Director: Robert Stromberg
Year Released: 2014
Rating: 1.0
Misguided female-oriented rethink of the Sleeping Beauty narrative shows how Maleficent (played as an adult by Angelina Jolie) turns into this supposedly 'cruel' entity: an early love of hers betrays her by clipping her wings out of a desire to become the King, so she curses his firstborn daughter (Elle Fanning). While cinematically distinctive - Stromberg has a noted resume as a visual effects maven - the story itself is a forced attempt to add an alternative slant on the established narrative: Maleficent is actually a scorned woman out for revenge and the (few) male figures in this (aside from Diaval, played by Sam Riley, who functions as a mindless slave) are largely repulsive, and there isn't enough character development written into the thin 97 minute tale to grant its central figures substantial depth (it would have been nice to see what made the Sharlto Copley figure so odious). While I'm as uncomfortable as any with the notion of a Prince 'awakening'/'saving' a slumbering Princess with his kiss (i.e. a woman cannot exist without a man's affection), the notion that true love does not exist is in supreme violation of the romantic spirit: love is a very real force, and to deny its existence is folly.
