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Maleficent review

REVIEW: Maleficent: Mistress of Lazy Filmmaking

16 October 2019 by Chris Ryan Leave a Comment

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As soon as I sat down to watch this movie I regretted not re-watching the original 2014 film Maleficent to refresh my memory of the plot (as it stands, I actually remembered absolutely none of it). But as I got to thinking, I realized it was actually okay that I hadn’t done this. I assume that most people don’t really remember the plot of Maleficent, and that they too would be going in relatively blind.

If you’ve read any other film review I’ve written for this site, you’ll know they all largely follow the same basic theme: I don’t really care for the movie and think it has a lot of poorly executed elements, but in the end, it’s at least mildly entertaining. So it should be no surprise that I think Maleficent: Mistress of Evil really fits that mold too.

In passing I’ve definitely said previously that the original Maleficent was my favorite live-action remake. I feel like I need to clarify this. I don’t like the original Maleficent very much either, but I liked what it attempted to be – something that wasn’t just a 1:1 remake of an animated movie from several decades ago. It had its own perspective and take on the original story that could’ve made for something very compelling. Ultimately though, personally, I don’t think that idea was seen through very well at all.

My issue at this point is that all of these movies are extremely safe and marketable. The ‘live-action’ remakes yes, but even Disney’s seldom seen original IP are stale and worry-free. An avid viewer of such movies would be quick to point out something like The Nutcracker and The Four Realms; a unique take on a classic with a bold choice in design and fresh new elements. But this too sees the shortcomings of Disney’s safe/marketable rules. A new idea like Nutcracker is heavily constrained in its budget, and ultimately can’t do very much other than simply play it safe. Now, do I think that if Nutcracker hadn’t been so constrained it would’ve been good? No, but that’s beside the point.

Obviously it’s within Disney’s best interests to play to their biggest markets and try to make as much money as possible. They can’t necessarily do that if they were to make one-off films with a unique plot that breaks the mold – it’s way too risky. They’re in the business of making money, and every movie that has left Disney’s production team for at least the past five years has been well crafted to be perfectly safe.

 

Maleficent: Mistress of Confusing Art Design

Elle Fanning is Aurora in Disney’s live-action MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL

I assume you can begin to gauge my opinion of Mistress of Evil from that alone. It took no risks, had no groundbreaking plot, made no profound statement.

I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to just criticize every aspect of the movie though – there were some things that I really did enjoy. I thought a lot of the art design was VERY good. Locations like the homeland of the Fae (from which Maleficent herself originates), felt straight out of Pandora: The World of Avatar – and ironically made me really look forward to Avatar 2. 

But it would seem that no good deed goes unpunished, because I absolutely could NOT stand the design of the fairies/creatures of the Moors. Looking at them made me want to turn the movie off. I seriously wish that a photo of them had been publicly released or sent to us. For those who do see the movie, I’m talking about the strange hedgehog girl and the bizarre mushroom boy. For those who don’t see the movie, I’m sorry that I sound crazy right now. Those two examples are just so odd looking that I hated them, but people who’ve seen the first Maleficent may remember the incredibly uncanny valley Fairy Godmother characters. Be advised that the first 10 minutes of this movie are dedicated to full CGI establishing shots that are teeming with more and more of these weird and uncomfortable creatures that I did not very much care for.

Character-design-rant aside, I also happened to enjoy the soundtrack. It fell into the background a bit more than I would’ve liked, but there were some moments when I thought it was used in a very compelling way. In a similar vein, the sound design itself was actually pretty notable. There’s a lot of odd creatures in this movie but they all manage to sound exactly like how you’d expect them to.

I had never heard of the director before, and looking at his work again now, the only notable thing he’s made was 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Again, I enjoyed that movie – a bit more than Mistress of Evil – but it really just stayed the course of safe-bet movies.

 

Maleficent: Mistress of Unnecessary

Angelina Jolie is Maleficent in Disney’s MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL.

So what do we take away from this? If you’re Disney, apparently nothing. I saw yesterday that on October 18th (opening day of the movie), my local theater is showing Mistress of Evil 28 separate times. It will definitely make money, unfortunately. Disney has placed all of their filming-eggs into one very safe and secure metaphorical basket.

