"Maleficent" Review
Once upon a time, I was a kid who saw a commercial that the Disney Channel was going to air "Sleeping Beauty" (a movie I had never seen before) that night at 8/7c. Not having an understanding of time zones yet, I screwed up (living in the Central Time Zone), and came an hour late into the story. What could have been considered a disappointment, might have ended up being the source of much joy for the rest of my life because what I saw towards the end of the movie cemented the character of Maleficent as my favorite villain of all-time.
Through many, many, many viewings of the story and as an adult, I've developed more reasons to love (and yes, I recognize that it might be slightly off-kilter to love a villain so much) the Mistress of All Evil other than just "she's cool because she turns into a dragon!". She's my favorite villain because she OWNS her villainy. There's never an apology for what she's doing. There's never a wavering in purpose. There's never a sense of regret. And, that's what I think makes Maleficent such an iconic Disney villain.
So when news was released that Disney was going to make a movie focusing on Maleficent as the main protagonist, I was immediately filled with a sinking feeling they were going to ruin her. I knew how these stories worked. To make a story like that possible, the writer needs to make you care about them. Enter the sympathetic backstory. And, if you're going to make the villain soft, the characters who are often the "good guys" end up looking bad to prop up the villain as a hero. ABC's Once Upon A Time is notorious for this. For three seasons, they've written it so the audience WANTS The Evil Queen to get a Happy Ending. They've turned Captain Hook into a "prince" who makes out with the heroine. The Wicked Witch of the West was a child, abandoned by both her biological and adoptive families so feel sorry for her because other people didn't love her.
I get it, Disney. You want to make a quick buck by retelling these stories with a new take. I get that you think it's fascinating to dig deeper into a character and find complexities. But, I BEG of you...PLEASE STOP.
You know the hardcore Star Wars/Indiana Jones fanboys/fangirls who claim that the prequels and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" raped their childhood? That's how I feel about "Maleficent". I walked out of the theater feeling absolutely and metaphorically VIOLATED.
And, I'm not even being grossly dramatic. There is an actual scene in the movie in which Stefan slips Maleficent what could be considered a date rape drug in order to cut off her wings.
I wish I could say that was the worst of what Disney did to Maleficent. But, the most vile thing they did to the character was remove just about everything that made her fun to watch in the first place and proceeded to turn her into things she shouldn't be.
In the 1959 animated version, Maleficent is maniacal monster who calls on the powers of HELL and turns into a fire-breathing DRAGON. She curses Aurora to prick her finger and DIE. She punishes her minions with lightning when they screw up. She's GLEEFUL when she captures Phillip and TORMENTS him about how he will never be able to save the princess. She calls people "imbeciles", "fools", and "idiots". When the curse is fulfilled and Phillip is in her dungeon, Maleficent remarks, "For the first time in sixteen years, I shall sleep well". Maleficent ENJOYS being evil. She thrives on it. It gives her a messed up sense of PEACE.
In "Maleficent", she provides an out (NOT death) with True Love's Kiss (the gift Merryweather bestows to Aurora in the 1959 film) during the casting of the curse. Maleficent is shown to tear up because she CARES about someone (I almost went full-on Tom Hanks from "A League of Their Own" when I leaned over to a friend of mine in the theater and asked, "Is she cryin?"). And I don't even wanna talk about how Maleficent wanted to REVOKE THE CURSE.
There were so many "Is this really happening right now?" moments in "Maleficent" for me. Am I watching a crow rock a baby cradle? Iron is fairy kryptonite? Maleficent's wings (which were one of the few things in the story that was worth exploring because Maleficent is based on the evil fairy in the original tale) were sentient beings? Why is Maleficent punching someone when she has magical powers? What's the relationship between Maleficent and the fairies? Why have they made the best Disney prince utterly useless? Was the Aurora voiceover narration really necessary? Why did they change the names of the fairies, King Hubert, and the raven from the 1959 film if they were going to use the Maleficent name (which was used specifically for that variation on the story)? Are Aurora and Maleficent hanging out and having FUN together? Did Maleficent just fly up in the sun-covered sky like Superman in "Superman Returns" as some BEACON OF HOPE?...MALEFICENT DOESN'T TURN INTO THE DRAGON?!
