Maleficent (2014)

[Ezen Baklattan]

Is this a Free Birds/Nut Job level of bad, Gopher?

[Goffe]

it is. I couldn't believe the way Stefan died, it was the most cliche way possible. It's Origins situation all over again, when even the special effects are terrible.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Goffe

[Gopher]

Is this a Free Birds/Nut Job level of bad, Gopher?

 

Free Birds is a masterpiece. The Nut Job is a fascinating terrible experience. I'd put Maleficent closer to the latter. I still got much enjoyment out of it, though. I laughed out loud at every edit and inexplicable plot contrivance.

[Talkie]

I read this thread to try and decide between seeing Maleficent or waiting for Edge of Tomorrow. But the opinion seems split between meh/okay and terrible, so I can't decide. You people were no help at all!

 

I think I'll see EOT this weekend and catch Maleficent later. Tom Cruise action films are my guilty pleasure, though I dislike Emily Blunt intensely. Seeing Jolie being a beautiful wicked goddess will be fun, though. When I saw the OW numbers I was thrilled for her, bad reviews be damned.

[CJohn]

It makes Alice and Oz good. I should have made a list of all the bad stuff. The kiss was so badly done. The prince at the end. That actor is someone from one of the shitty Disney channel shows for sure. His face was hilarious. One of the worst movies of the year with a script that actually makes me look at TASM2 and think that one makes sense. It is a complete abomination.

[23IsEverywhere]

It was uneven and swayed from good scenes to so bad it's good scenes.  Since I enjoyed the camp and I enjoyed the decent parts I'll give it a B

Edited June 8, 2014 by 23IsEverywhere

[JohnnY]

I thought this was a dull attempt to show a benevolent Maleficent, it fails to make you care about the characters because it's predictable and too childish. You get half an hour of funny pranks and baby smiles and suddenly the girl is 16, and then she discovers everything and no maleficent i don't want your explanations because running away is the fastest way to create a dramatic scene and then she pricks her finger and now she's sleeping and the prince is already there but the kiss didn't wake her up 2 minutes later maleficent kisses her and thank god it all worked out in 15 minutes.

 

You also have some weird shit like why is Maleficent being so bad to the little monsters or why did the humans want to kill her so badly and now they don't even want to invade her reign anymore?

 

But it wasn't that bad after all, I'm surprised at how much you guys disliked it but still gave Godzilla lots of A's and B's.

 

5/10

Edited June 11, 2014 by JohnnY

[Mulder]

I thought this was a dull attempt to show a benevolent Maleficent, it fails to make you care about the characters because it's predictable and too childish. You get half an hour of funny pranks and baby smiles and suddenly the girl is 16, and then she discovers everything and no maleficent i don't want your explanations because running away is the fastest way to create a dramatic scene and then she pricks her finger and now she's sleeping and the prince is already there but the kiss didn't wake her up 2 minutes later maleficent kisses her and thank god it all worked out in 15 minutes.

 

You also have some weird shit like why is Maleficent being so bad to the little monsters or why did the humans want to kill her so badly and now they don't even want to invade her reign anymore?

 

But it wasn't that bad after all, I'm surprised at how much you guys disliked it but still gave Godzilla lots of A's and B's.

 

5/10

Because different opinions are different.

[Impact]

Maleficent

3:30PM

About 30% full

 

Trailers:Paddington

Transformers 4

Get on Up

If I Stay (Which I swear the entire movie is in this trailer)Annie

Book of Life

Cinderella

Big Hero 6-this one had tons of laughs

 

Movie:Very good, not what I expected at all. The visuals were great, hopefully they will be remembered at the end of the year. Jolie was great, so was Fanning. The music was good also. Great film.

A-

[bballman24]

I went in with a really really low expectation, but I barely made it through. Still surprised I was able to finish it.

 

I have a really simple taste so it's really easy to please me, but this movie just was plain boring and terrible.

 

It's doing great with BO so that's good for them.

But quality wise, one of the worst in the past 5 years for me, and while Jolie did her best and came out as the only winner, the film as a whole did great disservice to one of the best Disney villains in history.

 

Utter shit.

 

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/06/maleficent-pitch-meeting

[JohnnY]

Because different opinions are different.

 

what an insight

[Mulder]

what an insight

Glad I could be of service.

