Well, I must say that I had low expectations for this one but I was curious to go check it anyway. After all it turned out to be a surprise, better than I expected but still not good enough to be a great film.
Maleficent explores the other side of the powerful and evil witch of Sleeping Beauty. It tries to show us what's behind the old story we already know, which was cool because in Sleeping Beauty we don't see that, but unfortunately this film does it very poorly and in my opinion the character needed more development. Also the alterations in the story may not have been the best decision. Maleficent it's a character that everyone knows and what makes her so iconic in the Disney world is her evilness! Showing the soft and human side of her was a bit corny and I was already predicting that turn at the end of the story.
Visually, some parts were gorgeous to look at specially Moors, Maleficent's magical kingdom but other parts were terrible! Some scenes looked like a video game.
Angelina Jolie's performance is without any doubt the best thing of the film! She is the perfect Maleficent! I think she was great and she was always able to transmit the right emotions to the audience no matter what. Elle Fanning was a little bit annoying as Aurora but I think it wasn't her fault since she couldn't do much with the character, after all the film is all about Maleficent. Sharlto Copley was a very weird king, I actually enjoyed to see him play a villain in Elysium last year but in this when it was supposed to see more intensity from him, he almost made me laugh.
Overall, Maleficent is not terrible but is far from being great too. I can't deny that it was enjoyable to see but it does not show the faithful version that the original Disney tale tells. Maybe children will like this version more, who knows!
Love this movie so much!
A decent movie that falls apart when the girl with 0 acting skills gets on screen.
Granted it wouldn't be a great movie either way... But the second half really a snoozefest.
Maleficent is a good reimagining of a classic Disney villain's story. Angelina Jolie's performance as Maleficent adds depth and complexity to the character, making her both menacing and empathetic. The film's visuals and imaginative world-building draw you in, and its exploration of themes like redemption and forgiveness adds a layer of depth that appeals to both children and adults. This fresh perspective on a familiar tale breathes new life into the Sleeping Beauty narrative and is a great watch for Disney fans.
angelina!! PLEASE slit my throat with ur prosthetic cheekbones
Amazing visuals with an entertaining story.
I honestly enjoyed just how visual they made this movie, it wasn't as dark as I would have liked but it had it's moments of death and betrayal that really put the movie on a good emotional level.
It would be great to write paragraph after paragraph of reasons why this was a good movie. But there are so many of these type of CGI extravaganzas produced nowadays, they just all seem to blend together in a mash of colorful pixels. "Maleficent" is just another one to add to the list.
Re-imagining "Sleeping Beauty" was a bit of an inspired idea. I don't know if it was to create a vehicle for Angelina Jolie or not, but she is by far the best thing about this movie. They couldn't have cast a more perfect live-action Maleficent. She is beautiful, especially as the darkest incarnation of the fairy. The scene where she enters the King's castle and curses his newborn daughter is really good. Not so good is Sharlto Copley as King Stefan. He's just brutal and his accent is equally as bad.
The rest of the movie is sometimes sparkly and sometimes sad. It seems to take issue with the male gender as well, but I'll leave that to people who look deeply for allegories at every opportunity.
Wow, this was completely unexpected! I didn't know much(/anything) about Maleficent (both the movie and the character) and thought it would be simply about a boring, evil villain.
I was so wrong! For some reason I really loved the story (maybe because it was so unexpected or maybe there aren't many stories like this one).
Not as dark or deep as I was expecting/wanting, but it is cool to see a different telling of 'Sleeping Beauty'.
Angelina Jolie fits as the titular character, bringing with her a good performance. Elle Fanning (Aurora), Sharlto Copley (Stefan) and Sam Riley (Diaval) play their respective roles well enough, but neither come close to matching Jolie - as you'd probably expect.
I found the special effects a bit iffy. It's not that it looks anything close to bad, I just thought it could've looked better. The score isn't all that memorable, either. I did enjoy how the plot unfolds though, mainly thanks to the lead admittedly.
Intrigued to see what the sequel to 'Maleficent' has to offer.
