Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Wholesome family entertainment

Disney may be fond of remakes, but no one gives them enough credit for trying to change the story of one of their core villains from a tale of darkness to light.

We all know the story of Sleeping Beauty and the witch that cursed her (Beauty) because she hadn’t been invited to the aforementioned’s christening.

In the first movie, Disney goes down this usual path but then changes it up in an unexpected way and makes Maleficent an antihero. I didn’t quite buy all of it but I came out of the first movie not overly impressed and I wasn’t looking forward to the eventual sequel.

Well here are and I’ll get this out of the way first; I absolutely enjoyed the sequel. The production value for this film is fantastic. The visuals are gorgeous and the attention to detail is impeccable.

You can tell that this was a labour of love. While the story is simple (as expected from these type of films made by Disney), it has enjoyable characters and I cannot fault the acting.

I had a few issues with the character of Aurora but as my wife explained to me; humans aren’t always the best at using their intuition and sometimes only see what’s right in front of them.

That said, I enjoyed Angelina Jolie as Maleficent this time around and found her behaviour more fitting here than it did in the first film. Michelle Pfeiffer is a joy to watch as always and plays her role with all the seriousness it requires.

The third act was really fun to watch; it was wholesome, endearing and also funny.

Maleficent is a film made for adults who don’t want to think too deeply about what they’re seeing while also having a good time and it was absolutely made for younger adults who appreciate the lessons that the film tries to teach. Younger children might be a little scared from some of the imagery but I’m sure they’ll get over it quickly enough.

See Maleficent because you enjoy the rare fantasy fare that isn’t trying to tell too deep a story. Watch this film because you you’re an Angelina Jolie fan and finally, see Maleficent because it’s that pure live action fantasy fare that’s so rare these days.

Final verdict: 8/10