.
However, part of the problem is that after how well Maleficent (film and character) is set up and after the character making such an impact as one of Disney's most iconic and scariest villains it just didn't seem believable no matter how much the film tried seeing her softened and more sympathetic. More problematic is that in the attempts to give Maleficent this dimension and origins story, most of the rest of the characters suffer, not just in being bland but in some cases being distorted. The worst case being King Stefan being made into a shockingly one-dimensional and underwritten villain. Prince Phillip is almost completely useless (Aurora's mother even more so), even for a plot device, and the three good fairies are irritating and their inept stupidity makes them far less endearing.
With the performances, the only great one is Jolie's (Riley's is also effective but his role isn't anywhere near as juicy). Elle Fanning is a very vacuous and at worst somnambulist Aurora. Say what you will about the Aurora in the animated film being a dull catalyst in her film, she is at least one of the most beautiful visually Disney protagonists, radiates in charm and her singing voice is one of the most distinctive and loveliest in a Disney film ever, which at least makes her memorable, all three attributes of which Fanning lacks with her Aurora. Sharlto Copley both fails to engage and over-compensates as Stefan, Brenton Thwaites is bland while Juno Temple and fine actresses Lesley Manville and Imelda Staunton are charmless and annoying, their slapstick comic relief falling as flat as a pancake.
Linda Woolverton's script is very lazy here, with clichéd and dreary dialogue and very clumsy attempts at being funny. Apart from the christening scene and the scenes between Maleficent and Diaval, the story is a mess of inconsistencies and half-baked ideas seen before in Disney films that executed them far better (notably 'Frozen'), not enough of it enchants and entertains and it is really hard to swallow Aurora being so forgiving as easily as that.
Overall, starts off great and has benefits of looking beautiful, having a wonderfully composed music score and a lead performance that couldn't have been more perfect. But it isn't enchanting or entertaining enough really, and the way the other characters are written and the flawed execution of the script and story hurt 'Maleficent' severely. 4/10 Bethany Cox
4/10