Disney bastardizes their animated classic Sleeping Beauty with the updated adaptation Maleficent, which follows the recent trend of de-vilifying fairytale villains. Angelina Jolie stars as a guardian fairy named Maleficent who is betrayed by a former childhood friend, causing her to seek revenge by cursing his first born child to a death-like sleep on her sixteenth birthday. Jolie gives an extraordinary and charismatic performance that makes Maleficent a compelling character. However, the film seems to go out of its way to belittle and malign the humans and the three good fairies. Additionally, Disney cheaps out on the special effects; delivering some really shoddy CGI. But, James Newton Howard’s score picks up some of the slack by providing powerful and sweeping themes that heighten the fantasy quality. Maleficent has some good action and puts a few interesting twists on the original story, but overall it’s an unnecessary and inferior retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
“Hello beastie”
- Maleficent
Must say this is sort of a guilty pleasure.
:blush: :crown: :racehorse:
Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show-stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it.
It was an interesting choice to tell the backstory from the villain's perspective of another movie but this it's mostly boring. Angelina Jolie was decent but sometimes she felt a little too weird. The CGI wasn't great but some effects looked cool. Maybe with an original story in the sequel it will be a better movie.
Sooooo, she was a sleep for, like, an hour? This movie was not impressive. A lot of the CGI looks like it was made for a low budget film.
I enjoyed it. Great Chars, stunning Make Up & Looks - great World.
Angelina Jolie's performance was fantastic, that and the visuals, and directing alone are enough to score this movie a high grade.
I am ambivalent towards some of the choices in scripting. Part of the novelty of Disney's first effort is the three good fairies being unconventional heroines. They squabble, and are silly yes, but in SB they facilitate every move the Prince makes, put the revision into Maleficent's curse that allows it to be broken and are just these badass matrons of a type you don't often see. Here they're purely comedic, and also very annoying.
But in it's place we get Jolie's Maleficent, so I guess that's a fair trade off.
Maleficent is a 2014 movie directed by Robert Stromberg that once again, in the form of live-action, tells the story of The sleeping beauty. While not deviating at all from the original plot, it amplifies it, serving both as prequel and as sequel, even if the thing that makes it special is that the story is entirely narrated on the villain’s point of view, that is Maleficent. In fact the movie spreads what are the reasons why this fairy throws the famous curse and what happens after Aurora’s awakening.
Maleficent is introduced as a good fairy (although her appearance resembles more that of a harpy) that protects the clearing, full of magical creatures, from the thirst for power of the near kingdom men. But when she is betrayed by the man who had given her the true love kiss, Maleficent gives way to negative feelings; she self-proclaims herself queen of the clearing and spends her days plotting her revenge.
Aurora is a minor character compared to what one can think, the movie wanted to give her the appearance of a princess who acts and does not “sleep” as in the cartoon, but the hard truth is that she does not hit. She is relegated to a secondary status and her character is apparently used as a mere pretext to tell the story of her antagonist.
Similarly king Stephen is an underdeveloped villain, I wish they had explained what was due to his thirst for power.
The special effects are stunning, it is clearly that this is a movie with a high budget, and it is nice to see how they attempt to remember the 1959 animation – a clear example is the raising of the brambles. Moreover, the pace of the narration manages to alternate moments of calm with battle scenes so easily, making sure the viewer is not distracted.
The assembly and the lights are important because through them we can distinguish the characteristic feelings of the scene, as is the case of the magic of the fairy, green when it is negative, golden when it is beneficial.
The dialogues between the characters are very good but a lot of emphasis, as in all the other aspects of the movie, is placed above all on those of Maleficent, especially when she makes the curse and in one of the decisive scenes in the end. Her costumes are very nice; you know, the dark is a style that never fades, but I would have preferred to see, both in Maleficent’s dresses and makeup, a touch of purple, so characteristic of the epic character of the cartoon.
I admit that I don’t love Angelina Jolie as an actress, but I have to say that her performance was really sensational, perhaps one of her best performances in recent years. She even wanted to do herself all the action scenes without using a stuntman.
