Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

At the very least, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is not yet another Disney remake.  Instead, it is an unnecessary sequel to the 2014 film that successfully placed Angelina Jolie into the role of the villain from the animated Sleeping Beauty, and reinvented her into the role of a misunderstood antihero, much like Gregory Maguire did with the Wicked Witch of the West in his novel (and the subsequent Broadway Musical loosely adapted from it), Wicked. 

I think it's safe to say that earlier movie did everything a film could do with the idea of telling the story of the Disney cartoon from the villain's point of view.  For the encore, Jolie has returned, but she seems to be at a loss here.  Oh, she still perfectly embodies the character, and she obviously still looks the part.  But, she is given less to do here.  Despite getting her name in the title, Maleficent almost comes across as a supporting player, and even disappears for large sections of the story.  Instead, this movie seems to focus on the icy and scheming Queen Ingrith for most of its entertainment value.  As played by Michelle Pfeiffer, she often chews the scenery in the style of a villainess from a TV soap opera or a Lifetime Movie.  She is great to watch, but she's not enough to lift this material up on her own.

She also brings about one of the film's key problems, which is her ultimate evil plan.  Ingrid wants to bring all the mystical creatures and fairies who inhabit an enchanted forest on the outskirts of her kingdom into one place, and essentially murder them all so that she can claim their land as her own.  Yes, this is a Disney movie with a plot built around mass genocide.  This brings about a third act that is surprisingly violent for a movie aimed at families, where the evil Queen begins to carry out her plan, and we witness hundreds of creatures getting killed, or watching in fear as their friends and loved ones are wiped out by Ingrid's forces.  We also get a massive battle between the kingdom's forces and some ancient winged beings who have a connection to Maleficent's roots, and answers as to where she came from.  Again, the battle is surprisingly brutal, despite the filmmakers going out of their way to ensure that not a drop of blood is spilled.  We're watching hundreds of extras engage in a bloodless massacre where dozens die on screen, yet simply fade into nothingness.

The original Maleficent was a lot of fun.  It had a sort of darkness to it, but it also had a sense of humor, and Jolie pretty much carrying the entire film with her presence and performance.  It also managed to create an effective fantasy world for its characters to inhabit.  Here, we get to return to that world, but we don't get to see much new.  We also get to learn about the origins of Maleficent and her people, but this is not as interesting as you would hope.  It's your basic "people of different races and backgrounds need to learn to live together" storyline, with Jolie leading her people against Pfeiffer, who wishes to exterminate every last one of them.  In the middle of it all is Aurora (Elle Fanning), whose wedding to Prince Philip (Harris Dickinson) serves as the backdrop to the evil Queen's scheme. 

I think placing Aurora in the middle of the situation and forcing her to choose which side she will be on is a good idea, and could have created some genuine drama.  But the script drops the ball by keeping her separated from Maleficent for a good portion of the two hour running time.  She mostly figures things out on her own by spending time around Ingrid, and realizing she's not what she seems.  Jolie and Fanning were able to create likable chemistry last time, and when they are together here, they do it again.  But, the movie doesn't seem to take advantage of their relationship.  Instead, they're forced to inhabit different movies, where Aurora sneaks around the castle, learning of the Queen's deception, while Maleficent is forced to listen to a lot of exposition about her origins, and not really say or do all that much.

Maybe the key problem lies with the fact that the 2014 movie did not need a sequel, and this movie exists only because it made about $758 million at the worldwide box office.  While you can't really accuse Mistress of Evil of repeating the original film's formula, it also doesn't do enough to expand upon it, or make a strong case for its being.  I have no doubt that the families will turn out this opening weekend, but what will they think of the film's climactic moments centered on the senseless killing of an entire people?  It seems like a misguided attempt for the film to go bigger, as all sequels feel the need to do.  Sure, we do eventually get the expected happy ending, but the kids will have to sit through some surprisingly violent images before that.

The violence gives the film a kind of gloomy vibe that I don't think was intended.  I wanted to delight in the film's nastiness, but instead ended up feeling kind of put off by it.  But the big question here is, why construct a sequel that forces Jolie to simply react to the plot going on around her, instead of having her drive it?  That's part of what made the original work.  She was reveling in playing her character.  Here, she looks like she's all dressed up in her horns and black garments with no place to go.

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