Everybody knows the story of the beautiful Princess Aurora, otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty, forced to go into hiding with the three good fairies in order to try to escape the villain’s, Maleficent, evil curse that was placed on Aurora as an infant. But the new live-action movie “Maleficent” makes you rethink everything you thought you knew about the age-old tale.
This movie takes a bite off of what the musical “Wicked” does for audiences. Having the point of view from the supposed “villain’s” perspective and giving us a taste of their back story, the audience is able to empathize with the character in question. In “Maleficent,” we see her backstory as a little girl, or fairy if you will, growing up in a magical place surrounded by other magical creatures. She was once a beautiful and happy girl, but she was betrayed by a person she once called a friend, which caused her to grow cold and a little bit wicked. Characters aren’t just evil for no reason: someone wronged them and made them like that.
In the movie “Sleeping Beauty.” we see Maleficent as a cold and ruthless villain with seemingly no conscience. She curses the baby Aurora because she did not receive an invitation to the royal christening; back in 1600 France (where and when the movie takes place), it would have been a huge insult not inviting someone of Maleficent’s rank in the kingdom.
In “Sleeping Beauty,” the villain is very apparent right away because of the use of maniacal laughter and lime green smoke (the color lime green is associated with evil), but in “Maleficent,” the story takes many turns, and the characters are much more three dimensional, making them more relatable and realistic (besides the magic forest creatures, of course). This leaves the viewer wondering just who is truly in the wrong.
Angelina Jolie is absolutely breathtaking as Maleficent, from her basic appearance choices to her clear acting abilities. According to The Atlantic, Jolie got her look from Lady Gaga’s album cover for Born This Way. The cover shows Lady Gaga with various spikes coming from her forehead, cheeks, and shoulder blades. Jolie had prosthetic cheeks placed on her face in order to obtain the “pointy” look. Jolie somehow manages to become both scary and beautiful when she dawns her Maleficent make-up
Alongside Jolie is the beautiful Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora. Although she makes a great Sleeping Beauty, she isn’t the only one with the newly acquired princess title. Jolie’s daughter, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, also plays the young Princess Aurora! According to E! Online, the 5-year-old blondie had to have her dad, Brad Pitt, there at all times in order to willingly film a scene.
Although Jolie and the basic story and its moral are fantastic, the special effects clearly are just trying too hard. Most of the kingdom that the mythical creatures live in is completely CGI (computer generated-imagery).
This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone, as the director of the film, Robert Stromberg, was in charge of the visual effects in movies such as “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Golden Compass”, and he won Best Achievement in Art Direction for both “Alice in Wonderland” and “Avatar” at the Oscars. Although the animation is very detailed, the overall picture looks far too cartoony. When the movie goes back and forth between the people and the animation, it leaves the viewer feeling like they are seeing two different movies, one live-action and one animated, which in turn causes the audience to become confused as to what is actually going on.
One thing that viewers need to be aware of is that “Maleficent” isn’t an exact replica of “Sleeping Beauty” — it is different in many aspects. The choices that went into the making of this movie do venture the story away from the Disney classic. There is no good versus evil. There are people with backstories and emotions, both of whom are trying to get their way in life
“You can have two separate movies on similar subjects. Plus it has a twist,” said senior and Disney fanatic Elizabeth Woo, on people saying negative things about the adaptation. “Like “Beastly” and “Snow White and the Huntsman” and all the other ones. They have so many different movies that they have created new stories for. It’s like recreating something but making it more modern and still staying classical.”
This movie in all was very intriguing and interesting to watch. “Maleficent” shines, once upon a dream.
