Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! - Maleficent (Movie Review)

Maleficent (UK Rating: 12A)

As a young fairy, Malificent (Angelina Jolie) defends the moors where she lives from the avarice of the human kingdom and, in particular, its king. Her efforts are rewarded by betrayal at the hands of the human she loves and, with her heart turned to stone and, driven by revenge, she places an irrevocable curse on the new king's baby, Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent discovers that she might not be as hard hearted as she originally thought.

From that, it's pretty clear that there's more to the film than simply a back story: it goes to the heart of the fairytale as well, but with a tweak or two. The idea is to show how Maleficent continued to influence it after she pronounced her curse.

That curse, of course, is one of the big moments of the film and Maleficent delivers it in style, surrounded by a massive bright green hue. However, the treatment it's given is so big that the basis of the curse - Aurora pricking her finger on a spindle - sounds almost trivial. The consequences, of course, are another matter.

If those scenes make good use of CGI, then there's a trio of characters that stand out like a sore thumb - or should that be sore finger? Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) is looked after by three pixies that first appear flitting around on buzzing little wings. They are played by a trio of good actresses - Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville and Juno Temple - but the CGI boffins have done them no favours. If anything, it looks like they have been created by a totally different, and markedly inferior, team as they are heavy handed and out of proportion. They are less than satisfactory as characters as well: clearly meant to provide the comic relief but, in fact, just proving to be downright irritating.

While those constitute the downside, the upside is most definitely Jolie. Put simply, it's her film and she dominates it from her first moment on screen. Her appearance is stunning: the cheekbones are to die for, her wings spectacular and, with the bright red lips and striking horns, she looks magnificent. Her character is equally strong, with Jolie playing the more evil moments with lip-smacking relish, while making it apparent that there is much more to Maleficent than a stone cold heart.

With such a flamboyant character at its heart, Elle Fanning appears to have come off second best by landing the role of Princess Aurora. Goodies are always less interesting than villains, right? It is to her credit, then, that she manages to make the princess something more than an embodiment of virtue. Yes, she's trusting and innocent, but there's strength and courage there as well.

8/10

Great - Silver Award

Maleficent has its faults but, taken as a whole, it delivers as a strong, engaging piece of family entertainment. It gives the audience more than just the main character's back-story and, while the film very much belongs to Angelina Jolie, it manages to avoid being simply a star vehicle by giving her a role to seriously get her brilliantly white teeth into. Jolie's casting is perfect, both for the part and for Disney.