I finally managed to catch a showing of Maleficent recently, I just wanted to see if this film would live up to the standard of previous Disney films. Firstly, I liked the narrative of Aurora, but I felt like we needed to hear more. I thought they styled Angelina perfectly, she has the perfect physique for this role and the make-up and costume was stunning.
Things I liked:
The writing (at times). I loved how they managed to intertwine comedy and darkness. Jolie's character was not completely stoic as her literary reference could have been. They managed to show Maleficent's heart and how she cared for Aurora even though she did not want to.
The appearance of Jolie's daughter:
I loved the scene with Jolie and her daughter Vivienne. It was so cute and funny and it made me smile, I could just imagine how all of that was filmed, and how cool it must be for your mother to play a Disney villain.
The scene in the window:
When Maleficent said "It's so ugly you could almost feel sorry for it", you could tell she was trying to excuse the fact she actually admired the child, and the cuts between her face and the baby smiling was heart-warming. And when she fails at scaring the baby she states, "I hate you... beasty" is just another funny moment .
Diaval
I liked how Diaval the crow looked out for Aurora and reminded Maleficent at times of her humanity.
The exploration of rape in a Disney film
When watching the scene I understood what it symbolised, issues of consent and someone taking something without permission. After it happened we saw Maleficent screech after discovering her wings were taken from her, it was good to see this in a children's film, even if the target audience didn't fully understand the denotation it was offering, the adult audience would, allowing for an effective lesson to be delivered.
http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/angelina-jolie-maleficent-rape
Aurora- woken by Maleficent
I LOVED how this film deterred from typical stereotypes of 'Price Charming's kiss'. Aurora did not have a biological mother figure, and the fact that this bond between her 'fairy god mother' as she called her and the same person who cursed her, surpassed everything to ultimately save her was refreshing.
Things I did not like
The King and Queen:
The Queen's character was very weak, especially in the scene where there daughter was being cursed. You would think a mother would cause more of a disruption/ a fuss if her child was being threatened, not much reaction was given. The next thing was the Queen's death, it was not explored at all, 'oh the Queen is dying', wow come on give her more credit than that.
The king annoyed me, you did not get a sense of corruption in the monarchy, enough to turn this little boy who was in love with Maleficent into someone who just decided he wanted to be king. As far as I know he was a farm boy, did the previous King not have an heir? I just think the plot was a bit too rushed. I didn't like the King's overall characterisation, it's like he cared more about killing Maleficent than caring for the daughter that he was trying to protect in the first place.
Fight scenes
The fight scenes were average, the same thing seems to happen in most of them in the fairy tale genre, was not really a spectacle.
Aurora... are you just going to stand there?
When Maleficent was captured by her father, Aurora was just standing around, ok I know it might be over whelming for a 16 year old, but this woman just saved your life, I would have wanted to see a little more fight in her character and not this fairy wary kid.
Typical ending
Joy a fairy tale ending, boy and girl happy ever after, I know its a children's film and yes its from a fairy tale but it would have been cool to see some girl power, with Aurora and Maleficent ruling the moors at the end. But hey, its Disney.
Overall it was a sweet film, bit wish washy but I would give it a 6/10