I kept hoping something would happen by the end of the movie that would show a glimpse (the Christening scene was as close as we got and even that was stripped of a lot of its greatness) of the character I've known my whole life, but the ending made my worst fear come true. It confirmed that this retelling hailed Maleficent as a hero. A HERO. Oh...they tried to throw in "she's a villain, too!", probably for people like me who were going to call bullcrap on this whole thing, but I'm sorry...bullcrap is being called out for being bullcrap.
I'm sure Disney will make a great deal of money off of "Maleficent". Good for them. They're in the business of making money. But, what concerns me about Disney's growing trend of "misunderstood villains" and its "evil isn't born, it's made" mentality is that it could send mixed messages to kids.
Now, truth be told, I don't have kids and I have no business speaking about parental issues, but I just know that when I was a kid, I watched Disney movies that contained clear good vs. evil stories and I believe those (in addition to how my parents raised me) helped shape my ideals of right and wrong. What do kids learn from the morally grey areas in Disney projects today? Sure, it's good to teach kids that everyone can be redeemed. I'm a big believer in that (in fact, I've defended Darth Vader's redemption after killing younglings). But, I worry that these stories are now justifying evil actions since you can always just say "I'm sorry" later on. Why aren't we wanting to teach kids to do the right things the first time?
Angelina Jolie was our best chance to see a version of the Maleficent character in a LIVE-action feature (she was treated better by Once Upon A Time Season 1) and when she was evil, she lit up the screen. People in our theater CLAPPED when she cast the curse. The audience WANTED to see her go bad. But, for whatever reason, Disney has proven yet again that it has a fundamentally flawed understanding of WHY their villains are popular. We like Scar because he's dark and scary. We like Ursula because she's weird-looking and collects poor unfortunate souls. We like The Evil Queen because when "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was first released in 1937, The Evil Queen scared kids so much that they wet the seats at Radio City Music Hall.
Sometime, in the future, I hope we get back to a time when villains can be villains because I'm getting really tired of seeing all my favorites (including my ALL-TIME FAVORITE) redeemed and turned into heroes.
As Maleficent would say, this movie was "a disgrace to the forces of Evil".
Through many, many, many viewings of the story and as an adult, I've developed more reasons to love (and yes, I recognize that it might be slightly off-kilter to love a villain so much) the Mistress of All Evil other than just "she's cool because she turns into a dragon!". She's my favorite villain because she OWNS her villainy. There's never an apology for what she's doing. There's never a wavering in purpose. There's never a sense of regret. And, that's what I think makes Maleficent such an iconic Disney villain.
So when news was released that Disney was going to make a movie focusing on Maleficent as the main protagonist, I was immediately filled with a sinking feeling they were going to ruin her. I knew how these stories worked. To make a story like that possible, the writer needs to make you care about them. Enter the sympathetic backstory. And, if you're going to make the villain soft, the characters who are often the "good guys" end up looking bad to prop up the villain as a hero. ABC's Once Upon A Time is notorious for this. For three seasons, they've written it so the audience WANTS The Evil Queen to get a Happy Ending. They've turned Captain Hook into a "prince" who makes out with the heroine. The Wicked Witch of the West was a child, abandoned by both her biological and adoptive families so feel sorry for her because other people didn't love her.
I get it, Disney. You want to make a quick buck by retelling these stories with a new take. I get that you think it's fascinating to dig deeper into a character and find complexities. But, I BEG of you...PLEASE STOP.
You know the hardcore Star Wars/Indiana Jones fanboys/fangirls who claim that the prequels and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" raped their childhood? That's how I feel about "Maleficent". I walked out of the theater feeling absolutely and metaphorically VIOLATED.
And, I'm not even being grossly dramatic. There is an actual scene in the movie in which Stefan slips Maleficent what could be considered a date rape drug in order to cut off her wings.
I wish I could say that was the worst of what Disney did to Maleficent. But, the most vile thing they did to the character was remove just about everything that made her fun to watch in the first place and proceeded to turn her into things she shouldn't be.
- Maleficent starts off as kind-hearted young fairy who has cute interactions with woodland creatures and falls in love with a boy. There is mention of True Love's Kiss. DISNEY TURNED THEIR MOST ICONIC VILLAIN INTO ONE OF THEIR PRINCESSES.
- Aurora believes Maleficent to be her FAIRY GODMOTHER.
