Movie Review: Maleficent

      Okay, this is my first movie review, so bear with me!!

 THE PLOT: Maleficent is basically back story to Sleeping Beauty, showing how the evil queen became evil. It's an interesting idea for a movie, and Disney turned what could be a boring history into an exciting, conflicting, film about Maleficent's story, and her relationship with Aurora. 

 THE CHARACTERS:

Angelina Jolie as Maleficent

Maleficent: Angelina Jolie does a magnificent job playing Maleficent; she was able to pull of the loving, happy, and carefree side of Maleficent, and still be a terrifying and heartless villain. Maleficent herself is an intriguing character, with a sad history; she is full of hate and bitterness, and out to get revenge. But still, she has a soft and pitiable side to her, making her a character with ground for great development. 

Maleficent turned evil

Michael Higgins as young Stefan

King Stefan: Ooooohhh, King Stefan is a despicable character! In the beginning he is not so bad, but then he becomes greedy for riches and position, and this is his overthrow. Towards the end you find yourself hating him like Maleficent does; rooting for his downfall. 

Sharlto Copley as King Stefan

Elle Fanning as Aurora

Aurora: Aurora is a really sweet character, full of optimism, and unaware of the curse on her, till she meets Maleficent. Elle Fanning was a good choice for Aurora, she has the pale blond hair, and a princess's look about her. She did a good job portraying Aurora's innocence throughout the movie. 

Diaval in his raven form

Diaval: Diaval is the raven constantly seen with Maleficent. I guess his name was changed from the original Diablo to Diaval. He is a really sweet character, indebted to Maleficent for saving him by turning him into a human, but he is not evil like she is. He seems to be the one quietly convincing her not to be completely heartless. Also the fact that Maleficent can turn him into any animal is epic! (I was secretly hoping that he would be the one to wake Aurora from her curse, because he had known her ever since she was little, AND because I ship Aurora and Diaval, but shush!!)

Sam Riley as Diaval

Brenton Thwaites as Prince Phillip

Prince Phillip: What to say about Phillip?! I feel like he was the weakest character, with no back story, besides that he was a prince who got lost in the woods. He randomly ran across Aurora, and then kinda left the story for a bit. He was like the prince that wasn't really needed, but still had to be there. Disney made up for that though in a very amusing way. You'll have to watch the movie to know what I mean. And the biggest thing that bothered me was his way-to-modern hair. Uggghhhh!!!

 Flittle, Knotgrass and Thistlewit: These three arguing and very dysfunctional fairies turned human where defiantly the funny characters. Always bumbling and bustling around wildly, trying to be the best; they brought a light hearted twist to the movie. But dear me, they certainly were awful mothers!  

Left to Right: Thistlewit, (Juno Temple) Knotgrass, (Imelda Staunton) Flittle (Lesley Manville)

THE ACTING:The acting was very good throughout the whole movie. I find it interesting how three different actresses where used for Aurora, (not including baby Aurora) to show her at different ages. The same amount of actors/actresses were also used for Maleficent, and Stefan. All the characters where really well portrayed. And the variety of characters, made for a lively mix.

                                                                                      

CGI AND SETS: From what I could tell the sets and CGI was pretty good. I'm not an expert on that kind of thing, so I'm not going to say much more. They certainly didn't look fake though.

THE COSTUMES: Now, the most important part!! The costumes where really lovely, I felt like each costume described a little of who the characters were. Maleficent's costumes where woodsy and earthy, but they turned pure black, and the light earthy tone turned to a dark and mysterious dress, with a mystical plant like collar and a lovely LONG black train. King Stefan's where simple, but when he became king, they turned into lots of fur, and chain-male. The fairies had sweet bright outfits, and Aurora's dresses, oh my!! I would have worn EVERY SINGLE ONE! They where gorgeous, pale blues and greens and pinks in the classic medieval princess style. Her hair was also lovely. I loved the costumes. 

CONTENT: There was a lot of magic and curses; Maleficent is very powerful, and the fairies obviously are magical, but there was nothing terrible. Maleficent is pretty dark and evil at times, but then again that's how she was in the fairy tale. There is a battle between Maleficent and the old king with his army during which Maleficent calls mystical and fierce tree creatures to fight with her, and at the end there is a big dragon fight, with Maleficent, Diaval and Stefan. Maleficent and Diaval have a few small fights with some enemy soldiers. There is no real gore, the worst are a few burns Maleficent gets, and at one point in the story her wings are cut off, but they don't show any blood or gore; they don't even show that scene. So even though the scenes aren't graphic, the violence is still there. There are only two small kiss scenes, between Maleficent and Stefan, and Aurora and Phillip. It is stated a few times that true love doesn't exist, but that is resolved in the end. 

CONCLUSION: Over all, I really, really, liked Maleficent! It made a nice movie for our movie night, with everyone enjoying most of it. My favorite character was probably Maleficent, she is a delicious villainess, but has a beautiful change of heart. There are some really good morals about love, and how powerful it is in this movie, so thats good! I highly recommend Maleficent. I put the trailer below.