Tonight we’re watching Maleficent. This is the first movie we’ve watched in this class that I have not seen yet, so this should be fun. Going in, I know it’s basically a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, that’s trying to do for Maleficent what Wicked did for Elphaba (which, having read and seen Wicked, is probably going to be hard to top, but I digress). I also watched Sleeping Beauty quite a bit as a kid, so this should be interesting. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Fancy castle.
Scenery’s pretty.
How is this tree “great”? Or this cliff for that matter? It’s not that big or impressive.
This was cool.
Look how cute baby Maleficent is. She doesn’t seem that terrible. Why does she still start with a name that comes from “malevolent”? Just saying.
Maleficent and Stefan are cute together. The whole “iron burns fairies” thing is going to come back. Calling it now.
Are we not talking about the 16th birthday parallel? Because I think that’s cool.
“It was not to be.” Sad day. I’m not all that surprised humans are being the problem children here, though.
This seems excessive.
This whole fight scene is really weird. Although Maleficent smacking people in the face with her wings is entertaining.
What kind of king ascends the throne with the sole promise of conquering and robbing the next-door kingdom, especially when that kingdom is full of weird tree people that will beat all of them in a fight?
Did he just drug her?
What the HECK Stefan? Although, in his defense, this was probably an effective way to make sure someone else didn’t kill her. That doesn’t by any means justify viciously mutilating Maleficent, but that might have been his thinking in this situation.
Epic walk.
The Diaval scene was kinda weird.
I like how she gets mad and starts using the classic villain lime green magic instead of the pretty gold magic.
If Maleficent’s so powerful, why doesn’t she make new wings? Or devise an alternative method of flying, like say, I don’t know, turning into a dragon?
This turned dark rather quickly.
I have a major problem with them changing the names of Flora, Fauna, and Merriwether. They were the best part of Sleeping Beauty. They also changed the gifts the fairies gave Aurora.
On a related note, what happened to Merriwether being the one to soften the curse?
Just leave the baby outside on a tree stump, why don’t we?
Not that I dislike what they did with Maleficent’s character, but did we have to make the good fairies entirely incompetent to get there? They kind of butchered their characters.
How long are we going to sit and watch Maleficent play petty pranks on the pixies?
I like the parallel between this and Maleficent with the deer.
Diaval the crow-dog is really freaky. Diaval is actually a really cool character, though. I like how they made Maleficent's pet raven more of a central character.
Did Maleficent just kill all those guards?
Are these the wisps from Brave? Nope, they appear to be mermaids that fly around like jellyfish.
I love Maleficent’s “What the heck?” face when Aurora says she’s her fairy godmother.
Stefan, are you ok?
The gold and green clash was cool! Also, how did the pixies not notice Maleficent YELLING in their house?
Phillip and Aurora are cute together. I miss their song, though.
The Aurora-Phillip and Maleficent-Stefan parallels!
Poor Aurora and poor Maleficent!
Lol at the lady’s maid who doesn’t even try to stop Aurora from running off.
Why can’t Phillip be conscious while we run to rescue Aurora?
What is this?
Iron thorns? Uncool irony, Stefan.
I appreciate Phillip being hesitant about kissing the unconscious girl he barely knows, even after they explain she’s been cursed. Slightly less creepy than him just showing up in the castle without knowing her name and just kissing her.
What kind of promise is “No harm shall come to you” if she’s already basically dead?
I get it, Maleficent provides true love’s kiss. That’s kinda cool, I guess.
The iron net was uncalled for. Also, why is Diaval the dragon now?
The wings are back!
Shoot, Stefan died!
So, Aurora’s queen of the Moors now. Fair enough. Also, the narrator is also Aurora?
The credits version of “Once Upon a Dream” is freaking me out!
So overall, it was a pretty decent movie. I’ve been meaning to watch this film for a while, so I’m glad I watched it. The thing that bugged me was that going in, I was expecting Sleeping Beauty as told from an alternate perspective. What this movie ended up being was basically a new story inspired by the original, with some of the same plot points. It doesn’t work quite as well as a defense of the Maleficent from the 1959 film when so many of the core plot points have changed (such as Maleficent, rather than the fairies, modifying the curse, the queen and Stefan being dead at the end, etc.). I’m not sure that’s a bad thing, it was just different from what I expected. That said, the storyline itself was interesting, and I liked what they did with flipping the conventional views of Stefan and Maleficent on their heads. I would definitely watch it again, but I’m not sure that it’s one of my favorite Disney films.
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