Chris' Fish Place

I find it impossible to discuss how freaking awesome this movie is without using spoilers.  Fair warning, they occur after the jump.

                I totally lost interest in the _Men franchise which took Jean Grey’s struggle to control her own power story and changed it into whether Wolverine could kill his one true love.  And if you watch the ads for the last movie in the series, it is mostly men doing things.  And this is something I see too often in movies lately – Hunger Games and Frozen aside.  And I’ve lost interest in many big name studio movies largely because I have found them so disappointing and upsetting (Oz the Great and the Powerful I’m thinking of you).  In short, I was all set to wait until this came out on video or even cable before seeing it, despite the fact that it has Jolie in it, and I like her.  Despite the fact that I have a very large soft spot for the Disney Sleeping Beauty- I’m not really sure why - I like Samson I guess – and I should point out that the dress should be blue.

                But a friend who also likes the Disney Sleeping Beauty wanted to see this and wanted someone to go with her.

                I’m glad she did.

                Maleficent is supposedly or has been marketed as Maleficent’s story of the cartoon, i.e. the story from the evil fairy’s point of view.  And this is not quite true.  It is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, one that relies in great part on the Disney cartoon, but it is not simply an alternate viewpoint.

                Maleficent (played for much of the movie by Jolie) is a fairy who guards her kingdom.  She is a very powerful fairy – take that Tauriel from the Hobbit movies.  She is good at her jump and some of the best scenes in the movie are Maleficent flying, just glorying in the use of her power.  Something that we don’t usually see female super heroes do on the big screen.  Unfortunately, it all goes south because of a lying man who wants power more than wings.  This betrayal is not due to a romantic rivalry.  And is beautifully done.  She loses her wings and gains bitterness, and then plots revenge. 

                She gets a chance at the christening of her former love’s child.  But she also curses herself in the process.  Jolie’s evil fairy is the one who tempers the curse, seeking it to make it harsher –she does not believe in true love.  But she is also trapped because she mentions Aurora being loved by all around her. 

This includes Maleficent and we are supposed to pick up on this because the wording of the curse is important.

                And it is this relationship that develops as the most engaging of the film.  Despite her intentions, Maleficent does grow fond of Beastly as she calls Aurora.  And Aurora might not be a whack them with a sword princess, but she is not the vapid or empty type of princess.  She is written and acted (by Elle Fanning) in such a way that the viewer can understand why the other characters like her.  She sees Maleficent as a fairy godmother, and doesn’t know about the curse until later.  After discovery, she confronts Maleficent (who had tried to remove the curse but couldn’t because of the way she worded it) and determines her own future by going to see her father.  She takes her agency as much as anyone with a curse can. 

                Aurora’s father might have buried Maleficent’s humanity, but it is Aurora who brings it back.  It raises the question of who exactly is the Sleeping Beauty of the story’s title – Aurora who physically sleeps or Maleficent who morally and emotionally sleeps.

                The saving of Aurora is in fact by true love’s first kiss.  And Prince Phillip does kiss the Sleeping Beauty, but his kiss, forced upon him in a way by the trio of fairies who raised the princess, doesn’t work because, well, how can it be true love when they just met?  That scene is handled beautifully.  The kiss, as anyone who saw Frozen can tell you, is Maleficent’s motherly kiss (as it was Aurora’s love for her fairy godmother that awakens Maleficent).    And then as they try to leave the castle, Aurora saves Maleficent.  Not though the use of sword or magic, but by doing what is right, by using her mind.  Her strength is not magic or physical, but strength of character and the movie celebrates it.

                It isn’t an anti-male story.  Maleficent’s helper, the raven, is male, and Phillip is a likable character.  The movie is about storytelling and self.  Maleficent isn’t so much a villain but someone who has lost her way and finds it again.  The use of storytelling in the movie is great.  The visuals refer not only to the cartoon, but are strongly like the Company of Wolves movie based on Angela Carter’s work of the same name.  In many ways, the movie is a female superhero movie (finally!).    It is just about friendship but redemption and the choosing of one’s own family.

                The New York Times describes it as women rule, but I’m not sure that is the point.  It’s more about placing love and friendship above other concerns.  The fact the women are stronger is a plus and makes up for other movie retellings such as Jack the Giant Slayer or the glass stiletto that is making its appearance.  It is a cure for the male dominated super hero movies that are too common these days.  It’s true that in some ways it is simply about saving the princess, but saving the princess is also saving the kingdom because everything is connected.

                It’s true the characters could have had more depth –is King Stephen simply derived as lust for power or is the lust for power because when he was child, he was orphaned?  The movie hints at both.  This is true, but the actors make up for it.  Fanning and Jolie are wonderful.  The fairy trio (including a certain Harry Potter actress) is a source of wonderful relief.  Even the smallest part is played with great care as is evidenced by the use of Aurora’s mother, a small part with perhaps less than ten lines, but facial expressions and body language were used very well.  The special effects are not like those in the Hobbit movies.  They are a nod to the film and have an artsy quality for the most part, at least in the magic kingdom.  Outside, including the thorn wall, there is a darker and more realistic feel.  The use of the raven was particularly good as well.

                Honestly with this movie and Frozen (and their production schedules had to be relatively close) Disney has discovered feminism.

                And I have a new favorite version of Sleeping Beauty.