The 2014 retelling of Sleeping Beauty,
Maleficent, brought new depths to the villainous character
Maleficent. By giving her a truly heart wrenching motive to become
“the bad guy,” Maleficent becomes so much more believable than
previous versions of the Sleeping Beauty tale.
The film also excelled at the lesson of
“true love.” This movie does a great job of keeping you on the
edge of your seat up to the end about how “true love” plays out
in this story. I was worried they were going to disappoint like Snow
White and the Huntsman. But where the retelling of Snow White failed
to capture our hearts, Maleficent succeeded.. It was heartfelt and
real.
My only real complaint about the film
itself was the opening and closing narrations. From a writing
standpoint, narrations are viewed as something to be avoided wherever
possible. Although in this case I felt compelled to forgive it.
The visual displays during the
narration were so vivid, clear, and enchanting, it made you want to
forget the omnipresent voice in your head. Being a visually stunning
film helped ease my annoyance at the taboo. I still felt the pull
distracting me, but made a conscious decision to forgive it, because
if you can't use “once upon a time...” in a fairy tale, where can
you? They may have chosen to use narration to set the tone and remind
the viewers of the classic stories while they take you on a whole new
adventure.
While the critics had a very even mix
of feelings on the film, audiences tended to be a bit more forgiving
with a 72% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On Netflix, I'd give
the movie three stars. This is a movie I'd add my collection. It's
great for kids and adults who want more dynamic villains in their
fairy tales.