Movie Review: Maleficent (2014)
Written by Anthony Sargon
I wasn’t exactly looking forward to Maleficent. Recent re-tellings and re-imaginings of classic stories and fairytales like Snow White and the Huntsman and Alice in Wonderland have left me quite cold, so I just wasn’t expecting much. I’m sad to say that my apprehensions were validated; excluding Angelina Jolie’s captivating performance, this new spin on the classic Sleeping Beauty tale does absolutely nothing to enhance the story, and actually detracts from it. The film is essentially a giant, expensive excuse to cast Jolie in the iconic role, and while that does pay some dividends, a good movie it is not.
The story is very much based on the original Sleeping Beauty, except that this time, the story is told from Maleficent’s (Angelina Jolie) perspective. We meet our title character as a young faerie living in a magical realm knowns as The Moors. When young Maleficent meets a human peasant called Stefan (adult version played by Sharlto Copley), the two fall in love and build a long-lasting relationship. Problem is, Stefan is more preoccupied with becoming king, and when he’s given the chance to ascend to the throne by defeating Maleficent, his lust for power ultimately leads him to betray her. Maleficent, now full of anger and hatred, decides to pay King Stefan back by cursing his newborn baby girl with a curse, which leads us to a slight re-imagining of the events we all know.
Although I have my fair share of problems with the film (which I’ll get into soon), I can’t deny that Angelina Jolie is absolutely magnificent in the role. She’s magnetic as the mistress of all evil, and the audience I was with cheered every time her character did something remotely badass. I’ll admit that even I joined in a few times out of sheer excitement. Even with horns, wings, and really intense cheek bones, she looks stunning. And that, my friends, is pretty much the only good thing about Maleficent.
For one, the story didn’t work for me. The only reason it’s tolerable is because it’s based on such great source material, but every deviation this story took absolutely did not work for me. According to this version, Maleficent becomes the mistress of all evil is because she was betrayed by a man. Really? One of the most recognizable villains in the history of popular culture came to existence because of a failed relationship with a dude? Come on guys; you can do better than that.
Also, the visual effects were far from impressive, which is extremely disappointing when you consider that director Robert Stromberg was a VFX artist and designer for many years before making his directing debut with Maleficent. A lot of the creatures looked pretty awful, including those weird goblins, the faeries, and anything green screen related. And if you think the film looks similar to Alice in Wonderland and Oz: The Great and the Powerful, it’s because Stromberg was a VFX artist on those films as well (yikes!).
The worst part about Maleficent, though, is that it managed to make Sharlto Copley give a terrible performance. I personally thought Copley could do no wrong, but sadly, there’s nothing redeemable about his performance as Stefan, and I was cringing any time he opened his mouth. I did really like Elle Fanning as Aurora, but she wasn’t given much to do except smile and act impressed at all the fake CGI stuff floating around.
The Verdict:
Angelina Jolie deserves every bit of credit she’s getting for her performance as Maleficent. The rest of the movie? Eh, not so much.
Numerical Score: 5.5/10
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