Maleficent review (SPOILERS)!

[biostem]

I had the opportunity to see Maleficent this weekend. I greatly enjoyed it. Here's my feedback:


1. I loved the effects and the variety of creatures. Angelina Jolie was both creepy and alluring as the title character. The creatures from the Moors were cute when needed, and intimidating.

2. I would have liked to see a bit more backstory as to what happened to Maleficent's parents, as well as why she was the only large & powerful fairy - all the other creatures were either animalistic or much weaker than her - I feel this area could have been fleshed out a bit more.

3. Some explanation for the sharp divide between the Moors and the human kingdom should have been given. There was this line of ancient-looking standing stones that separated the 2 kingdoms, leading me to believe that it was constructed to mark the border - who constructed it and how that particular location was decided, would be interesting to find out.

4. Second to Maleficent, I really like the raven - Diaval. He was a good contrast to Maleficent, provided her with a more grounded perspective, and they had some humorous sarcasm between the two. The way that their relationship grew from master & servant to friend & confidant was portrayed well. Her transforming him into the man, wolf, and dragon were awesome.

5. Stefan sawing off her wings was.. harsh. You didn't actually see it, and there was no gore per se, but her reaction at having been betrayed and maimed was something you felt.

6. Regarding Stefan, I feel the fact that he kept visiting her, then became this selfish tyrant needed a bit more development. Maybe show him after his visit with her, recounting his story and being mocked for it, then becoming resentful for his low status, would have helped explain his apparent 180 in behavior.

7. The 3 fairies provided a bit of humor, but they were also a little scary, as their negligence almost killed Aurora on more than one occasion. I think this was pretty clever of the writers, though, as it allowed Maleficent to begrudgingly step in.

8. Sleeping Beauty and the curse - the actress who played her did a good job of portraying the innocent & naive Aurora. I thought it clever how Maleficent actually succumbed to one of the fairy's gift of all who see her, would love her, plus her not being able to lift her own curse caused some tension later on.


Anyway, that's all I have for now. Feel free to add your own thoughts & opinions...

[Ziggy Stardust]

I enjoyed it well enough, but a lot of that was because of Angelina Jolie. She really carried the whole thing. The scenes of her becoming evil and when Aurora was a girl were all great. The origin story at the beginning was pretty rushed (as you mentioned), and I thought the ending was pretty lame and forgettable. Hell, the dragon barely got to do anything; he breathed some fire than got immediately chained up by the soldiers. I was really disappointed by Sharlto Copley; it seemed like he was sleepwalking through the role.

Honestly, the movie just felt SLOPPY. The editing was haphazard and the transitions between scenes was really awkward at times (like Maleficent brooding in the abandoned castle at night followed by a smash cut to a random farmer's field at day where she saves the crow with her magic was one example that made very little sense; or when Maleficent is entering the castle and there is that maze of iron which none of the other characters entering the castle had to deal with). It definitely felt like a script that got hastily rewritten by a dozen different people with different goals and kind of bastardized the whole thing. I'm not saying it's BAD per se, I enjoyed watching it and it had many strong scenes, just as a cohesive unit it was pretty underwhelming. It had a lot of potential that it didn't quite live up to.

[biostem]

I did find the iron maze/spikes off - wouldn't a series of iron gates do the job just as well, or better? Was it supposed to be the case that she couldn't harm someone who was wearing iron armor? I just assumed the fight at the end had her overwhelmed, which is why she didn't just do that sleep/levitation thing to the soldiers.

I would have liked to see some explanation of how or why those 3 fairies came to be envoys from the Moors - given his interaction w/ Maleficent earlier, I doubt the king would have just let them in, and they certainly didn't seem like party crashers.

In hindsight, I do agree that there is a lot of slop in the flow of the film - I wonder if this is due ot the movie having perhaps been meant to be some Lord of the Rings-esque 3hr epic, which got cut down to about 2 hrs on some executive's mandate after the fact.

[Starglider]

Honestly, the movie just felt SLOPPY. The editing was haphazard and the transitions between scenes was really awkward at times (like Maleficent brooding in the abandoned castle at night followed by a smash cut to a random farmer's field at day where she saves the crow with her magic was one example that made very little sense; or when Maleficent is entering the castle and there is that maze of iron which none of the other characters entering the castle had to deal with). It definitely felt like a script that got hastily rewritten by a dozen different people with different goals and kind of bastardized the whole thing. I'm not saying it's BAD per se, I enjoyed watching it and it had many strong scenes, just as a cohesive unit it was pretty underwhelming. It had a lot of potential that it didn't quite live up to.

Agree, exactly. Good acting and visual design elements but the script and overall production were sloppy.

I find it funny that I was 100% ok with the humans being the bad guys and deserving everything they got, whereas in Avatar I was not fond of the Naavi and was tempted to rationalise the actions of the humans. Apparently I am just that much of a technophile.

[AniThyng]

I fell really sorry for Queen Leila - her father treats her as a pawn to be given away to whoever he wants to succeed him, her husband mutilated his way to the throne and later becomes a paranoid insane tyrant who won't even see her at her deathbed, her daughter is cursed by her husbands vengeful ex then taken away from her to be raised by halfwits, and then she dies before she ever gets to see her again.

I mean of course for all we know she was every bit as cruel as her court and tortured kittens and spit on the servants for amusement, but still.