Fairy tales are on the up for movies. In the last two years, we already had Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood... and now, Sleeping Beauty.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. If I am honest, I was expecting either the story we know well to be told from a different point of view or a cliché - a history of suffering or abuse as a child that explains the anger and evilness at later life. Granted, there was a little of that, but I wasn't quite expecting the twist at the end. It's hard to talk too much about it without giving the end away, so I will be brief. I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't watched it yet.
As expected, Angelina Jolie does a really great job as Maleficent and the character suits her well. I have also become a big fan of the crow Diaval (Sam Riley), which was transformed into a man for a good part of the movie. Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning), on the other hand, was incredibly annoying and so was the prince and the three fairies. However, I thought it was quite interesting that on this version the fairies don't really know how to look after a human child, which brought a level of realism to it. Why would they? But I suppose my biggest surprise was Sharlto Copley, who plays King Stefan, Aurora's father. Bearing in mind I haven't watched any other films he has starred on and had never heard of the guy before, I thought he was quite good at portraying an obsessed man who slowly descents into madness.
And despite the darkness that seems to envelop most of the recent fairy tale remakes, as every Disney film, Maleficent surely comes with a big moral lesson - ruthless greed is the evil of the world and love and the good in people always prevail.
I would say Angelina Jolie and Sharlto Copley are definitely worth the watch.
MOVIE TRAILER
FILM RATING:
With nobody to play against except her own bad self, even Maleficent is more of a striking objet d'art than a character.
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