Maleficent

In Maleficent, Disney's animated Sleeping Beauty becomes the latest popular piece of fiction to go through a role reversal, in which we discover the story we thought we knew didn't go exactly as has been told.  Much like the novel and Broadway musical Wicked took the Wicked Witch of Oz and made her a sympathetic heroine, this movie takes the titular villain character from the earlier film, and tries to give her a complex personality that holds a lust for revenge, and a heart that is broken, but still in tact in some form.

The attempt is largely successful, thanks mostly to the efforts of the film's star, Angelina Jolie.  One only needs to see the publicity photos of her in costume to know that she has the look of the character down perfectly.  But when you actually see the performance, it all comes together.  She is mesmerizing here, giving her dialogue more weight and context with her calm yet commanding presence than the script probably intends.  It's the kind of performance that you associate an actor with, and I'm sure it will create a number of new, young fans for Jolie.  Considering that this is her first major role in years, it marks a wonderful and much overdue return to the spotlight.  Jolie is also credited as an Executive Producer, so I don't know if she was attached to the project early on, or if she came on after it started development, and helped spearhead it.  Whatever the case, her involvement was a brilliant move.

The Maleficent portrayed here is different from the one made famous in the animated film.  Yes, she still makes her dramatic entrance at the ceremony celebrating the birth of the Princess Aurora.  And also like before, she places a curse upon the child that on her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and fall into a "sleep-like death".  In fact, that whole scene is almost recreated word-for-word from the 1959 movie.  But this picture allows us the pleasure of seeing what happened before that.  In the opening moments, we see Maleficent as a small girl (Isobelle Molloy) with large, graceful wings upon her back.  As the child flies high over the kingdom of fairies and other mystical creatures that she calls home, we also get our first glimpse at the uneven special effects work.  Some of them, such as when young Maleficent takes flight, are breathtaking.  Other effects shots, such as some of the creatures and fairies that also inhabit the enchanted woods, veer more to the side of the uncomfortable "Uncanny Valley", and just don't look quite right.

We learn that Maleficent's forest kingdom is separate from the ones of humans nearby, and that no mortal has set foot within the woods for years.  That all changes when a young boy named Stefan (Michael Higgins) wanders within, and is charmed by the graceful fairy child.  Over time, the two grew close, and a romance between the two formed.  But, as he grew older, Stefan (now played by Sharlto Copley from District 9) became corrupted by greed and ambition, and stopped visiting Maleficent.  When he returns one day quite suddenly, it seems that he wants to rekindle his relationship with the fairy Maleficent.  However, he drugs her and cuts off her wings in an attempt to prove himself worthy of the throne, and strong enough to fight against the mystical creatures that most of the humans fear.  Stefan is crowned king, and Maleficent, in a bitter rage over the loss of her wings, plots her revenge, leading to the famous scene.

From here, Maleficent takes some interesting changes from the story we know.  When the cursed Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) is sent to live in a cottage in the woods with three absent-minded fairies acting as her guardians, Maleficent finds her quickly, and begins to watch over her.  Aurora mistakes her for a fairy godmother, which creates a complex relationship between the two.  Over time, Maleficent grows attached to the young girl, and begins to regret her own actions.  In another unique twist, Aurora's father, King Stefan, slowly drifts into madness, obsessed with revenge.  It adds a darker element than we might expect to the film, but not so much that the movie will frighten young children.  Both of these plot points are intriguing ideas, and I truly wish the movie had taken more time to fully explore them.  But at only 95 minutes, there's just not enough time, unfortunately.

This is tied into the biggest problem I have, which is that it feels like large chunks of the film are missing or edited out in order to give it a leaner running time.  Watching the movie, you can't help but feel that it was originally much longer, especially since some ideas or character motivations don't make as much sense as they should.  With so many bloated summer blockbusters pushing past two hours, this would normally be pretty admirable.  But, in all truthfulness, this is the rare instance where I actually wanted the movie to be longer.  In its current form, it flows very well, and an added half hour or so would not only help explain some things, but would have only deepened the story it was trying to tell.  While it hasn't been edited to the point that the story is incoherent, it still feels incomplete in some way.

Still, there is a lot to enjoy here, outside of Jolie's lead performance.  The fantasy world is quite well-realized by first-time director, Robert Stromberg, and is one of the few recent cinematic fantasy worlds that doesn't feel like it was ripped off of Peter Jackson's interpretation of Middle Earth.  The twists that this film adds to the story we know are quite successful and fun to watch as they unfold.  And even if they could have been fleshed out more, they're still compelling.  Also compelling is the dark and appropriately menacing tone of the film.  Even if the character of Maleficent has been softened somewhat, there is still a very sharp edge, one that portrays a power that could be unleashed at any moment.  While there are moments of comic relief (mostly supplied by the three tiny fairies that act as Aurora's guardians), the movie does take itself seriously enough that older teens and adults can enjoy the film.

Really, it's the older teens and young adults who really seem to be the main market for Maleficent.  Not that kids won't find enough to like.  But I think the complex spin that Jolie gives to the classic Disney villain here is going to surprise a lot of people, and that they're going to be sucked in by more than just the visuals.  This is ultimately what saves the film from becoming just another forgettable summer spectacle.

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