Hey youtubers it's Charlie and I had a chance to see Maleficent this weekend so this is
going to be my review. In case you didn't know, this is Disney using their giant spinning
wheel to create a new version of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the evil witch,
or at least the witch that was evil in the classic Disney animated Sleepy Beauty movie.
Since a lot of you might not have seen it yet I'm going to do my non spoilery review
first, then put this movie into context with the classic animated movie and then during
the spoilery part I'll talk about my top 5 moments.
If you're finding me for the first time, we are thick in the middle of Summer movie season.
I'm going to be doing weekly movie reviews. So be sure to subscribe to get everything.
Next up is Fault in Our Stars next Friday. Feel free to leave me suggestions for movies
to review.
So Maleficent is hopefully the first of a new wave of Disney Villain movies. I love
movies about bad guys and girls. Maleficent in my opinion, is like the Iron Man of Disney
Villains. She sits at the top. So naturally it makes sense that she would get her own
movie first. I'll talk more about other Disney villains I think need there own movies after
my review, but because this is a Villain movie I want to spend most of this video talking
about the characters because that's why I go see movies. The plot was fun and there
were a few surprises. But it's Angelina Jolie and that Smile that really got me excited
to go see this.
She was hypnotizing before Disney used all that makeup and CG to make her mouth bigger.
If you look at her in real life, yes. She is famous for those lips. But the movie dials
that up to infinity. She can bite be with those teeth anytime.
It's pretty clear going into this that she's going to be most people's favorite thing about
the movie. And she was definitely my favorite thing. She fills that role with so much power
I'm starting to fantasize about her on Game of Thrones as a brunette version of Cersei
Lannister. No offense to Lena Headey, you are both amazing and I bow in submission.
It's just a testament to Angelina that she can play characters so well and be a leading
lady. This is the weird thing about lead actors in Hollywood. Usually lead characters are
the most boring. Think about it this way. Disney sells Pirates of The Caribbean movies
on Johnny Depp, not Jack Sparrow. At almost every point in those movies, you're thinking
to yourself "look at Johnny Depp being amazing".
Character actors are way different. Like Michael Sheen in Twilight or Tron Legacy. You're not
thinking about Michael Sheen when you watch him. You're just thinking about Aro the Voltui
or Castor his Tron character.
So sometimes, casting a big A List actor can take you out of the story. I feel like Angelina
Jolie is such a great actress that she can disappear into all of her roles. It makes
it so much more fun to watch all of her movies. I'll talk more specifically about her Maleficent
character during spoilers.
Elle Fanning on the other side of that equation is quickly becoming one of my new favorite
young actors. Because Angelina Jolie drives the whole movie, Sleeping Beauty is only a
supporting character. But she was still a lot of fun to watch as a young princess who
doesn't even know what the word evil means for most of the movie. Even though the movie
treats the classic Sleeping Beauty story in this new complex way, all of the characters
except for Maleficent are pretty close to what you remember from the original. Which
makes it a lot harder for them to stand out.
I felt like she made an excellent foil for Maleficent. She's not the primary antagonist
in the movie, but it's the interaction between those two characters that really drives the
story forward and I totally loved it.
This would be a great movie to take your Mom to go see. Like it's a movie about the relationship
between mother's and daughters. The only thing I didn't really like about the movie was the
voice over and the fact that the female characters were still heavily defined by their relationships
with men in the film. Like they were defined in terms of their romantic relationships.
The voice over I understand. It's the Blade Runner argument. In case you never heard about
it, there was this controversy with the movie Blade Runner. One of the best science fiction
movies ever. When the movie was released the studio wanted Ridley Scott to add a voice-over
to the movie because they felt like we, the people watching it, were too dumb to follow
the story. Ridley Scott was forced to add it and it really hurt the movie. There was
a directors cut way later that took the voice-over out and it made the movie way better.
