Maleficent

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

Wonderful movie.

This is a absolutely sumptuous reimagining of the classic fairytale.

Angelina jolie's ferocity and fearsome chiselled beauty is captured to glorious and exhilarating effect thanks to brilliant lighting, electrifying camera work and visual direction. I can't imagine her showcased better than this. Its worth the price of admission alone. Her performance is also equally exquisite that my heart thumped several times throughout the movie...a truly justified movie screen star. The whole fairytale vision complete with trolls, walking tree thingies and fairies and that famous Disney logo castle are beautifully shot, although admittedly nothing new we haven't seen before.

I love the narrative spin on the classic (and I am a passionate lover of all the golden age Disney classics). Its a little unfortunate however that certain modernised narrative elements are not so fresh simply because this film comes soon after several Disney modernised fairytale movies. Particularly the great Frozen. Had this film come before frozen, certain moments would have had more impact than it does now. Having said that, these two films would make a brilliantly contrasting double bill with the theme of "misunderstood or complex villains"

While that is regrettable, it's only a slight diminishing effect on my overall enjoyment. The story is otherwise deliciously engaging and while Angelina is the justifiable showstopper, the rest of the cast do amicably knowing and accepting happily that they have nothing to anywhere compete or match the towering screen presence of Jolie. Ellie Fanning is as she has shown in films like Super 8, an incredible young actress and is a lovely choice for her sleeping beauty role even though this role gives her hardly any maneuvre to exercise her range. This film is all about the story anyway and it's a damn good one.


Although I cannot fault the film for what it delivers, it does miss some opportunities to be a greater film. First, dialogue could be a bit more punchier and delivered with slightly more character by the earlier younger cast (excluding Fanning). Also, there could have been a touch more humour, both cynical for the adults and perhaps a little more slapstick (for the younger audience...not that I want the slapstick but I am a considerate person that believes on whole family entertainment) because the children at my screening were restless, justifiably bored out of their wits...at least that was my interpretation of these strange creatures sitting around me. Having said that, there were some good humour but not enough methinks.

Overall, for me, this was an unexpected and wonderful treat.

This is a blu ray keeper for me when it's eventually released.

8.5/10

Btw I saw this in 2d.

[alythonian]

I saw this with Times+ 2 for 1 ticket as had been no screenings up here. I quite enjoyed it and Angelina Joliet was excellent in the split personality role and believable as both. I though Elle Fanning was as wooden as a doorpost and that spoiled it a bit. Also, what was it with giving the baddies ie the humans Scottish accents (and bad ones at that!)???
6/10 from me

[missgotty]

I got a last minute ticket to see this at Leicester Square after seeing the trailer which looked pretty good. I was a bit worried about being surrounded by hundreds of ADHD kids after having only 2 hours sleep on a Sunday morning, but it actually was'nt that bad, ended up with one jumping up and down throughout the film. Felt sorry for all the kids who didn't get the Maleficent horns they were sparsely handing out to people.

For a Disney film it was actually better than I thought it would be. I'm not really a fan of Jolie but she was a very obvious choice for this role. I kept wishing I cooud remember the original Sleeping Beauty film as parts of the storyline didn't flow very well, but overall it was ok.

[weliveandbreathewords]

I absolutely adored this. It was beautifully done, Angelina Jolie was perfect as Maleficent, whoever played Aurora was a tad annoying in my honest opinion, and there was no need for young prince arm candy, sorry I mean charming, really
I love that Disney seems to be going down the 'non-princes save the day too' angle, same as frozen.
and unfortunately, I too want to go live in the Moors, its infinitely more beautiful and happier than I ever thought possible :)
Now if I just grow some wings too...Ill be all set!

9/10

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

I absolutely adored this. It was beautifully done, Angelina Jolie was perfect as Maleficent, whoever played Aurora was a tad annoying in my honest opinion, and there was no need for young prince arm candy, sorry I mean charming, really
I love that Disney seems to be going down the 'non-princes save the day too' angle, same as frozen.
and unfortunately, I too want to go live in the Moors, its infinitely more beautiful and happier than I ever thought possible :)
Now if I just grow some wings too...Ill be all set!

9/10

I would have told you to drink Red Bull if you wanted wings...but Red Bull is not a healthy drink, gotta maintain my healthy persona somewhat

I really like the actress who played Aurora, Ellie Fanning (sister of Dakota Fanning), she is generally a superb actress from what I have seen in two other films (especially Super 8) but perhaps on reflection this role wasnt quite for her as she excels with a brooding persona which doesnt suit Aurora's character. Having said that an actor's endeavour is to widen their range and she is young still. Aurora is not a stretching role anyhow. Glad you loved the film btw.

[RAZORBACK]

I thought that the trailers for this film were very promising indeed so I was really pleased that this managed to live up to my expectations when I saw it last week.

It definitely didn't feel like I watching a film targeted at a younger audience and as a fantasy flick, despite the candy coated colouring, it felt closer in tone to films like 'Lord Of The Rings' etc.

Angelina Jolie was simply superb in the central role & I thought that the supporting cast were generally solid although I would have liked Sharlto Copley do more with his role as he's an actor I rate quite highly.

Overall this was a very decent re-imagining of a classic fairy tale so it gets a high 8/10 from me...

[Betty Botter]

Really enjoyed this today 8/10 from me.

[raj101]

This is a perfect evocation of a fairy tale. Its simplicity is its main strength - it just does what you'd expect it to do without any excess trimmings/ baggage, and what it does do, it does VERY WELL indeed. Even Fannings not annoying with her flapping grin style of acting, though shes just a kid so shes gets a break. Jolie is spot-on marvellous.

Probably one of the best fantasy genre movies ever made.

Will catch it half a dozen more times now before it leaves our screens.

10/10

[beardy2]

There were some aspects I thought could have been a bit more daring (I wish I'd gotten to see Malificent a bit less wishy washy and a bit stronger), but I thought a lot of the ideas were intriguing.

My review is here on my blog: http://bakingbeardy.com/2014/07/28/mali ... wiss-roll/

[deb1]

Finally got to see this this morning with my Mum and nephew using the Sun codes for kids movies.

It was definitely worth the wait - absolutely loved it! We all did.
Thought everything about it was fab, so impressed.

10/10 from us.