Maleficent is the story of the classic Brothers Grimm character and legendary Disney villain Maleficent. The story differentiates from the animated film though with the way the film plays out. It focuses on Maleficent's perspective which is a viewpoint you don't hear from very often: The villain's take.
It seems that ever since Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was released in 2010, Disney has been trying to make a similar film in the same vein of it. Why? Because Alice in Wonderland grossed over a billion dollars worldwide and became the third highest grossing live action Disney film of all time. And since the only thing Disney loves more than acquiring every franchise possible, it's money. And they've been trying to replicate that formula for a while with last years Oz the Great and Powerful and Maleficent being the most recent attempt to once again strike billion dollar gold.
The film is directed by Robert Stromberg. Who's that you might ask? He's a very well known visual effects artist and a two time Oscar winning production designer for Avatar and Alice in Wonderland who's making his directorial debut. Yeah cue the red flags. The last time a well known production designer made his directorial debut we got The Cat in the Hat directed by Bo Welch. Yeah, yikes. Not to mention this film broke a record with the highest budget for a first time director at $200,000,000. And this film has been passed around from director to director even more so that Pokemon cards. These are some facts that are enough to raise suspicions.
You walk into the movie about Maleficent expecting to see a film about Maleficent and you definitely get that. I'm not a big fan of Angelina Jolie as an actress or a person, but she is without a doubt what makes this movie. For starters, her makeup is unbelievably good. From the horns to the high prominent cheekbones they got her look nailed to a tee. The makeup is done by Rick Baker and it shows. He's the same guy who did the makeup and prosthetics for the Men in Black films. To say the least, his work is immaculate. She also manages to give a rather sympathetic villain performance. The film revolves around her having cursed Princess Aurora, but as time goes on her heart starts to soften and feelings for her start to form. It's a good character arc to see a villain go through. Most of the humor falls flat, but whenever Maleficent speaks completely deadpan, it's rather funny.
The supporting cast on the other hand are completely forgettable. Sharlto Copley plays the king and his acting is just downright awful. It's so angry and over-the-top that's it's almost laughable. And I don't mind him as an actor! If anything, he was one of the few things I liked about Elysium! But he was just so miscast for this part. I could see like Sean Bean in this role but not Copley. I'm gonna sound like a jerk for saying this, but his voice really annoys me. I know that it's his voice and that's a terrible thing to nitpick about, but it just really grates on my ears whenever he yells. It's like Alanis Morissette singing while scraping nails on a blackboard. To me at least, it's that bad.
I am a huge fan of Elle Fanning but she has nothing to do in the role of Princess Aurora. She looks the part, but adds nothing. The three pixies that take care of Aurora might be some of the most annoying comic relief characters since Rebel Wilson in Pitch Perfect. What makes them even worse is that they aren't even funny! I think Jar Jar Binks has made me laugh more than these three bumbling embarrassments.
The visuals as a whole do manage to dazzle. Strombergs' background as I said before deals heavily with visual effects and production design and this film really shows it. Give or take a few instances where the CGI looks very obvious. Particularly in the pixies and the woodland creatures. The creatures in the forest looked like CGI Muppets. Kind of in the vein of Labrynth and The Dark Crystal. To say the least, they worked better as puppets.
The film's runtime is 97 minutes long. Yet it somehow cost 200 million dollars to make. Really? At least The Lone Ranger had that unbelievable train battle sequence that made me say "Oh, that's where the 250 million dollars went!" With the runtime not even reaching 100 minutes it doesn't feel like I got my money's worth! If you're still really looking forward to seeing Maleficent (which I wouldn't recommend) the least you could do is save yourself a few bucks and catch it at matinee price.
Final Report: Maleficent looks nice and provides a terrific star showcase for Angelina Jolie as the title character. But the supporting cast members are expendable. Not to mention that the 97 minute run time hardly makes it feel like you spent your $10 wisely. Kids and anyone who shops at Hot Topic frequently will probably have a good time. Anyone who doesn't fall into those first two categories will most likely forget about it. And sadly I fall in the latter category.
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