Maleficent (2014)

[CJohn]

Discuss!

[rukaio101]

I'll just post what I posted in the main thread.

 

The film is alright. It's not great, but not bad either. I doubt I'm going to see it a second time (especially as long as Godzilla and DOFP are still in theatres) but it was a decent way to kill 97 minutes.

 

Jolie absolutely killed it in the main role though. She was fantastic. The rest of the cast are much more of a mixed bag. Some are good (the crow guy), some are alright (Aurora) and some are just kinda shit (Stefan (could barely understand him through that accent)). 

 

Visually, it's definitely a interesting style, but it's let down slightly by some poor CG in places, especially with the magical creatures. On the other hand, the flying scenes are absolutely fantastic. I saw it in 3D, so I'm not sure how much that helped though. That said, at the very beginning of the film, it's ridiculously sweet and saccharine. Seriously, had I watched that any longer I think I might have gotten diabetes.

 

I can see why it's being compared to Frozen, if only because of that twist involving 'true love's kiss'. Hell, I was able to work out the twist halfway through, just from remembering it was being compared to Frozen. I think Frozen did it better though.

 

I admit, the Prince did kinda crack me up with just how much he was taking this weird shit in stride (although that may not have been deliberate). 'I just magically teleported to the castle where 3 fairies are waiting for me and tell me this hot girl I met is under an enchantment and needs my kiss to wake her? Eh, okay.' It was especially funny when he turned up in the moors at the very end with obviously no idea what the fuck he's doing there.

 

Bit disappointed with the lack of resolution between Maleficent and Stefan though. Stefan just pulls a Gaston and that's it over and done with.

 

All in all, I'd give it a B, maybe a B-.

[eXtacy]

Ok, this movie is just outright bad. The only redeeming features are a good performance from Jolie, the visual effects are wonderful and the decent last act. Besides that this is a real stinker of a movie. This is the directors first time and it really shows as it was a mess from start to finish.

 

4 / 10 [D]

Edited May 29, 2014 by eXtacy

[commonsense88]

Movie: Gorgeous film, Special effects are beautiful but the story is at the level of See Spot Run. The film used a lot of narration instead of taking the time to show us. Angelina did a great job with what little she had to work with. Half way through the movie it started to contradict it self. There is a hint of lesbian love in the context.The last act was almost decent just to fall apart with an anti -climatic end. There is such a lack of dialogue that the movie came off as an excuse to show wonderful CGI creatures. Should have been titled Fantasia 2014. I feel like the move was made for Shiloh's age group or under only. Funny only saw one kid at my showing. Grade D-

[rockNrollaDIM]

I'll try to be unbias. It's an OK movie.

 

Jolie is wonderful. Can't say enough about how good she is and perfect for the role. Also liked Sam Riley, and the pixies were actually quite funny. In fact the whole movie was fairly humorous, Jolie surprisingly has some great comic timing - I loved the playful moments, and the scene with her daughter was adorable. The score is epic, big and bombastic, Maleficent's theme is badass. And you can so tell Stromberg worked on Avatar - the visuals and flying sequences were sweet and really an homage to Avatar IMO.

 

I wasn't crazy about the story though, they tried way too hard to make her sympathetic and the character just wasn't BAD enough. I was hoping that it would end with her being a stone-cold villain but they went the soft route which is really disappointing. I at least wanted to see her go ape-shit evil in the final battle but instead she just kind of half-heartedly kills Stefan on accident. As far as the direction goes, I agree that it was very obvious this was a first timer. Alot of this movie consists of Stromberg switching back and forth between random scenes of Maleficent walking around, posing, or playing games, but not really doing much to advance the story. I guess he just wanted to show off Jolie's face and the CGI work. 

 

I give it a B mostly due to Jolie's performance.

[riczhang]

The movie was kinda awful (well more than kinda ), but Queen Jolie was perfect. Like Honestly,

[simbaqueen]

Really poor. First time Director and it shows. So many meandering scenes and poorly rendered cgi. Jolie was the one decent thing about the whole shoddy experience.