Sure, Mistress of Evil was yet again moderately entertaining. But to me personally, so much of the movie felt poorly executed or lazily done that I came away from it not liking it at all. Even down to the structure of the plot, it felt like a direct-to-DVD sequel from the late 90s. The only difference is that this one had a massive budget and was shown to me in an IMAX theater.

I think lazy is the best way to describe Mistress of Evil. When asking around to my friends, over half of them didn’t even know that the movie was being made, let alone coming out in two days. Before the film started we were greeted with a few short promos of upcoming Disney productions to look forward to. Of these, Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2, a Disney Channel Original sequel to a movie I’ve never seen, made for an age group I’m way too old for, piqued my interest far more than any part of Mistress of Evil did. 

I’ll end it off by saying this: I don’t think Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is worth seeing. Normally I would add, “but that’s just me”, but this time, I really don’t think it’s just me. The Disney formula is growing old, and sure, it’s a profitable one, but for how long? Mistress of Evil probably would’ve worked better as a Disney Channel Original Movie (and from the production of it, it would’ve fit right in stylistically) or even a Disney+ Original. Especially given that it’s an unnecessary sequel to an unmemorable movie from five years ago.

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Filed Under: Disney Movie News & Reviews, Movies & Books, Top Stories Tagged With: Angelina Jolie, Disney Maleficent, Disney movie reviews, Disney movies, Disney's Maleficent, Maleficent, Maleficent 2, Maleficent 2 review, Maleficent Misstress of Evil review, Maleficent Mistress of Evil, Maleficent review, Michelle Pfeiffer, Walt Disney Pictures

Disney’s Maleficent Offers a Twist on Sleeping Beauty

30 May 2014 by Suzannah Otis 2 Comments

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Maleficent Like many others, I was completely on board and excited for Disney’s live-action Maleficent, a new look at the “real story” of the dark fairy who we first meet in the classic Sleeping Beauty tale. I had previously fallen in love with the Wicked book series by Gregory Maguire, and thought the way in which it totally turned our thoughts and ideas of “good” and “evil” upside-down and gave us a whole new anti-hero to love. I had high hopes that Maleficent would do something similar and we would find a new appreciation and understanding of this mistress of evil. Unfortunately this was not exactly the case.

As a way of warning, I will note that while I usually keep my movie reviews spoiler-free or with a huge warning ahead of the spoiler parts, I am going to forego that this time, in favor of informing everyone exactly what to expect. If you’d prefer a spoiler-free review, I will not be offended if you leave now and find your information elsewhere. That said, there be spoilers ahead!

To summarize Maleficent, it is the tale of two lands, one is ruled by kings and men and we can understand it instantly as a generic European kingdom. The other is the Moor, a marshy forest full of magical and fantastical creatures of varying size and ability. Maleficent has sort of made herself the protector of the Moor and all who dwell within, who only want peace and to be undisturbed by humans. But a small boy appears, trying to steal a jewel. In pardoning him, Maleficent and the boy, Stephan, form a friendship that grows over the years until, on Maleficent’s 16th birthday, it blossoms into love in the form of a kiss. After that, Stephan disappears and is left to the kingdom of men and its corruption. What follows then is the familiar story with a few twists thrown in. She saves a raven, by transforming him into a man, who then becomes her servant as he owes her a life debt. It isn’t until after Maleficent’s spell is cast on the baby Aurora that the story begins to change and Maleficent’s hardened and betrayed heart soon grows again as she watches over Aurora. I’ll leave it at that, saying that it may not end the way you are expecting and it will certainly challenge your views of good and evil. And now on to my thoughts on Maleficent…

First, the Pros:

Angelina Jolie. She is a perfect, perfect choice for this role, as if she were born to play it, and I’d be happy if she walked around the rest of her life in her Maleficent attire saying “Well, well” whenever it seems to fit. I think, given the story she had to work with, she brought Maleficent to life in a charming, beguiling way and she truly makes the movie worth seeing, if nothing else.

