I just got out of the theater. We were a little late getting to it but it proved to be worth the wait. Disney's MALEFICENT was not what I expected. It was better. Whatever you're thinking about this film, whether you're a Disney fanatic or not, you're doing yourself an injustice by not seeing this movie.
The first time I saw the trailer for this film I was stunned at how striking Angelina Jolie was. Then I thought, "They're making a movie about the greatest villain in Disney history? Cool." Angelina Jolie's acting might be worth it alone. Then I saw a longer trailer and the film looked like a Lord of the Rings epic complete with trolls, goblins, walking trees, and dragons.
May 30th came and something came up where we couldn't see it. It got put off and put off until today. See this movie while you still can! It is great! I find that many of my favorite movies of the summer line-ups are the ones I didn't anticipate (Cowboys and Aliens being one of them). This movie so far is my favorite film of the summer. It expands on a character that until this movie was so very two dimensional but also very legendary in cinema. What the Star Wars prequels were trying to do (make Darth Vader a whole three dimensional character) this film did masterfully.
Maleficent is fully explored in this film from childhood to the moment where she becomes the legendary villain from 1959. We see her moment of darkness, the defining moment that transforms her into the figure of nightmares, the dark shadow of fairy tales. Seeing her complete arc, especially the fall from grace, was pretty awesome. Very few films can take such a well known character, expand on their mythos, and pull it off.
The special effects are amazing but that's nothing "special" anymore. All the summer movies have great special effects. Although this one's was strangely evocative of the video game series FINAL FANTASY. The world created in this movie and the creatures and characters are the same components of a great Final Fantasy game. At the end of the movie I found I wanted to spend more time in that world with those characters, just like Final Fantasy X. All the while retaining the classic fairy tale atmosphere from our childhood meaning it still feels like a Disney classic.
Where this movie really stands out is in Angelina Jolie's performance. Wow is she good. I've never raved about her before but damn! She is incredible!. She captures the character better than I ever could have imagined.
Overall ranking: 7 out of 10
Go see it.
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