Review - Maleficent

Angelina Jolie is the life and soul of this film. 

Beautifully wicked...

In 1959, Disney released 'The Sleeping Beauty' - an animated film which was considered to be Disney's most expensive production ever. However, it failed to earn over-whelming response from critics' or the audience. Years later, Disney has once again retold the classic fairy-tale - 'Maleficent' is not exactly a live-action remake, but a re-imagination of the beloved Brothers Grimm story. Told from the perspective of the evil nemesis herself, Maleficent is a more complex version, with a back-story and alternate ending. The character itself is a given complete make-over, so if you are a fan of pure evil, you are going to be disappointed.

Instead of directly starting with the Christening gathering of King Henry's charming daughter Aurora, the film provides a lengthy background story of Maleficent. Maleficent is shown as a young, naive fairy, who was once betrayed by Henry for the greed of throne. Driven in revenge, she curses the baby girl.  The film mostly follows 'The Sleeping Beauty', but instead of Maleficent plotting against Aurora, the film portrays her as more benevolent character. Linda Woolverton, the screenwriter, hits the bulls eye for the characterization of Maleficent. The character is much more layered, with qualities of forgiveness and kindness along with anger and revenge. Compared to The Sleeping Beauty's nemesis, this Maleficent is certainly a more interesting character in itself.

And Jolie does a remarkable portrayal of such an amazing character. In one of these early scenes, Jolie howls and cries in agony - like a wounded beast - and yet maintaining humanly affliction. In the highlight

curse scene, Jolie is pure evil. Her words resonate the entire hall with great power, with a bad-ass style. There are so many bits of great acting scattered here, and there, that you certainly understand why Jolie remains one of the best Hollywood super-stars.

Unfortunately, the script is so engaged with the Jolie that all of the other characters are side-lined - expect for King Henry - whose characterization has a some depth. Aurora (played by Elle Fanning) is once again your typical Disney fairytale princess which looks good, does good, and is mostly in awe. The three pixies who raise Aurora far from the Kingdom are caricatures. Quite surprisingly, they are played by Imelda Stauton, Lesley Manville and Juno Temple - great actors - but are given a substandard script.  The plot somewhat drags in the middle - which could be attributed to repetitive scenes of young Aurora.

Robert Stromberg, a gifted artist whose credits include 'The Aviator', 'Pan's Labyrinth', 'Avatar', 'Alice in the Wonderland', and so on; tried his hands on direction for the first time. He has an eye for visuals - there is no doubt in it, his two Oscars are mere proof of this statement. For a debutant director, Stromberg certainly exceeds expectations. His imagination of the entire fairytale land is dazzling, the set design for this film is one of the year's best. Unlike 'Alice in the Wonderland (2010)' where he bombarded the sets with overly colorful and flashy art designs, Maleficent's art direction is a lot more subtle, something which should also be credited to the production designers. Stromberg is also great at drama and emotions, churning out the best in Jolie. The action sequences are where he faltered; they are poorly staged and merely for the sake of it.

In the end, Maleficent is all about Jolie and the wonderful visuals. Apart for Maleficent's character herself, the film lacks any rich portrayal of any other character. Also, purists will certainly feel that the film has altered too much of the original story. That said, the film is a satisfying experience and should be considered one of the Jolie's best work.

3.5/5