Sleeping Beauty is probably my favorite “classic” Disney film. You’d probably have to ask me on the day which one I prefer between that one and Cinderella (sorry Snow White). So I was certainly anticipating this live action re-imagining of the age-old tale as much as any other enthusiast. But does it live up to expectations?
For me, though the film has its flaws, for the most part I was pleased. It’s definitely visually impressive to see though you can certainly hold off on any IMAX 3D mark-ups. It adds nothing to the experience which is usually par for the course when it comes to Disney films. I think the film could have been somewhat darker. I do love a good villain, but this one may have made her more sympathetic than long time fans were looking for. More edge would have been nice, but it’s a PG film so I wasn’t personally putting as much stock in that. Now with a PG-13 rating I think it could have taken the character to another level.
Jolie eyes tell a lot of the tale in this one. I thought she was a decent Maleficent overall, but I don’t really think this is a defining role for her. I definitely prefer her Maleficent to Mila Kunis’s Wicked Witch in Oz the Great and Powerful though.
The pacing of the film does feel a little strange. It’s only 97 minutes which is usually unheard of for a film of this scale. You can usually expect no less than 2 hours. It probably could have used one or two more action scenes to move things along, but it maintained the fairytale tone all throughout. I wasn’t crazy about the casting choice for Prince Phillip. I definitely think I prefer the animated character but he’s probably one of the most popular Disney princes, so naturally those are big shoes to fill. I also thought Sharlto Copley was a little bland and generic here. He is normally excellent (I could watch him in District 9 or Elysium anytime), but perhaps he did his best with the material he was given. I think they missed and opportunity to explore the complicated relationship between him and Maleficent all throughout the film which could have built significant tension and made the ending even more interesting.
It’s not totally game changing; it follows in the same footsteps as Snow White and the Huntsmen and Oz the Great and Powerful. But thanks to the success of this string of films Hollywood will certainly be encouraged to make more. Last I checked Cinderella will be getting the live action treatment next. Hopefully they can learn from the criticisms of this film to make that one better. Or maybe they won’t since they know we’ll all flock to it regardless.
This has probably been the most anticipated film of Angelina Jolie’s career. Promo has been everywhere for months. And based on the results it looks like it’s paid off. The movie earned a cool $70 million domestically for its first weekend and that’s a pretty good haul! I think you should see it if you’ve been looking forward to it, but you aren’t really missing anything if you skip it.
I agree with all your points in this review. They could have done a lot more than just have shot after shot which focuses on Angelina’s eyes. I liked Maleficent better when she was evil instead of just acting out b/c she had been wronged.
Great review. I haven’t seen the movie, but it seems that there are a lot of writers/directors trying to make the bad characters more likable these days, which I really don’t care for. And the time of the movie is more like a cartoon feature than anything else.
I will wait for it to come out on Netflix, thanks!!!