This was an interesting movie, and I had to watch it for a class, again, sorry, all of my good reviews come from movies that I had as homeworks. But I am happy about that, a lot of things come our way without us expecting it and it is a pleasure when they do.
It is the story of why, the evil queen
Maleficent, has decided to put a curse on
Aurora after she was born. This story also shows that perhaps what lies in the shadows is not always evil, and how something that is apparent to the eyes can be misleading. Ultimately, it is a story of the meaning of a true love's kiss.
I still cannot decide what I think about this movie and there are two reasons for that.
One, Disney has decided to force onto us the need to explain why villains are not really villains, when turning cartoons into live action movies, but they are doing a terrible job at it. This movie was the exception, however, by explaining why she is not really evil, they created a new antagonist. There is no story without someone being the bad guy, and that is also a lesson in itself. However, I don't necessarily like that Disney feels the need to explain why someone is bad... honestly, when I was a kid, the lesson that some people are just bad, and that bad things do just happen is a very hard lesson, but it prepared you for life. I am fine with the idea that there are two sides to every coin, but if you don't really think it through, eg.
Cinderella, then there is no reason to force it onto anyone.
Second, I am proud of this movie, because it decided to add a very strong metaphor for rape and did not back down. What
Maleficent had to endure... It is no surprise that she wished for revenge, and even then, she did so without ever actually hurting someone. The evil woman ends up being the savior too, which is truly the mark of good writing: they knew the source material and they made it contemporary too, questions that again, some other live action remakes failed at terribly. So you see, I do find this to be a remarkable movie, but it is alone in its kind, because the villain business is not necessarily easy to explain. That said, my only major concern was not understanding why the fairies who looked over
Aurora had to be idiots for
Maleficent to fool them... there was no need for that. And the
King's accent was completely over the top...
Watch it? I recommend it. It is one of those rare movies that holds up on its own, despite being a sort of remake and prequel. I did not care for the new villain, but there is a lesson there too. I hope that this will make them do good iterations, and if not, leave the villain for what it is: a good antagonist.
Until the next item on my list!
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