Hello :-)
With the success
of 2010’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and a touch of bandwagon jumping following
‘Mirror Mirror’, ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ and the Theatre success of
‘Wicked’, the House of Mouse has decided to come at one of their classics from
a different, live action, angle and tell the story of ‘Sleeping Beauty from the
perspective of the antagonist in ‘Maleficent’.
I’m not going to
insult your intelligence because we all know the story; Evil fairy curses baby
to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die on her 16th birthday… or does
she? What ‘Maleficent’ tries to do is give you a bit of backstory around our
titular fairy and show the ‘true’ version of events.
From what I can
see this film has polarised people; I have friends who love it with a passion
but I know others that wouldn’t give it the time of day. Maybe it was because
it was Saturday morning or maybe it was because there was a group of teenagers
in my screening who literally talked from start to finish (and I mean
LITERALLY), but I just didn’t get it.
It would be
remiss of me (a dyed in the wool feminist) to totally dismiss a
fantasy-adventure film with a female lead. I realise this is a step forward in
terms of female-led cinema and Angelina
Jolie is on top form; if you are looking for a reason to go see
‘Maleficent’ she is it. The fact that this exists is a big deal for gender
equality but creatively... not so much.
The trouble is
this film is a massive pin in the balloon of Maleficent’s wrath. One of the
reasons she works so well in ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is because she arrives ex
nihilo. No real motive for what she does and then BOOM… cursed baby. If you
wanted to compare her to anyone she’d be Disney’s ‘Joker’; doing stuff for the
hell of it “to watch the world burn”.
What
‘Maleficent’ does is take the spiky horn hat adorning the posters and cover it
in bubble wrap. Every hard edge the character has had been buffed into nothing.
They’ve reinvented the character, that much is true, but to what end? To make
her an example of how to get revenge on your ex-boyfriend? That’s like taking a
Direwolf and teaching it to dance so you can enter Britain’s Got Talent’. We
all know that If there was ever a character in this fairy-tale that needed a
revamp it’s the Princess herself but sadly that hasn’t happened.
Speaking of the
Princess, aside from Jolie, the cast is a bit flat. I suspect a lot of the
other character’s development was lost to the cutting room floor but you really
struggle to care when ‘Maleficent’ has no foil for the titular character.
Instead there’s the tragically two dimensional, friend-to-the-animals Princess,
histrionic Sharlto Copley (WEIRDEST. ACCENT. EVER) as King Stefan and the
utterly useless Prince Phillip (Brenton Thwaites). Add to that the über
irritating three pixies and there really isn’t anyone else to care about.
Technically it
passes muster, I quite like how it looked. The animals and such all had a super
cartoonish, candy-floss sweet look to them, which, in a world of tree giants
and fairies, works fine for me. The Pixies, however, are a different matter.
Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville are poorly served both in
writing and visuals. The character design for the pixies is vomit inducing and
all the while I wanted a giant something-or-other to come in and squish them.
‘Maleficent’ is not for me. I recognise it’s a big deal in the context of female
representation in cinema but, as a film fan, that isn’t enough to recommend it.
It’s like the producers have a tent but unfortunately only one, Angelina Jolie
shaped, pole with which to prop it up.
‘Maleficent’ is
still in cinemas if you want to catch it.
Now let’s have
some…
Reasons to be
Cheerful :-)
1. I know I’m a
bit obsessed but OMG GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY! Here’s another TV spot and I love
it. I just love it :-)
2. Just released
yesterday it’s the first teaser trailer from ‘Mockingjay Part 1’. Deeply
sinister and then OMFG!!!!!!!! Just watch it and you’ll see what I mean…
3. Louise Brealey joins Ripper Street series 3! YAY!!! God I love Molly Hooper. This is
excellent news. As much as I love MyAnna Buring as Susan and Leanne Best as Jane
Cobden the show needs some more awesome girls! I’m very excited about Ripper
Street series 3!
That’s all for
now!
Good bye till
next time :-)
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