Stars: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville, Janet McTeer (yep, she's the voice you were trying to place as the narrator)
Director: Robert Stromberg
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Costume Design)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars
You can feel it in the water. What once was popular is now lost, and only those that lived
four years ago can remember it. At
least this is what I was thinking as I was leaving Maleficent, the latest in the many, many reimaginings of classic
fairy tale/fantasy stories. After
the inexplicable (that box office was psychotic) success of Alice in Wonderland in 2010, the studios
would have been fools to not have cashed in on this previously untapped market
(see also comic books and…the studios are not good at focusing on multiple
things at a time). Yet after Snow White and the Huntsman, Oz the Great
and Powerful, and now Maleficent it
appears the trend may soon be fading.
Pray for next year’s Cinderella remake.
(Spoilers Ahead) The
reason for this is partially because no one seems to like any of these
movies. Honestly-with the comic
book movies you have The Avengers and
Iron Man and The Dark Knight propping up the mediocre entries like The Green Lantern and most of the X-Men franchise. There has yet to be a fairy tale story
to really stick the landing, and that’s partially because the franchises try to
stay surface level.
In theory fantasy films should work marvelously, and from a
bankroll perspective they do (this, like the others before it, is a gigantic
hit). Yet it’s the fact that it’s
all surface-level that causes it harm.
I’m not one for the continued “let’s-make-a-sequel” aspect of the
movies, but what sets Harry Potter and
Lord of the Rings apart is that they’re
building a mythology based on these great book series. There’s plenty of source material in
these films, and there’s a lot of great emotional drama, but for some reason
they skirt behind it.
Take for example the scene where Maleficent (Jolie) loses
her wings in this film. It’s one
of the most devastating scenes I’ve witnessed in a youth-oriented film in years
(it rivals that wildly creepy scene with a dying Alan Rickman in Harry Potter). The anguish in Jolie’s voice as she lies, betrayed by the
man she loved-it’s heartbreaking, and you get a sense for the remainder of the
film that there’s an unspoken evil lurking here that you want avenged.
And yet, the film doesn’t give us much in the way of a human
character for Sharlto Copley, who is a black-hearted king with no redeeming
qualities to make him seem remotely well-rounded. His daughter Aurora (Fanning) is the exact opposite-all
goodness and sweetness, but nothing minutely human about her. They might as well be cartoons (in fact,
they once were in a different Disney kingdom far, far away), and there’s
nothing to latch on to of substance here.
Jolie’s performance is the only thing worth noting in this
silly, paint-by-numbers film.
Jolie has always worked best as a movie star in theory than in
practice-her films, especially her later films, have all suffered from her
being the most famous person on earth.
It’s hard to imagine such an exquisite creature existing in real life (I
remember reading somewhere that Jolie was far too beautiful to be anything
other than a movie star, and it’s true), and even in a fairy world she stands
out. This is ideal casting (who
else to play a goddess?), but in the scenes where Jolie is shifting her opinion
of Aurora, I cannot help but feel I’m being sold something not worth buying;
Jolie’s Maleficent is far too cunning and world-weary to be undone by such a
princess.
The film has the sort of pedigree (look at that crew list)
and box office position to be a threat at this year’s Oscars in at least a handful
of tech categories. I will
slightly withhold judgement in this regard, but can we all agree the fake
cheekbones were redundant on Jolie and that the small-headed Imelda Staunton
looked stupid? If you disagree,
there’s the comments section. In
fact, share any thoughts you had about this movie (judging by the box office
I’m guessing you have seen it)!
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