[Water Bottle]

B-

[Mulder]

This movie was terrible. Worst film of the year so far.

[Shailene Woodley]

Best of the year, on par with Cap2 - but next week will concede to EoT.

 

Much better than Zilla, Spider-Freak and Xmen COMBINED.

[arpiaaaa]

One of the worst Disney movies I've seen in years.I love fantasy, fairy tales and everything but this........this............... :wacko:No plot, no characters and............WTH, Disney? Destroy your own legacy, yeah, great idea¡Bad, bad, bad, bad.F

[AndyLL]

Loved it.

 

Loved Jolie, loved the story... thought it was well paced.

[MovieMan89]

Alright, time for me to go in on this:

 

Well, well how....disheartening. Where to begin...I guess at the beginning? I knew I was in for a rough time at the theater when the movie opened like it was a Tinkerbell film for small girls. Right off the bat, Disney stripped Maleficent of every ounce of evil and mystique we've come to know her for. She's a benevolent fairy girl who frolics and makes googly eyes at the first boy she meets. Ugh. King Stephan as her love interest felt like reaching to the max. Speaking of him, he was an utter asshole of a character in the end that really never even cared about Aurora. Just his own misfortune for something he brought on himself, and again it ruined the animated character. Of course it made sense for his betrayal to Maleficent to harden her heart and want revenge on him, but why did she take it out on her own kind as well? She makes the whole fairy kingdom suffer because of it, and it really didn't work. It just wasn't a good enough reason for her to become the evil villain we know. But then again, she becomes that for maybe a whole two scenes.

 

Honestly, the christening scene is really the ONLY time in the film she gets to act flat out evil. It's also the best scene in the movie, and whattaya know it's about the only scene that adheres to Sleeping Beauty. Jolie is delightfully wicked in the scene, and it makes me flat out angry that all that potential for her was wasted. Her performance the rest of the film is merely making the best of an awfully boring and cliche character. The movie really falls apart once Aurora is taken and hidden in the woods. We learn that not only did Maleficent and her pet raven/human  (lol) essentially raise Aurora and keep her from harm (not the fairies), but Maleficent's idea of being evil devolves into playing cute little pranks on the fairies. She made them get wet in an indoor rainstorm, the fiend!!!

 

It was obvious by this point  that Maleficent had been totally neutered of any of the wickedness of the animated character. It was cliche and expected when she ends up caring for Aurora and wanting to revoke the curse (again since she basically raised her anyways). Some of the scenes with Aurora and Maleficent were so cutesy it was disgusting. Fairy mud fight y'all!!! :rolleyes:

 

Phillip's addition was useless, only leading to more cringe worthy googly eyed moments. And Disney has officially worn out their welcome on the "true love" twist that was such a big deal in Frozen. I knew right away they were gonna rip that off and have it be a familial love that breaks the spell. Except it was executed without any of the heart and grace Frozen at least carried it off with, and really did just feel like a cheap knock off of that. I wouldn't even be surprised if they added that part in after Frozen's success.

 

The action was dull and juvenile. The meager attempt at any "battle" scene comes early in the film and was basically already shown in the marketing. The dragon may have been the most disappointing thing of all, since it's such a highlight of the animated film and animated character. But here it's reduced to a brief nothing scene we again basically saw in the trailers. And it's not even her that becomes the dragon, rather her freaking Transformer raven! The dragon design sucked majorly too after the likes of Smaug last year. By the way the less said about her raven, the better. Thank god those rumored romantic scenes between Maleficent and the raven were either cut or just rumors cause it was cringe worthy enough as it was.

 

In the end, the biggest offense of this movie is that it simply shits all over the legacy of the animated classic, especially the character of Maleficent. You can argue that Alice in Wonderland or Oz the Great and Powerful aren't great films, but at least they had the decency to uphold the legacy of the classics that proceeded them. Neither movie felt like a slap in the face to the classics that inspired them. This did, and that's really why I hate it. Jolie and some of the visuals are the only redeeming factors. But even those left me unimpressed. As I mentioned Jolie really only gets to shine in one or two scenes, the rest of the time she has nothing at all to work with. Considering the standards we're used to today, I just wasn't that impressed with a lot of the visuals either. Alice, SWATH, and Oz all beat this in that respect too.

