Of all the Disney Princesses, Aurora--aka Sleeping Beauty--is easily the most boring. All she has to do is look good, fall asleep and be awoken by a kiss. It hardly seems surprising then that when Disney decided to revisit this tale, they chose to focus on the most interesting character in the story, the evil Maleficent. The casting of Jolie is the perfect marriage between actress and part. Once you see her with those horns, in a dress straight out of the Norma Desmond collection, it's impossible to picture anyone else in the role. She's the reason this movie works as well as it does.
The plot is a revisionist telling of the classic fairy tale. Maleficent is given the Wicked treatment and we learn the reasons behind her villainy. This is a post-feminist telling of the story and the true villain is the King, the prince is a useless pretty face and true love's kiss has a very different meaning than it did in the original tale.
In this version, a young Maleficent is betrayed by Stefan, a social climbing young man whom she once had a teenage love affair with. Stefan tricks her, cuts off her wings, and then uses his vanquishing of her to become king of a neighboring kingdom. When Stefan marries and has a daughter, Maleficent shows up at the baby's christening and puts the famous curse upon her wherein on the baby Aurora's 16th birthday she will prick her finger and fall into a sleep like death, only to be awoken by true love's kiss. It's a bit of a silly curse, but then it was in the original story as well. Stefan packs Aurora off to be raised in hiding by three good fairies, and then proceeds to go mad with obsession and guilt. Maleficent, meanwhile, makes a sidekick out of a crow, and quickly discovers the location of Aurora's hiding place where she watches the young Aurora grow. Will she have a change of heart over her curse? And if so, will it happen before Stephen goes to war with her? These are the questions the movie asks, and even though it's pretty obvious what the answers will be, it's still fairly entertaining watching it unfold.
The film does have its weak points. Apart from Maleficent, we don't learn very much about any of the other characters. Stefan is a bit of a cipher and Aurora is fairly bland although Elle Fanning does her best with the weak part she is given.
During some of the film's darker moments it's almost possible to forget that this is essentially a children's movie, but then when the script tries for a lighter moment you are sharply reminded of that fact. The three fairies are a prime example of this and their silly antics fall flat as does most of the other attempts at humor.
The look of the film is fairly impressive and a tad reminiscent of last year's The Great and Powerful Oz. Perhaps not surprising when you learn that the director of this film worked as the Production Designer on that one, as well as on Alice in Wonderland, which also shared a similar design.
All of the various parts only add up to a mediocre film until you throw in Jolie. She is the film's best asset and fortunately she's in almost every scene. She not only looks the part, but she plays it perfectly. She's aided by the visuals, not only in that iconic black dress, but also early in the film when she does winged battle. Purists may not like the way her character was changed, but I don't know how anyone could disparage Jolie's performance. Reportedly she sought the role, coming out of a min-retirement that saw her not appear on film since 2010's The Tourist. Her performance and appearance more than makes up for the film's weaknesses.
Although obviously the filmmakers were aiming for a film suitable for all ages, I was left wishing that they had gone down a darker route with a more adult fantasy. It flirts with that darkness, but ultimately shies away from it. Still, thanks to the casting of Jolie, I was able to find much to enjoy in this version.
