Lots to say about Maleficent. So this was my take. I give it a 6.5/10 and all in all it was a GREAT choice for half-off movie Tuesdays at bow-tie cinemas! Take your kids if they are over 9. Not too scary at all, and beautiful imagery. Lets start with a little non give-away clip of a short moment with Angelina. How can you NOT love her? https://youtube/watch?v=RR-XZSE3a_c Here goes: Maleficent was always my favorite evil villain, so I was prepared to be disappointed. Oddly, I was enchanted instead. Many poo-pooed at Disney for ruining Maleficent by having made her overly sympathetic to the audience. I went in with an open mind and to see the film as a separate story. Not only did I not let it bug me, but I liked this play theory on the tale, played with it in my mind, and actually got a lot out of the message in this twist and thought of it as a great tool. A friend put it best during a brief scene demonstrating simply: you cant take back what you do, and you cant take back what you say once it is done. I loved that! I am a sucker for the alternate reality fantasy illusion, and I am fairytale obsessed, so the picture satiated my thirst for that. The imagery although a little over-done with the CGI for my liking, was stunning enough for me. There were plenty gorgeous scenes to feast your eyes on and evoke your imagination. I wasnt thrilled with Elle Fanning as Aurora at all and would have liked to see someone else with more substance. She bored me - and I felt myself wanting to be *captured* a tad more by the imagined beauty and spirit as sleeping beauty. I couldnt even tell you what accent the actor playing King Steffan was going for. I found him ridiculous and never yearn to see that dude in another film. I wanted to dislike him for the right reasons not because his acting and voice bugged me. :-P The audience should have detested him instead of felt irked- so he didnt really do it for me. Now, I am an overly empathetic hearted person, but the quiet times we had with a couple of the characters made me cry. I dont think anyone else would have this problem, as my maternal radar is at an all time high. I even wiped my eyes during the scenes when the fairies were playing with baby Aurora. Its bad, I know. I found myself lost in the feelings of Maleficent and I welcomed this, so I got something out of it. Many might argue the WORST thing you can do with a Villain is make he or she overly sympathetic by over explaining and over showing things. But I liked the back story and I was able to have fun with it in my mind instead of dismissing it over how they ruined her wickedness with too much heart. Sure, I would have liked some more grit and substance and elaboration on some other characters because it would have made all the difference in the aftertaste of the film, but for being a bit washed out I still enjoyed myself. I still adored the heck out of it. Angelina was perfectly cast and the film being GOOD was riding on her 100%. My only complaint is that we didnt have more time with her sneers and eyebrow lifts and sad scenes and wickedness. I wanted way more alone time with her in both her darkness and light and would have been thrilled with a 2 hr 15 movie instead of a 96 minute one. That said, for me it was worth a full price ticket and I saw it for half price since it was Super Tuesday at Bow-Tie cinemas so I am happy. I went in expecting total crap or a lot of nothing and got a TON, ton, ton, out of it. I loved it enough to see it again actually. Id go in 3-D this time, too Now for the Woman Crush Wednesday? Who better than Angelina Jolie as Maleficent. No better.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 18:28:33 +0000
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