movie: Maleficent
starring: Angelina Jolie, Sam Riley
genre: Fantasy
year: 2014
format: Shaw Video On Demand
plot: After falling in love with a human, a fairy is betrayed by the man when he drugs her and removes her wings. She learns he did this to gain access to the throne as the current king is dieing. In her grief, she turns her attention to protecting herself at all costs, including cursing the daughter, Aurora, of the new king. As Maleficent grows older, watching the princess, she begins to forgive, letting herself trust again.
This movie started off so strong. The images gave no bend to the fact she's raped by the man she loved and trusted. Had the story continued on in that vein, with focus on her pain and recovery, it would have been better.
With that said, I found my self crying a half hour into the movie.
This is a Disney film, so you know the story would start to revolve around the Sleeping Beauty character, which for me kind of killed it. I would have rather seen more plot between Maleficent and King Stefan then anything else.
I did love the addition of the shapeshifter character. A crow that Maleficent saves and grants the gift to turn into a man. I kept waiting for him to be all confessing his undying love...but the closest thing we got to that was near the end when he gets sarcastic as they go into battle.
The idea that they gave her bird wings, puts the image of an angel into your mind, while the horns give the idea of a demon. Which was a great metaphor to express the balance of human nature.
Two questions bothered me throughout the film...1) Why was she the only "human" sized fairy? and 2) were those cheekbones make-up or real?
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