The soundtrack is appropriate to interpret the emotions of the movie, and I loved the final version of Once upon a dream sung by Lana Del Rey.
There are a lot of themes in the movie, but the main two are related to feelings. In the first, in fact, we see how a young and innocent Maleficent, pained by a violation that is both physical and psychological, refuses to believe in love forever and walks on the path of revenge. The second, closely related to the first, shows that there are different kinds of love, and not only that between man and woman. Indeed, throughout the film, Maleficent, rather than seems Aurora’s fairy godmother, seems a kind of foster parent, who, despite having no blood ties with the child, is able to establish a strong bond with her.
Finally, the moral of the film seems to be that it is not good to act when one is taken by emotions, especially grief and anger, because you can do things that you will regret in the future.
The strength of the film are definitely the special effects, well-kept and that create an entirely new universe of fantastic creatures. Its weak point is perhaps to be developed on the figure of the villain par excellence for 55 years now. Did we really need to redeem Maleficent?
I've only just got round to seeing this thanks to my daughter putting it on the TV. Thought it was alright personally but then I can barely remember the Disney version and I don't think I even know the original one lol. Angelina Jolie was definitely good in this.
I loved this movie! Jolie is super gorgeous and played the role in a fantastic way.
A good family movie. It was a pity that Maleficent was a warmer character here than she was in the classic story but Jolie does so well in the part that all can be forgiven.
Just watch Sleeping Beauty. If they really had to make Maleficent; making her sympathetic was just lame. She's meant to be one of the most evil Disney villains after all.
Except here she was a nice fairy until a human cut off her wings. She only did that spell to Aurora as revenge on the king who was the one who cut off her wings.
Next will be a Captain Hook movie where he is really a nice guy and the crocodile that bit off his hand is the villain. He adopts Peter and the Lost Boys and they live happily ever after….
I've must say that i enjoyed watching this movie and that Angelina Jolie was excellent choice for this kind of movie. She just grab a part and play it more the well. So if you like this kind of movie genre feel free to watch it.
You stole what was left of my heart
A decent adaptation of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, mixed with another Brothers Grimm tale. Interesting story. In typical made- for-children fashion, however, plot is sometimes quite random, and not entirely watertight.
Thought this was pretty well done and an interesting twist on the Sleeping Beauty story.
It has an interesting premise, unfortunately I think the movie fails to deliver it well. The plot feels disjointed, jumping from one to another without a strong connecting lines. Jolie's acting is superb, CGI is good (like any today high-budget movies), and the trailer looks awesome (more than the movie) - but there's all to it.
It has an excellent beginning, an extremely boring middle section, and a mediocre ending
Хороший семейный фильм
A refreshing take on a classic tale. Very good special effects; crappy CGI can really ruin a movie like this. Great acting by Angelina Jolie, she alone makes the movie worth watching. Also, perfect length, no need for a movie to be any longer than this.
wasnt good enought. . . as ppl say :)
Amazing wow Absolutely incredible loved it and angelina killed it
"the god-awful narration.."
One of the worst fairy tale adaptations of all time!
Disney ruin everything it touches :(
muy buena imagen, entretiene!
muy buena imagen, entretiene!
muy buena imagen, entretiene!
Great movie that i really enjoyed. Angelina played very well even though at start i was little worried as the "good" form of Maleficent did not suit her well, but after her change - Oh my! :D I strongly enjoyed the plot and especially the resolution, that was pleasant and satisfying.
What a cracking movie, I just love these fairy tales
Angelina did really well!
I can't get it to start and it says I am watching but it isn't on. wht am I doing wrong?
Angelina Jolie is so awesome
Had it's ups and downs. Pretty good.
