Maleficent(3D), Hollywood English Film movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * 1/2

Maleficent(English/3D) Rating: *  * ½  Anjolina Jolie’s Diva-like evil fairy look adds weight to her brand as a Hollywood star but it does little for a film that gives you the point-of-view of the Wicked fairy from ‘Sleeping beauty.’ So it’s not a fairy tale as we know and like it- it’s more of a dark tale about revenge and redemption! This one could be too confusing for the little ones!

                                                     

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English Film review

Johnson Thomas

Film: Maleficent(3D)

Cast: Anjelina Jolie, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Miranda Richardson, Juno Temple

Director: Robert Stromberg

Rating: *  * ½

Synopsis:  It’s the story of the evil fairy from ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ with Anjelina Jolie assaying the pivotal role of Maleficent, who as a young girl possessed radiant beauty and a pure heart but because of a human’s greed , transforms into a vengeful huntress.

Review:

Maleficent, is Disney’s revisionist account of the evil fairy who dooms a princess to eternal slumber in the 1959 animation Sleeping Beauty.

 Maleficent when just at the cusp of womanhood falls in love with a human who appears kind and reciprocates her feelings. Unfortunately, that very man grabs at the opportunity to marry a princess and make the kingdom and riches his own by cutting off Maleficent’s wings and causing her to lose her avian glory. That prompts Maleficent’s diabolical transformation into evil.  And that is when she curses the progeny of that union between an ordinary human and a princess, with a dead sleep that will only be awakened by ‘True Love’s Kiss.’

Creating a fiery tale all it’s own, Disney’s scriptwriter Linda Woolverton, envisages this revisionist fantasy creature as one that goes from good to evil to good again. A little too confusing for the young minds it’s targeted at. The tale is not told with any finesse. It lumbers along strangely, looks a bit choppy in transitions and swings from whimsy to despair  and regret without the traditional enchantment that was expected. The multiple rewrites have done little to improve the experience. The tone is very shaky. From an enchanted landscape to a dark and ominous one, the movement is not smooth or gravitating. The film fails to probe into the psychology of it’s lead character and as a result does little to fortify the alternate history it re-imagines.

Opening with a storybook-themed voiceover narration, “Maleficent” tells us about a realm of two rival kingdoms – the world of humans and the outlying moors, which are home to fairies, trolls and imposing wickermen. Darting around the moors like a sort of saucer-eyed Tinkerbell is the winged young fairy Maleficent (Isobelle Molloy), who strikes up an unlikely friendship, and later romance, with a trespassing human farmhand named Stefan (Michael Higgins). That’s when the evil begins to take shape.

 

The best thing about the film is the look and Anjelina Jolie’s Diva like presence. Unfortunately that also happens to hamper the immiscibility.robert Stromberg’s direction is not very assured and even though the film has a clever take, it’s just not coherent in it’s emotional arcs.   The imagery is exquisite and the scope magnificent. Unfortunately the 3D does little to aid the enjoyment. And that’s the unfulfilling story of ‘Maleficent.’

Johnsont307@gmail.com