Maleficent

Release Date: May 30, 2014

Watch Date: October 3, 2023

“Maleficent explores the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the classic Sleeping Beauty…and the elements of her betrayal that ultimately turn her pure heart to stone. Driven by revenge and a fierce desire to protect the moors over which she presides, Maleficent cruelly places an irrevocable curse upon the human king’s newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Aurora is caught in the middle of the seething conflict between the forest kingdom she has grown to love and the human kingdom that holds her legacy. When Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land, she is forced to take drastic actions that will change both worlds forever.”

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    “Maleficent is not a Halloween movie.”

    “Disney says it is.”

    “But I want to watch it.”

    “Well you can’t, it’s not Halloween.”

    We’ve been having this debate for the past nine months every single time it came to our picks for the end of the month. Right or wrong, Disney has included the Maleficent franchise in it’s Halloween selections, and that means, unfortunately for Bob who really has fond memories of this film, it’s a Halloween movie. Sucks. But that’s life.

    I knew what was coming the moment it was his turn to pick a film. There was no stopping this Maleficent train. Even though I told him he might regret picking it right out of the gate. He insisted he wouldn’t, and after having watched it I have to tell you that I don’t think he did.

    Maleficent is a solid movie, and a pretty good retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Like it’s ‘Wicked’ counterpart, it might even be a more popular version of the story than it’s original. The Moors and the creatures living there are beautifully designed, providing a stark contrast to the human world, and giving Maleficent something to protect and fight for makes her an immediately relatable and sympathetic character. And that’s what the point of this is, right? To tell the story from a different perspective, to make you think? To make you empathize and realize that every single person sees things just a little differently than you do, and that history is written by the victors, and the villains of the story are whoever those victors say they are. And it does that well. It does that spectacularly well.

    While I say all that, and I am generally happy with the way they portrayed Maleficent and Aurora and the way the whole story flowed, there are definitely things that just rubbed me the wrong way. I really liked this not terrible father figure in King Stefan in the original, he was just doing his best by his kid, and while I understand there needed to be a deeper reason that Maleficent cursed Aurora other than not going to a party, I kind of feel like Stefan could have had some sort of right hand man that had done the same thing and maybe Maleficent just hated the human kingdom and the throne he’d hurt her for? I don’t know. Maybe I just have an unnecessary soft spot for the old man. I also hated the change in Aurora’s fairy godmothers names. Flora, Fauna and Merryweather aren’t good enough for us anymore? We got to go with Knotgrass, Flittle and Thistlewit? Let me tell you whose names I’m actually going to remember – here’s a hint, it’s not the ones from Maleficent. Why would they change those names? What on earth did that accomplish?

    The biggest change, the most unnecessary change, was Maleficent not being the one to turn into a dragon at the end. I understand that throughout the whole movie she’d be changing Diaval’s shape to suit her purposes, loved the humanization of that character by the way, and I have already informed Bob that our next black cat will be named Diaval I don’t care how predictable that is, but Maleficent changes into a dragon. It’s her big moment. It’s what she’s known for. She curses babies and she changes into a dragon. She could have still had an epic standoff with Stefan as a dragon, and, in fact, it might have even been a cooler ending.

    Maleficent changes into a dragon. That is her thing Disney. Don’t take that away from her.

    All told, I may not have the soft spot for this film that Bob does, but it is still a pretty entertaining watch, and does exactly what it set out to do, and does it well. I can see why it got a sequel, though what possible story a sequel could tell I wouldn’t know since it all seemed pretty wrapped up by the end there. I’m sure Bob will pick it later on this month though, so the mystery won’t last very long. Either way, it’s a solid movie, and barring the lack of Maleficent dragon, I think it’s a great addendum to the original.

    It just might not be a Halloween movie, but it depends on who you ask.