2. Maleficent

Maleficent
Directed by Robert Stromberg
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2014

Genre
Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling

Honors
None known

Review
This movie is a retelling of Disney's Sleeping Beauty from the prospective of Maleficent, the protagonist in the original film.  The story follows Maleficent as a young girl enjoying her wings, the freedom of her land (the Moors), and befriending a young human boy named Stephan.  Humans were not allowed in the Moors due to a history of war between the two lands, until Stefan begins spending time with Maleficent.  The two grow up and Maleficent falls in love with him, but Stefan sees a chance to become king in his own realm if he can prove Maleficent is dead.  He drugs her one night, but can’t bring himself to kill her, so he cuts off her wings for his prize.  He goes on to become king, marrying the princess and having a daughter named Aurora.  Maleficent shows up at the celebration of Aurora's birth and curses her to fall into a coma at 16 after pricking her finger on a spinning needle.  But as Maleficent watches the child, she unintentionally grows fond of her and tries to remove the curse, but fails.  This movie has beautiful scenery, but is very dark at times.  It has a general theme of overcoming that can speak to many audiences, though younger children may be frightened at times.  This is a must-see for any fairy tale lovers.

Opinion
Many reviewers, and even Angelina Jolie, consider the scene where Maleficent's wings are stolen by Stefan to be a rape metaphor.  While nothing graphic is shown, this is a very dark scene and can cause a deep emotional reaction.  I feel that most tweens will focus more on the literal occurrences in the movie, but this interpretation is certainly something to be aware of.  Angelina Jolie played her part very well, though most of her character was portrayed through actions and CGI; she spoke much less than I thought she would.  Her facial expressions and behaviors did a good job of portraying her character's feelings without introducing the presence of a narrator reminiscing.  I felt that the characters aside from Maleficent were very non-dimensional and unexplored, and even Maleficent was slightly shallow (though certainly more complete than the others).  The 3-D effects seemed in good taste, not overused or ineffective, and the scenery was believable and beautiful.

Ideas
This is a good family movie, but likely not something to let children watch alone.  This film may provoke discussion about some of the "big questions": why do bad things happen to good people and why do people do bad things? It's a good example of overcoming a desire for revenge and remembering who you are outside of anger.