Wow! Better than I expected. Sure the plot was a bit shallow but enjoyed that nonetheless.
how do u watch it on here
ANGELINA IS MY QUEEN anything shes in is a 10 fro mme sorry bout it
The core idea here of telling the story from the villain's point of view was the film's strongest selling point, but the problem here is that Disney can't follow through with this and instead reframe the story to make Maleficent sympathetic and essentially the heroine rather than the villain. This has a knock-on effect of taking away what was so compelling about the character in the first place - it is no surprise that the film's strongest moments are when Jolie gets to chew the scenery and the recreation of Maleficent's appearance at the celebration for Aurora's birth is a highlight. Indeed, apart from the strong production design, Jolie is what keeps the film entertaining - she was born to play a role like this - and it is a shame the rest of the film can't live up to her performance, with a weak alternate villain in the king, a prince who is essentially sidelined and some bizarre effects work of the "good" fairies who are inept, yet rarely funny.
Wonderful, perfect, perfect Angelina!
Angelina Jolie was great as Maleficent, and I loved the special effects! :)
The only real flaw I found in this movie (besides the predictability, but hey, it's still Disney!) is the naming. We finally get the backstory to how Maleficent turned "evil", yet I wonder why she is named Maleficent right from the beginning. Who in their right mind would give that name to their child?
Anyone who wonders: Maleficent comes from the word maleficence, meaning a harmful or evil act or doing OR the state/ quality of being maleficient. Or the German word Malefiz (as in the Grimm dictionary) also means huge evil or wrongdoing.
Giving that kind of name to a child is like determining its fate right at its birth. A cruel thing to do. Disney could have thought up something for that issue.
Otherwise it's a nice film with beautiful pictures and a strong message.
Evil never comes without cause and seldom without cure/ solution.
I thought it wonderful that Maleficent tried to take her curse back but couldn't, but was a little disappointed that they felt the need to spell out (like for simpletons) why she couldn't take it back. Is it so hard to pay attention to the story that they have to spell everything out for the viewer? I liked the change that even evil (or turned evil) can recognize innocence, love and their own faults and mistakes (which basically happens here) and understand that they created their own punishment for the evil deed.
And @CatyAlexandre: the original Disney tale? Really? Ever heard of the brothers Grimm? Or Charles Perraults? Not that it would be any closer to those stories (Perraults being the original (or earliest recorded version), but Disney is so so far from being the original...
Saw this at the cinema and it blew me away. GREAT STORY, AWESOME ACTORS, AWESOME WRITING and a must see for anybody looking for something different.
Every story have it's own second version, it all depends on who's telling it ;)
Beautiful remake, a little bit boring in the middle though.
Wow! It's cool hearing the back story of Sleeping Beauty. All I ever knew was the old Disney version.I always thought Maleficent was a witch- I would've never known she was a fairy
Now I'm seriously thinking about letting Maleficent defeat Sora the next time I play Kingdom Hearts :~ she's been through so much :~
A-W-E-S-O-M-E! ANGELINA JOLIE TOTALLY KILLED IT!
Well, I liked the tone of the story is different, Angelina Jolie is fine, maybe too much CGI. Many children in films have applauded at the end, had lost the habit of hearing that
Absolutely incredible. I was in shock after watching it - completely and utterly speechless after spending half the film in tears because of how beautiful the whole thing was. Aside from the three fairies names being different from the original, I can't find a single flaw in it. Completely gripping from beginning to end. Incredible special effects and detail, costuming, scenery, acting! And an awesome plot twist that will forever change the way I think about traditional stories that I've loved since infancy. Also, I wanna bone Maleficent.
I've read some negative things on the internet, but to me, it was another stunning Disney movie. It's visually gorgeous, I love what they did with the storyline and Disney is on a role with the change in true love's kiss. Way to go! They show time after time why I love their movies so much.
Shout by DeletedBlockedParent2014-09-07T04:30:24Z
I really don't see what all the fuss is about, the storyline is contrived and predictable and so sugar coated... But then it is a disney vehicle so I really shouldn't be surprised.
The performances are mediocre at best and the direction is a little sloppy... at one point i thought I was watching a reworking of Frozen when Maleficent was 'creating her castle/throne' and fully expoected her to break into song.
I had such high expectations for this movie, and was left bitterly disappointed, hence a mediocre score of 6. Certainly not something that is worth watching twice.