- Towards the climax of the movie, Maleficent rides on a horse in haste to the castle in an attempt to save the Sleeping Beauty, making her fill the role of the DISNEY PRINCE. Oh yeah, and there's that whole nail in the greatest villain of all-time's coffin...being Aurora's TRUE LOVE. (I hate that everyone now sees a twist on True Love and thinks "Frozen" did it first. Sorry. Not true. Once Upon A Time's done it for years and before them, "Enchanted".)
In the 1959 animated version, Maleficent is maniacal monster who calls on the powers of HELL and turns into a fire-breathing DRAGON. She curses Aurora to prick her finger and DIE. She punishes her minions with lightning when they screw up. She's GLEEFUL when she captures Phillip and TORMENTS him about how he will never be able to save the princess. She calls people "imbeciles", "fools", and "idiots". When the curse is fulfilled and Phillip is in her dungeon, Maleficent remarks, "For the first time in sixteen years, I shall sleep well". Maleficent ENJOYS being evil. She thrives on it. It gives her a messed up sense of PEACE.
In "Maleficent", she provides an out (NOT death) with True Love's Kiss (the gift Merryweather bestows to Aurora in the 1959 film) during the casting of the curse. Maleficent is shown to tear up because she CARES about someone (I almost went full-on Tom Hanks from "A League of Their Own" when I leaned over to a friend of mine in the theater and asked, "Is she cryin?"). And I don't even wanna talk about how Maleficent wanted to REVOKE THE CURSE.
There were so many "Is this really happening right now?" moments in "Maleficent" for me. Am I watching a crow rock a baby cradle? Iron is fairy kryptonite? Maleficent's wings (which were one of the few things in the story that was worth exploring because Maleficent is based on the evil fairy in the original tale) were sentient beings? Why is Maleficent punching someone when she has magical powers? What's the relationship between Maleficent and the fairies? Why have they made the best Disney prince utterly useless? Was the Aurora voiceover narration really necessary? Why did they change the names of the fairies, King Hubert, and the raven from the 1959 film if they were going to use the Maleficent name (which was used specifically for that variation on the story)? Are Aurora and Maleficent hanging out and having FUN together? Did Maleficent just fly up in the sun-covered sky like Superman in "Superman Returns" as some BEACON OF HOPE?...MALEFICENT DOESN'T TURN INTO THE DRAGON?!
I kept hoping something would happen by the end of the movie that would show a glimpse (the Christening scene was as close as we got and even that was stripped of a lot of its greatness) of the character I've known my whole life, but the ending made my worst fear come true. It confirmed that this retelling hailed Maleficent as a hero. A HERO. Oh...they tried to throw in "she's a villain, too!", probably for people like me who were going to call bullcrap on this whole thing, but I'm sorry...bullcrap is being called out for being bullcrap.
I'm sure Disney will make a great deal of money off of "Maleficent". Good for them. They're in the business of making money. But, what concerns me about Disney's growing trend of "misunderstood villains" and its "evil isn't born, it's made" mentality is that it could send mixed messages to kids.
Now, truth be told, I don't have kids and I have no business speaking about parental issues, but I just know that when I was a kid, I watched Disney movies that contained clear good vs. evil stories and I believe those (in addition to how my parents raised me) helped shape my ideals of right and wrong. What do kids learn from the morally grey areas in Disney projects today? Sure, it's good to teach kids that everyone can be redeemed. I'm a big believer in that (in fact, I've defended Darth Vader's redemption after killing younglings). But, I worry that these stories are now justifying evil actions since you can always just say "I'm sorry" later on. Why aren't we wanting to teach kids to do the right things the first time?
Angelina Jolie was our best chance to see a version of the Maleficent character in a LIVE-action feature (she was treated better by Once Upon A Time Season 1) and when she was evil, she lit up the screen. People in our theater CLAPPED when she cast the curse. The audience WANTED to see her go bad. But, for whatever reason, Disney has proven yet again that it has a fundamentally flawed understanding of WHY their villains are popular. We like Scar because he's dark and scary. We like Ursula because she's weird-looking and collects poor unfortunate souls. We like The Evil Queen because when "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was first released in 1937, The Evil Queen scared kids so much that they wet the seats at Radio City Music Hall.
Sometime, in the future, I hope we get back to a time when villains can be villains because I'm getting really tired of seeing all my favorites (including my ALL-TIME FAVORITE) redeemed and turned into heroes.
As Maleficent would say, this movie was "a disgrace to the forces of Evil".