[ladyevenstar22]

damn a good thing i didnt read any of this before i saw the film lol

 

went to see a 4.40pm showing this afternoon, got bored with football today 

 

i loved it , i'm not going to lie and say movie was perfect technically because i'd be lying, the CGI was dubious in some scenes 

 

the fairies were laughable , at one point the narrator said something like these fairies weren't really good at their job and i burst out "you think???!!!"  when angie shush them i laughed , their scenes were funny because they were so clueless 

aurora was better off with maleficent and clearly as a smal kid she knew better ha ha ha , the amount of time she haul out of that dodgy house and they were none the wiser 

 

aurora was ok , i like the depiction of her they decided on , i'm glad of the choices she made , even after she learns who maleficent is , the heart doesnt lie , she had a bond with her !

 

OMG prince phillip  dunno what he was doing there at any point , wish maleficent had dropped him in some hole somewhere or sent him on his merry way home but ehh she's a softy deep down 

 

stefan was cruel, i felt so bad when he ripped her wings away after drugging her , he's the real villain here , she trusted him she was innocent ! his guilt is what was eating at him not concern over his daughter or wife pfff

 

ANGELINA JOLIE is just amazing in this role, those cheeks those horns, that smile , that laugh , her eyes flawless 

someone said there wasnt a lot of dialogue but i find she conveyed a lot through her expressions and actions 

this movie was about Maleficent not sleeping beauty per se so i don't know why anyone would complained they changed too much go rewatch sleeping beauty then or wait for the reboot 

she was just amazing to watch , and i enjoyed this new take on the character , reminds me of EVER AFTER  another fav of mine where they retell cinderella story basing it on "facts" as oppose to a fairy tale with magic in it 

 

it goes to the point where they say as stories pass through the centuries details changed and the version most recent still might have essential truth in it but not all the truth  so that's all they do here give you a possible version of what might have actually happened instead of the story that villifies a misunderstood character

 

i was tots empathising with Maleficent the entire film , but then again i'm a fan for life of La Jolie and think she's perfect for the role , def in my top films of the year so far , i'd have to say this is my pacific rim of this year so far , i was thoroughly entertain 

 

and yeah i teared up at the end , if you go with the flow of the story , how can you not feel for maleficent as you watch this and root for her redemption as she tries to save aurora and she's the one who wakes her up , i really loved their relationship from the start to the end 

 

i was saying YES YES YES when aurora said she was going to live with her forever and then got grim when she met phillip and i'm like no no no here comes distraction , and she'll forget all about mal and her promise and break her heart again , and then she'll truly become evil if another person hurts her like stefan did by breaking her trust but phew it wasn't going in that direction 

 

def liked that the ladies were independant in this one , have no idea about frozen comparison as i have yet to watch that  but the whole switcheroo on true love kiss was also in SWATH film nevermind OUAT (tv) on ABC ...

 

i'm glad i watched this !!! one thing though i was surprised at the crowd there for this ,it was still afternoon  it was full up to 80% percent , i missed the trailers and maybe 2mn of the film (came in as she was on a cliff and saw the king army coming) so here i am thinking i'll have my pick of seat since its afternoon , only the first 5 rows were empty , luckily i found a seat two rows from the back 

even more funny there were more adults than kids , but lots of mom with kids ! very quiet kids too apart from laughs here and there due to a scene, i didnt hear any crying , no one got up to pee 10 times ,kids were clearly into the film !

 

last time i saw a film with a near 100% audience in the afternoon was for the kings speech but that crowd was skewing heavy on the oldies lol , i felt like a toddler lol

 

so yeah an all around good movie experience combo !

def getting the dvd when this comes out !

[Blankments]

I actually didn't think it was that terrible.... which surprises me seeing how I've been bagging on it since January.

 

Jolie gives enjoyable ham, and Copley is in top form of being so bad it's good. The script kinda sucks but it has it's charms. The fairy tale tone rather than being uber dark and gritty endeared itself to me. However, there's more bad than good here, but the good is worthwhile if you're basically seeing it at half off (which I did). A good way to analyze the grade

 

Looking at Sleeping Beauty and it's legacy: D+

Taking the movie as it's own fantasy adventure: C+

Overall: C

Edited June 19, 2014 by Blankments

[K1stpierre]

