Photo Credit: Walt Disney Pictures
Visit the film’s official website!

For anyone who feared that Disney would do to the villain of Sleeping Beauty what it did with that wretched live action retelling of Snow White which starred Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen: rest assured, they have not.

Maleficent is a much more complex, interesting, and yes, evil villain than the reimagined Evil Queen. The new film, starring Angelina Jolie, gives us Maleficent’s back story – she was once a fanciful fairy who put her trust in another (a man, of course) but when betrayed, she swore vengeance on all of humanity . . . and this poor Princess Aurora is forced to bear alone.

The back story is not exactly novel – many is the film lately which tells us that our favorite movie villains are just misunderstood good guys. (See: Frozen). And in the guise of Angelina Jolie, Maleficent is both beautifully complex and fittingly dark. It is a welcome return of one of Hollywood’s most underrated actresses who rarely gets starring vehicles befitting her talent.

The film is quite dark – sometimes almost unrelentingly so. But its depiction of the princess who raises Maleficent’s ire is boringly one-dimensional. Elle Fanning’s performance is hindered by the flat characterization of a super saccharine and innocent Princess Aurora.

Overall, a valiant effort, but not as memorable as it should (or could) have been.