The beginning of the film is excellent, developing the relationship between Aurora and her godmother, which is engaging to watch. Aurora wants to marry and Maleficent doesn't trust humans. She must meet the family however and the tension and conflict between the two families, especially the two matriarchs, is wonderful. Had the rest of the film been about these things it probably would have been great, but then Maleficent goes and joins her brethren and we're introduced to a plot that has nothing to do with the story that we were introduced to. These creatures who are like Maleficent want to wage war with humankind but I'm afraid their story isn't interesting or compelling. I don't care about them or what they want, I want to get back to Aurora's relationship with Maleficent and Maleficent's conflict with the wicked queen!
It gets better in the end and I enjoyed the conclusion of the film, despite some overall silliness with a church and a pipe organ, because it focused again on the relationship between Aurora and Maleficent. They never should have strayed so far from that in the first place.
TLDR: What could have been a magnificent film was made average by poor story choices.
It gets better in the end and I enjoyed the conclusion of the film, despite some overall silliness with a church and a pipe organ, because it focused again on the relationship between Aurora and Maleficent. They never should have strayed so far from that in the first place.
TLDR: What could have been a magnificent film was made average by poor story choices.