The Special Effects. They are top notch, and definitely fun to watch…they don’t necessarily always make sense or get explained and sometimes seem to be used just for the sake of “look at this cool creature we can make!” but they should be appreciated nonetheless.

Maleficent’s Redemption. I’m all about redemption and second chances and understanding the misunderstood. I love that Maleficent is redeemed and isn’t labeled a villain and evil by movie’s end. I think the audience will be able to identify with most of her story and feel for her.

The Cons:

Character Development. This saddens me the most about this film, and is what dashed my hopes more than anything else. There was such an amazing chance to retell this story well, giving each character a solid backstory and enough development to be understood and appreciated. That simply didn’t happen. We get brief glimpses of a young Maleficent as well as a young Stephan, but there are still so many questions left unanswered. What happened to Maleficent’s parents? What happened to Stephan’s? Why is Maleficent the only fairy of her kind? What are the other kinds of creatures in the Moor all about? Why is Stephan so easily swayed to betray Maleficent and forget about their childhood experiences?

In addition, I think the use of Diavel as the raven we all know from Sleeping Beauty as Diablo, was almost a crutch to allow Maleficent to do anything she needed to do. If she had infinite magic, she could’ve done anything, but instead she used Diavle almost to the point of him wanting to leave. That said, I almost feel as though his character is the most solid. He has the conscience and keeps Maleficent in check when her anger or irresponsibility goes too far, before she sees the error of her ways.

The Special Effects. I know, I just put them in the “pros” section. But really, there are so many cool effects and creatures created for this film that we just can’t appreciate because we know nothing about them. I was reminded of Oz the Great and Powerful and the random creatures that first appear when Oz lands. I was definitely left with a “what was the point of that?” with many of the effects, both Maleficent’s powers and the creatures we see. I’m not saying taking the time to explain each creature and give it a backstory would’ve been the answer, but perhaps most of them just weren’t even necessary…focus on the characters and let the power of the story carry the film.

The Story. I could lump this together with character development but I think it needs its own section. I loved Maleficent’s story. I even loved Aurora’s story, though she doesn’t have much to do with it herself. But everything else happening around it, just left me disappointed. The three fairies who “care” for Aurora are so unlikable and annoying, I began to cringe every time they came on screen. The same with King Stephan. We don’t know enough about him to warrant his decent into a mad king who will stop at nothing to “protect” his daughter, though when confronted with her toward the end, shows absolutely no fatherly love whatsoever. Everyone but Maleficent was very frustrating to watch, and even then, there are many unanswered questions with her as well.

Maleficent dragon

 

PARENTS GUIDE: In my opinion, this is NOT a young-family-friendly Disney film. It is not bloody or full of gore, but as a mom of a pretty tough 5 year-old, I know I’d be dealing with nightmares from the tree and root creatures alone, not to mention some pretty tough scenes to watch like Maleficent waking up to discover her wings gone and the various fight scenes. It is definitely not a film for younger fans of Sleeping Beauty. I would place it on par with Lord of the Rings-type of action minus the gore. I’d compare it to Harry Potter, but the focus is not on children and their experiences, so I can’t say it would be received the same way to kids as the first few Potter films. Obviously each parent knows their kids the best and can decide with their children what they can handle, but I think some research should be done before blindly going in because it is based on a Disney princess movie.

 

 

 

 

So overall, I was sadly disappointed with Maleficent. I wish it could’ve been done better and been a film which would stand the test of time and offer a new sort of fairy tale and inspire kids and adults alike to look at things from a different point of view. As it stands, I can’t in good conscience recommend the film. Even if I’d read this review myself before seeing the film, I would’ve still seen it because I am a fan of Angelina Jolie and I would’ve wanted to see the story myself, but keep your expectations low if you choose to go to Maleficent this summer.

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Filed Under: Disney Movie News & Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies & Books, Reviews, Top Stories Tagged With: Angelina Jolie, Disney Maleficent, Disney movie reviews, Disney movies, Disney's Maleficent, Maleficent, Maleficent review, Walt Disney Pictures

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