 

Overall, this felt to me like a movie made for young children. I imagine they would possibly enjoy the extreme sugar coated take on it, and not mind all the generic cliches. For everyone else though, especially those with fond memories of the animated classic,  I highly recommend staying away.

 

D-

Edited June 1, 2014 by MovieMan89

[mattmav45]

Hollow as fuck film. Good representation:Wife went to bathroom and asked what she missed. Despite watching the whole damn thing, I had no answer for her.Enough said.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

Jolie carries this film. She was amazing in the film to bad the film suffers from weak direction and a poor screeenplay. The king was terrible in film just awful. 2/5.

[Murgatroyd]

It was very much not the movie I expected it to be.  Leaving expectations aside and considering it for what it is, I'd say it's decent, but far from great.  The conclusion in particular would have benefited from either more drafts or less.  B-

[Hiccup]

Awful movie. I mean really Disney? They completely destroyed one of Disney's greatest villains. Jolie's acting is great but can't save this film. Even Alice in Wonderland (C+), Oz: The Great and Powerful (, and Snow White and the Huntsman (B-) were better than this by a long run. 

 

Ravenna (Charlize Theron) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Maleficent (Angelina Jolie_

 

D

[Kalderic]

Well, color me surprised! I actually enjoyed it!

 

    The story was a disappointment. I wont lie. The fact that they threw the original story out the window was saddening. I wanted to see more evil Maleficent, but what they did have was great! The christening scene was outstanding in all respects. There were points in the middle that drug the pace down a bit, but the end is pretty fun, though rather been there done that in nature. It felt like frozen all over again to be honest. 

     Acting was ok. Jolie was fabulous, as was Fanning. I really do like them both. Stephon or whatever was a joke. He drove me nuts. and the fairies were annoying as well. The jokes seemed to fall rather flat between them, at least with my audience. 

     The visuals were amazing, and the overall look of the film was gorgeous! Especially in IMAX 3-D. The 3D didnt serve much of a purpose except to add depth. But overall the visual FX were a lot better than I was expecting.

     Music is amazing. plain and simple. The score was beautiful and fit the film so well! 

    Overall the experience was very positive. I really enjoyed myself, the film didnt seem overlong, Jolie was badass, and the music is going to be on my playlist for awhile. Not perfect, but not near the mess I expected to have to sit through.

 

    B+

Edited June 1, 2014 by Kalderic

[Boxx93]

Well, it was not the shitty movie I expected it was going to be, some of the changes where cool but other changes to the animated movie where really unnecesary

 

Simpathetic Maleficent? come on, give me a break... I wanted an evil Maleficent I greww up watching as a kid!

 

The faries where awful, the King Stephan was even worse, Phillip was totally unnecesary, the True Love twist was such a rip off from Frozen that I prefered the Crow Guy to break the spell with the true love´s kiss. AND NO KING HUBERT!!! WHAT A CRIME WAS THAT!!!

 

But the biggest dissapointment was the dragon.. She did not even turn in a dragon like in the original movie, It was the freaking crow!!! That is bullshit!!! and even the design of the dragon was really generic, nothing spectacular after we got Smaug last year. Heck, even the dragons from Game Of Thrones are better than this.

 

At least Jolie´s performance was decent enough to carry this movie, the special effect are pretty good and the musical score was great. And of course the version of Lana del Rey of Once Upon A Dream was fantastic.

 

Heck, I did not expected this to be surprisingly funny, the wicked sense of humor of Maleficent was really funny to watch... calling baby Aurora a beast 

 

Its not a piece of shit movie like Alice or Oz but this one had a lot potential to be great especially with Jolie as the main character but in the end... Its just another popcorn summer flick

 

6.5/10

[Gopher]

I LOVED how bad this movie was. Forget the boring eyesores of Oz and Alice. This is just full on terrible and nonsensical and beautiful.