"Maleficent" is Magnificant!

Disney's new take on "Sleeping Beauty", "Maleficent", is a fresh look at a formulaic tale. Taking many of the themes from the cartoon of yesteryear, it seemed to jump out in live action straight from the source material. Angelina Jolie did well as the title character, as well as the three actors that played the three god-fairies (if a little annoying, at least true to their bumbling nature in the cartoon).

However, instead of taking a good vs. evil approach. the story was turned on it's head. The evil sorceress was not, in fact, inherently bad. She had a back story, and the real villain was King Stephan. Or so at first. Enraged by his betrayal, Maleficent curses his child, a scene straight from the original. Although a Disney film, the script does a good job of balancing her motivation for revenge with the injustice done to her. Although we the audience know she has gone too far, we understand where she's coming from and root for her to make the right choice. I won't tell you how it ends, but it's definitely a classic Disney ending. A small criticism, though, is that I could have done without the narration throughout the film, giving unhelpful commentary.

This new direction from a company that has become known for formulaic film making is a welcome change to the industry. Hopefully other films will follow suit, and we'll have good family films that delve into the human experience, rather than dichotomizing characters into their typical stereotypes. Perhaps a bit of Pixar magic has rubbed off on Disney, as their films tend to be more subtle in their depiction of good and evil (or at least providing better backstories to why the villains are so bad). Also, I was really impressed with the special effects- they were extremely well done, and added to the story rather than driving the story. Use of CG should always do this, and I'm glad that emphasis was on emotions, motivations, and unfolding of the plot rather than some "Avatar" like world where the scenery was more exciting than what the main characters were doing on screen.