Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) is the sequel to Maleficent, wherein Princess Aurora becomes engaged to her Prince Phillip out of both love and the goal of uniting the two rival kingdoms in harmony. Prince Phillip’s parents are encouraging, but Princess Aurora’s guardian Maleficent is not a fan, and trouble soon ensues. Angelina Jolie steals the show once again with her acting and presence. The imagery in the film is wonderful fantasy, balancing pastel colored fairies with dark, mysterious winged demons and humans.
The film received positive audience reviews, but poor critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. I was pleasantly surprised from watching the film. The plot was fairly predictable, but I personally think more goes into a good story than originality. After all, this is a Disney fairy tale, even though the protagonist is reputed as evil from storybook legends. The humor in this film is on point, with Maleficent’s sarcasm and cynicism both chilling and relatable. The plot flows well, and again the imagery shows beautiful fantasy and CGI dedication.
For women representation, the film was wonderful. The top three billed characters were women. The movie passes the Bechdel test by a mile, focusing on the maternal love and conflict between Maleficent and Princess Aurora.
In terms of racial diversity, the film is awkward and forced about this. All the leads and royalty are Caucasian — Maleficent, Princess Aurora, Prince Phillip, Queen Ingrith, the King, and the crow-man Diaval. The diverse characters are supporting and supplemental, with little to no speaking parts. When the POC characters did speak, it seemed like the production team threw it in there to fill in minor diversity checkboxes. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Conall, the winged fairy who advocates for peace, then sacrifices his own life to save Maleficent. Within the film, this is very noble and poignant. However, across the wider spectrum of American films, it’s amazing how many times stories depict Black people literally giving up their lives for White people. David Gyasi plays Percival, the captain of Queen Ingrith’s guards. It’s one thing to see Black representation in films, but again, when it’s primarily in a supporting role in service to White character leads, it reinforces a general subconscious notion that people of color are supplemental. There are random winged fairies who are Black, Asian, and other racial backgrounds who were noticeably representing different cultures in the fantasy world, along with the fact that they mainly served as imagery in the film. It was a lackluster try for inclusion though, which may or may not count for something.
Overall, the film was still pretty good! Scenic, entertaining, and funny. In terms of diversity, it was wonderful for women, but awkward for people of color. Queer representation, was not clearly included.