This is all I could think about when the voice over in Maleficent was happening. It's there
for little kids to help them follow the movie. Because that's mostly who's going to go see
this movie. Little kids. So I understand why they included it.
I'll talk more about my issues with the female characters during spoilers. So let's just
move into that. Careful for spoilers in case you haven't seen the movie yet. But here are
my top 5 moments. Number 5 - Maleficent's Use of Magic
Everything about magic in this movie is so much more fun than OZ, the last big live action
Disney movie like this. In the movie Angelina Jolie is the only one that gets to use magic
and it kind of seems like she's got crazy power. That creates some story issues but
the visual way they presented magic, the special effects, were great.
Number 4 - The Three Fairy Godmothers
The movie twists the use of Fairy Godmother, but I'm talking about the three fairies that
raise her. I loved the way they turned them into the three stooges. It felt like they
made them way less nurturing than the original cartoon versions. Like they were babysitters
just trying to earn a paycheck. I only recognized Juno Temple, but she was in this movie called
The Brass Teapot, where she kept beating herself up so that this magical teapot would spit
out money. That was super dark, but the fairies smashing each other with stuff really made
me think of that. Like they were enjoying beating the crap out of each other.
It was totally hilarious and I loved the negative spin on the characters. Like you would definitely
not want those three women to raise your child, because they're terrible at it. Maleficent
was the real caretaker.
Number 3 - The Big Differences from the Original Cartoon
I'm talking about the metal vines inside the castle, the dragon and making the King Sharto
Copley, the villain. There were a lot more things they changed, but even if you haven't
seen the original cartoon in a long time the things everyone remembers the most are Prince
Charming having to get through the vines at the end and kill the dragon.
Here's a big question though. If she could turn Diaval into a Dragon at any time. Why
not just do it at the start and just destroy the Castle and take back her wings. Why wait
16 years? It's just like the griffons in Lord of The Rings. There wouldn't be a movie if
they did it the logical way.
Number 2 - The Maleficent Aurora Relationship
This is the most important part of the movie, the evolution of their relationship and how
it changes Maleficent. Somehow I don't think she ever hated Aurora, even when she was a
baby. That's the whole idea, she was never a villain in the true sense of the word. She
keeps saving her life and protecting her. She even tried to undo the curse halfway through
the movie.
If only we all had the magic to take back shitty things we say. At least you can delete
awful tweets.
and my Number 1 moment - This is really just a specific moment in the film, but it's when
Maleficent takes Aurora into the Moors
That moment when Aurora starts to explode with happiness and Maleficent just poof, shuts
her down. Like she's thinking 'oh my god, that's enough of you." She just can't handle
all that pure emotion.
I feel like if everyone could have a secret power that would be it. Just be able to shut
people down like that when they get too crazy. Poof, you sleep now.
Now it's your turn though. Let me know what your favorite part of the movie was!
Just to address my issue with the female characters. I think the movie did a disservice to Maleficent
in particular just by making her so hung up on Stefan. Yes he stole her wings. But she's
almost a god. So she could have just taken them back at any time.
The story forces her to wallow in misery at the thought that everyone is awful and there's
no such thing as true love. In all fairness, there was that long montage they just glossed
over, so I'm assuming that Stefan and Maleficent were deeply in love and the movie just didn't
show that to us.
Otherwise I think it was a great first entry in a new line of big Disney Villain movies.
The next one I think they should give a movie to should be Ursula from Little Mermaid. Also,
if you haven't been watching it, Once Upon A Time has been bringing a lot of the new
characters like Elsa from Frozen onto the TV Show. They've already done Maleficent,
she was Pam from True Blood. But if you want to see more alternative stories about Disney
characters, that would be a good show to watch.
In related news, next week I'm doing a Fault in Our Stars video. Be sure to subscribe to
get it. And feel free to leave me suggestions for other movies to do.
Right now click here for my X-Men Days of Future Past Review and Click here to learn
all about The new Star Wars Boba Fett movie.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tomorrow. High Fives!