Maleficent Puts Aurora and the Audience to Sleep
Film: Maleficent (2014). Young Actress: Elle Fanning, age 15.
Disney put a lot of effort into hyping up this movie and getting people excited to see it - and it worked. Both kids and adults were excited to see Maleficent. (Just look at how many young actresses attended the premiere.) After all, doesn’t telling the story of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of Maleficent, one of Disney’s most memorable villains, sound like it would be dark and interesting?
Well, unfortunately, the finished product is the complete opposite - saccharine and dull. The plot steals the sympathetic villain storyline almost straight out of Wicked (the retelling from The Wizard of Oz from the witch’s perspective) but doesn’t handle it nearly as well. It also focuses on Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) and the special effects to the point that it weakens the story and reduces every other character to one-dimension. The worst examples are the three fairies charged with raising Aurora and keeping her safe from Maleficent, who are now three insufferable idiots who barely pay any attention to Aurora. When she pricks her finger on the spinning-wheel and falls under Maleficent’s curse, the fairies don’t even care; they’re busy admiring how tiny their feet are. Fortunately, most of the other characters are more sympathetic, but still so bland that it’s hard to get invested in the story.
Isobelle Molloy appears in the first five minutes of the film as young Maleficent.
But let’s talk about Elle’s character, the Sleeping Beauty herself, Princess Aurora. Maleficent spends much of the film spying on Aurora as she grows up. They actually meet when Aurora is a toddler, played by Angelina Jolie’s real-life daughter, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt. Too young to understand evil, Aurora isn’t afraid of Maleficent in this scene - which is one reason why Vivienne was cast. Supposedly every other little girl who tried to audition was terrified of Jolie in costume. Perhaps because they’re a real mother and daughter, this is one of the few scenes in the movie that isn’t boring.
Vivienne Jolie-Pitt chases after a butterfly as toddler Aurora.
In Elle’s first scene as Aurora (which comes about halfway through the film) she giggles and rolls around in a pile of autumn leaves. Then we cut to her feeding a deer in a moonlit forest. After a few more similar scenes, it’s easy to see why Elle was cast. The producers likely chose her because she’s the right age, she looks the part, and she’s a big name - arguably bigger than any other actress her age. Elle’s ample acting skills had nothing to do with it, since the role doesn’t allow for much real acting. In many ways, Aurora is a lot like Lily, Elle’s character in We Bought a Zoo - cutesy and giggly, with no real depth.
"You’re my fairy godmother!" Aurora giggles when she meets Maleficent again.
The movie as a whole is a lot like Disney’s other live-action retelling of a classic fairytale, Alice in Wonderland - a big budget, some big-name actors, but with no real substance beneath it. (I haven’t seen Oz: The Great and Powerful, since it had no live-action parts for young actresses, but I’ve heard similar things about it.) Next in line is Disney’s big-budget, live-action, A-lister remake of Cinderella, scheduled for release in March 2015. After the disappointment of this and Alice, don’t expect it to be good.
LINKS
Other reviews of Elle's films: We Bought a Zoo (2011), Trumbo (2015), Twentieth Century Women (2016).
AWARDS
Kids Choice Awards: nominated for Favorite Movie Actress (Elle) and Favorite Movie.
People's Choice Awards: won Favorite Movie and Favorite Family Movie.
Teen Choice Awards: nominated for Choice Movie: Action Adventure and Choice Movie Actress: Action Adventure (Elle).
Young Hollywood Awards: nominated for Favorite Flick.
Disney put a lot of effort into hyping up this movie and getting people excited to see it - and it worked. Both kids and adults were excited to see Maleficent. (Just look at how many young actresses attended the premiere.) After all, doesn’t telling the story of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of Maleficent, one of Disney’s most memorable villains, sound like it would be dark and interesting?
Well, unfortunately, the finished product is the complete opposite - saccharine and dull. The plot steals the sympathetic villain storyline almost straight out of Wicked (the retelling from The Wizard of Oz from the witch’s perspective) but doesn’t handle it nearly as well. It also focuses on Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) and the special effects to the point that it weakens the story and reduces every other character to one-dimension. The worst examples are the three fairies charged with raising Aurora and keeping her safe from Maleficent, who are now three insufferable idiots who barely pay any attention to Aurora. When she pricks her finger on the spinning-wheel and falls under Maleficent’s curse, the fairies don’t even care; they’re busy admiring how tiny their feet are. Fortunately, most of the other characters are more sympathetic, but still so bland that it’s hard to get invested in the story.
Isobelle Molloy appears in the first five minutes of the film as young Maleficent.
But let’s talk about Elle’s character, the Sleeping Beauty herself, Princess Aurora. Maleficent spends much of the film spying on Aurora as she grows up. They actually meet when Aurora is a toddler, played by Angelina Jolie’s real-life daughter, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt. Too young to understand evil, Aurora isn’t afraid of Maleficent in this scene - which is one reason why Vivienne was cast. Supposedly every other little girl who tried to audition was terrified of Jolie in costume. Perhaps because they’re a real mother and daughter, this is one of the few scenes in the movie that isn’t boring.
Vivienne Jolie-Pitt chases after a butterfly as toddler Aurora.
In Elle’s first scene as Aurora (which comes about halfway through the film) she giggles and rolls around in a pile of autumn leaves. Then we cut to her feeding a deer in a moonlit forest. After a few more similar scenes, it’s easy to see why Elle was cast. The producers likely chose her because she’s the right age, she looks the part, and she’s a big name - arguably bigger than any other actress her age. Elle’s ample acting skills had nothing to do with it, since the role doesn’t allow for much real acting. In many ways, Aurora is a lot like Lily, Elle’s character in We Bought a Zoo - cutesy and giggly, with no real depth.
"You’re my fairy godmother!" Aurora giggles when she meets Maleficent again.
The movie as a whole is a lot like Disney’s other live-action retelling of a classic fairytale, Alice in Wonderland - a big budget, some big-name actors, but with no real substance beneath it. (I haven’t seen Oz: The Great and Powerful, since it had no live-action parts for young actresses, but I’ve heard similar things about it.) Next in line is Disney’s big-budget, live-action, A-lister remake of Cinderella, scheduled for release in March 2015. After the disappointment of this and Alice, don’t expect it to be good.
LINKS
Other reviews of Elle's films: We Bought a Zoo (2011), Trumbo (2015), Twentieth Century Women (2016).
AWARDS
Kids Choice Awards: nominated for Favorite Movie Actress (Elle) and Favorite Movie.
People's Choice Awards: won Favorite Movie and Favorite Family Movie.
Teen Choice Awards: nominated for Choice Movie: Action Adventure and Choice Movie Actress: Action Adventure (Elle).
Young Hollywood Awards: nominated for Favorite Flick.