I don't know, I was very pleasantly surprised with this movie. Maybe because I went in with the right mind set of it being a kids movie. For whatever reason, I enjoyed this movie throughout and Jolie was just utter fantastic, really no words. She was fantastic seeing her fly, it was heart-breaking hearing her in pain when she lost her wings, it was magnificent seeing her evil, it was touching seeing her transform later on from evil to good, she was just perfect. The score for this movie was AMAZING. Loved it. The acting from others was surprising good, or at least I didn't mind it. I thought the girl who played Aurora (sp?) was cute and played the part perfect, the raven guy was good, even the three fairies who seemed to just slap each other for the whole film didn't bother me that much, provided some comic relief. Sure, there are some big loop holes plot wise in this movie that don't make sense, and the ending was a bit weird. However, overall I really just had a lot of fun and enjoyed it, despite knowing it's probably not the best made movie. I don't know, let's call it a guilty pleasure? (We all have one!)

 

8/10, B+ overall rating.

[BobbyJohn]

But it wasn't that bad after all, I'm surprised at how much you guys disliked it but still gave Godzilla lots of A's and B's.

On a geek-dominated forum like this? I for one ain't surprised at all lol.

 

In any case, I give the movie a solid B rating. Positives outweight the negatives for me.

 

The core idea is good, both for the background on why Maleficent picks the 'woken by true love kiss' curse and the twist on the kiss itself. The plot of Maleficent-Stefan conflict makes sense and makes for a really entertaining story. In general most of the key plot points in the movie are well/correctly motivated. Casting in overall great, Jolie gives a stellar performance that carries the entire movie and makes up for a great character. Second best is obviously Riley as Diaval, it's just fun watching every scene with him and Maleficent. Fairlytale-kid-friendly tone is suitting, I don't think the movie should've been any darker, it already had enough heavy moments.

 

On the negatives, the movie could easily use at least 20 more minutes of screen times, one of the rare examples where too much was likely cut on in the editing room, some of the parts rush too much (especially at the beginning) and thus don't give enough time for some concepts to sink in. Aurora and Stefan's characters should perhaprs be a bit expanded. Personally I have zero problems with changes compared to "original" (quotation marks 'cause you know, Disney was not exactly the first). Animated Disney version was about as black&white and cartoony not just in animation but the writing as well that I can't phantom what is there to cry about being changed. The original Maleficent was a villain camp and nothing else, I don't see an issue making a new different version.

 

This is gonna be a future classic (or camp classic if you like) and valued much more than initial 50/50 split critic reviews say and it's no wonder the audience likes the movie in general more than the critics (still 75% on Flixter and 7.5 on IMDB three weeks after release). It's an endearing movie with a very unique main character and its great arc and overall deeper than most Disney-insporational/moralist stories even dare to attempt. Alice in Wonderland/Oz/Snow White can't even compare, none did anything as interesting as Maleficent.

 

Just to say it again, even with its flaws, it's a future classic. And worth much more than the original animated movie.

 

I don't know, I was very pleasantly surprised with this movie. Maybe because I went in with the right mind set of it being a kids movie. For whatever reason, I enjoyed this movie throughout and Jolie was just utter fantastic, really no words.

She really should be nominated for Oscar for what she did in this. She won't be, because rarely the Oscars are trully about the quality of performance, but she should be.

Edited June 20, 2014 by BobbyJohn

[La Binoche]

I was expecting a disaster and came out pleasantly surprised. The movie is not without its faults but on the whole it works. The story is pretty simple and straightforward so I'm not sure why people say it's a mess and all over the place. The first act is strong but the story does drag a bit after the christening when Maleficent follows Aurora around. It just feels a bit...aimless. But then things get back on track for a strong finale. 

 

Jolie is great as Maleficent. She's the greatest and rarest special effect in the movie: a huge, larger than life movie star like we rarely see anymore. Despite some shoddy CGI (some of those forrest creatures ) and a few story lulls the movie works because you like Maleficent and care about her and her journey. 

 

B

[ladyevenstar22]

hey if johnny depp got nominated for pirates , jolie has a long shot too!!

 

maybe she'll get a FYC ad for maleficent character

[friendofnarnia]

Beautiful film with great performances and a stirring score. Loved the story as well.A

[superstancer]

Finally watched it.....My 3rd angelina movie (on comp though) other 2 wer mr & mrs smith , tourist

Movie wich had potential to be epic flick.....but turns out to be a failure in several aspects!!!!!

boringgg and pale wen compared to disney standards of film making!!!!

3/10