Maleficent is a character belonging to the Disney factory universe.
She appears in the films of this studio that revolve around the classic tale of "Sleeping
Beauty".
Her first appearance was in the animation film Sleeping Beauty of 1959.
The script is based on fairy tales written by the French author Charles Perrault, and
the German Grimm Brothers, between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.
Maleficent is an evil witch, who gets angry at not being invited to Princess Aurora's
baptism.
Even so, she bursts into the palace and throws a curse on the newborn.
The day she turns sixteen, she pinches her finger with the spindle of a spinning wheel
and falls into a deep sleep, from which only her first kiss of true love can awaken her.
The Princess will be helped by her fairy godmothers Flora, Fauna and Spring, who secretly raise
her in a cabin in the middle of the forest, while Maleficent strives to find her to ensure
that the curse is fulfilled.
In this first version, the character played the role of the bad one in the story, represented
at all times as an evil figure.
More than half a century later, however, the character took a dramatic twist.
Disney was looking for new projects for its saga of real action films, which had already
given great success such as "101 Dalmatians" 1996 or "Alice in Wonderland" 2010.
Tim Burton, who had directed the latter, began working on a re-interpretation of "Sleeping
Beauty," but this time focused on the character of Maleficent, her personal story and motivations.
Burton left the project, but fortunately received a new boost when actress Angelina Jolie joined
as the main character, and Linda Woolverton, the scriptwriter of classics such as "Beauty
and the Beast" 1991 and "The Lion King" 1994.
The first rehearsals soon showed that Angelina was perfect for the role.
When she dressed and put on make-up she scared the girls so much that to play the young Aurora
she had to choose her own daughter Vivienne, the only one who was not afraid of her mother.
In "Maleficent" 2014 we find a completely different character.
A young and beautiful fairy, with enormous eagle wings, who lives in the Swamps, a fantastic
world in the forest close to the human kingdom.
There she meets Stefan, an orphan peasant like her, and soon they fall in love.
But with the passage of time, Stefan's ambition to progress, makes her stop visiting, and
they end up distancing themselves.
One day King Henry tries to conquer the Swamps, but is stopped by the fairy and her army.
Humiliated, he decides to offer his daughter's hand to whoever manages to finish her off.
Then Stefan, who aspires to reach the throne, takes advantage of her old friendship to betray
her.
He tricks her to give her a sleeping pill to drink, but when he tries to kill her his
past feelings prevent him from doing so.
He then tries to fake her murder, cutting her wings with iron, a substance lethal to
fairies, and taking them as proof to the King.
The King, who lies on his deathbed on the verge of death, grants him the promise.
Stefan marries Princess Leila and becomes the new King.
The protagonist, with her heart broken by the betrayal of her former lover, builds a
dark kingdom in the Swamps and becomes a dark witch, called Maleficent.
Some time later, she receives the news that the King and Queen will celebrate the baptism
of her newborn daughter, and decides to attend to carry out her revenge.
The film premiered in May 2014 and was a success, raising more than 750 million dollars worldwide,
and making Angelina Jolie the new iconic image of this character.
The main song, a version of "Once Upon A Dream" from the original 1958 film, was performed
by Lana del Rey.
Barely a year later, Disney announced that a sequel was in the works with the same actors,
who were joined by the famous actress Michelle Pfeiffer and Ed Skrein, the supervillain of
Deadpool 2016.
It was scheduled for 2020, but its release was finally brought forward to October 2019.
The story resumes five years later, with Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip are happy and about
to marry.
What no one suspects is that Queen Ingrith, Phillip's mother, secretly plans to use the
wedding to confront fairies and humans.
The intimate relationship between Maleficent and Aurora will be put to the test when they
meet on opposite sides of an imminent battle.
How will this story end?
For that, tiktakers, you will have to go to the cinema to see "Maleficent: Mistress of
Evil" 2019.
What we're sure of is that we'll enjoy watching one of our favorite Disney characters on the
big screen again.