I had to write a review of this movie to tell all of u out in IMDb land how terrifically horrendous this so called "re-boot" of the classic Disney fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" is. The original beloved film, created in the golden age of the studios animation department is basically told to shut the Hell up and not get in the way of this new "touchy feely" version of every kid gets a trophy style movie making. This of course is supposed to appeal to as many people as possible while not scaring one child (cus ya know how fragile our youth are today, God forbid) while at the same time not showing any creativity, accuracy or entertainment, not even slightly. Now I'm not trying to say that this new film couldn't or shouldn't have the right to change a few things. After all it's a live action film and many decades have passed since the original was released. We would expect a few new or different things story wise and perhaps character wise but what we got was a totally different and in my opinion bland, heartless shell of the original film that at no point in the two hours I sat watching thought it added anything to the "Sleeping Beauty" story nor did it honor the Maleficent that we all loved to hate in the classic film. Jolie looks the part at least but the way the writers absolutely robbed the title character of her dastardly ways, and turned her from the evil sorcerous we came to love into some misunderstood fairy that lost her wings, this was just reaching too far for me. Losing her wings made her mad but never at any point slightly turned her to the dark side, wtf? The three fairies in the original film are not as magically gifted as Maleficent but are able minded and capable of some pretty nifty tricks when they need them and most importantly they are caring surrogate parents who deeply love Rose (Princess Aurora) like their own daughter. The new film makes them out to be idiots who have little reason for even being there. The creators also replace the fairies tender and loving relationship with a guilt ridden Maleficent who steps in as the one who cares for Rose, once again, wtf? Lastly King Stefan is not the caring and kind father of Princess Aurora who reluctantly gave his daughter up to hopefully spare her life and avoid Maleficent's evil birthday curse of death. The curse that one of the fairies finds a loophole for with her blessing of eternal sleep that can be lifted with a kiss of true love and which gives Aurora a sliver of a chance if she were to prick her finger on the spinning wheel as Maleficent had hoped. Every good character in this new film is changed to make them look incompetent, mean spirited, greedy or all of the above. This is to make Maleficent look like a victim of circumstance and more likable. The thing is she's not supposed to be likable, she's the villain remember? Bad job by Disney's live action department again (John Carter, The Lone Ranger, Alice in Wonderland, etc) and a bad movie is the outcome...again. Chances are its been a while since you've seen the original so please just go watch that and don't bother with this new "installment." Sometimes Disney has no shame when it comes to defiling the landmark pictures and characters that built their mighty empire. It seems that nothing is sacred and cheapening the great stories of their past is often dismissed or completely ignored as long as it makes a profit while doing so. It's not global famine or the end of the world of course but I think they should treat the works of their forefathers with a lot more respect and I find it a bit sad.
Review of Maleficent
