Maleficent *** (2014, Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, Juno Temple, Sam Riley, Brenton Thwaites, Kenneth Cranham) – Movie Review

Walt Disney remakes its 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty as a lively 3D live action adventure that’s aimed more at teens than tots who’d find it too scary.

There’s nothing scarier in it than Angelina Jolie, who is magnificent as Maleficent, the Queen of Evil, turned to the dark side after being spurned by a boy, Stefan, who grows up to be rival King. The movie is self-proclaimed as a  re-imagining of the 1959 film, told from the perspective of Maleficent. But Linda Woolverton’s screenplay follows the original pretty faithfully, apart from the eponymous Disney villainess’s crucial, rather weird, and unconvincing change of heart. A black heart with a warm, soft, cuddly centre? Mmm, don’t think so.

The movie starts with a whimper. There’s a slow, dull preamble, with two young actors wanly playing out a doomed love story, in which the young Maleficent is betrayed by forest boy Stefan and her heart is turned to stone. As she turns into a vengeance-seeking villainess, the main action starts up with Jolie’s entrance. If it was a theatre performance, she’d get a huge round of applause.

As it is, she gets gasps of appreciation and admiration. Jolie looks amazing with the huge cheekbones, horns and wings, and her presence is astoundingly powerful. Seven-time Academy Award winner Rick Baker designed the special makeup effects for the film. He’s done a grand job again.

Jolie may have got a fortune for the role, but whatever she got, she’s worth it. Luckily for Jolie, though, she didn’t have to remember many lines, as most of her part consists of looking Evil and then Nice, and being CGI-ed all over the place. The few lines she has are all short and waspish one-liners. Jolie spits them out amusingly venomously and to great effect.

It’s not acting, but it’s a great, royal regal appearance. She shows why she is, after all, Queen of Hollywood. Other actresses have tried this kind of role, Julia Roberts, Charlize Theron and Michelle Pfeiffer among them, but none has carried it off as triumphantly as Jolie.

Jolie is worth the price of admission, just her alone, which is lucky because the rest of the movie is far more mundane. For something billed as live action, it is all CGI, so really they might as well have remade it as an animation. Actors aren’t really needed here. This film spells the impending doom of movie stars. CGI can do it all without them.

Why bother with Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville and Juno Temple as the three silly fairies who raise Aurora when you could just CGI them? Why bother with Sam Riley as Diaval? He’d be fine as a CGI. And so on. Did they even need Jolie? No, not really. Maleficent could be CGI too, but that would not be nearly as magnificent as Jolie is as Maleficent.

Maleficent is supposed to be one of the most sinister Disney villains, a formidable rival to the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But she suddenly goes all soft over the now teenage girl Aurora and turns into a goodie about two thirds in, completely betraying the character and spoiling the fun. Why fix something that ain’t broke?

She now has to avenge herself on Stefan, who has grown up to be played by Sharlto Copley and usurp the rival kingdom throne and throw out the child Aurora. Fifteen years pass…

Everybody knows that it is obviously the Prince who has to awake Sleeping Beauty with his true love’s kiss, not the wicked stepmother-type Maleficent. This really weakens Maleficent’s effect, and makes the Prince into a pathetic, impotent cypher, giving good actor Brenton Thwaites nothing to work on as Prince Phillip.

The same is true of Sam Riley, sidelined always, and without decent lines as Maleficent’s sidekick, Diaval. This is not a film where the boys and men are well treated, so it is definitely aimed at teenage girls and their moms, who should think that it is fine. Brit stalwart Kenneth Cranham has the right stuff as the old ruler, King Henry. He manages to make a real acting role with not that much screen time to go on.

Sharlto Copley is really no good at all as Stefan. He is quite the wrong choice, both physically and in performance. The same’s true of Elle Fanning as Aurora. Copley and Fanning are both strong, appealing actors, but they seem miscast here, and struggling against it, so their performances never catch fire. Isobelle Molloy and Michael Higgins draw the short straws as the young Maleficent and Stefan in the preamble.

The movie is as gorgeous to look at as you would expect from first-time director Robert Stromberg, since he won Academy Awards for production design on Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. But Stromberg seems less secure and less effective as a director. John Lee Hancock assisted with some re-writing and re-shoots to try to pep up the opening sequences, but it is still a dull start.

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(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

Brenton Thwaites is Prince Phillip.

The live-action Maleficent as portrayed by Kristin Bauer van Straten in the Once Upon a Time TV series.