Disney reveal the back story of one of the most dastardly fairies ever: Maleficent – the horn-touting villain from the studio’s 1959 version of Sleeping Beauty. Just as productions such as Wicked and Oz the Great and Powerful have already illustrated: there are two sides to every story.
The promotion for this film pitches it as deeply dark and mysterious and for brief moments it does feel like we have finally seen the Mouse House succumb to more adult-orientated themes. On the whole however, Disney keep the seedy blackness of Maleficent muted for the benefit of younger viewers. A fine line is being walked here but Disney manage, more often than not, to keep their balance throughout the runtime.
Disney’s ace is undoubtedly Angelina Jolie in the title role. She’s as closest thing to the devil you’ll ever see in a Disney film. Her horns and intimidating movements are hauntingly dramatic; her speech is controlled and commanding. Jolie sensitively explores a female character who learns to enjoy evil but the film suffers when she isn’t on screen; scenes without her hark back to the sugary sweet yarns from Disney’s yesteryear striking, at times, an all-too twee tone for the adult viewer. Consequently this is a tale with a bit of a split personality that swings wildly in either direction.
There is an attempt to paint King Stefan (Sharlto Copley) as the villain and to inject some motivation into Maleficent’s bird pet (Sam Riley) but these roles are under-developed and there is no groove for them to fit into outside their dealings with Maleficent.
On a visual level, there are several prominent influences in the world of Maleficent ranging from Pan’s Labyrinth to Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Heavily CGI’ed for the entire film, the set designs are homaging Tim Burton’s early work as the forest and castle swirl and twist with jagged angles.
This is a welcome origins story from Disney but one that doesn’t quite pull off the magic it needs to become the spectacle that it should have been.
Mark has awarded Maleficent three Torches of Truth
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