'Maleficent': Angelina Jolie is great, but the movie is lackluster
'Maleficent' doesn't quite measure up to the performance of its star Jolie.
'Maleficent' doesn't quite measure up to the performance of its star Jolie.
Who would imagine that Walt Disney Studios would go revisionist?聽鈥淢aleficent鈥� updates the "Sleeping Beauty" fable it famously animated in聽1959 and gives it a quasi-feminist, touchy-feely twist.聽
The big bad Maleficent, played in聽the movie by Angelina Jolie with curvy horns and cheekbones that could聽cut through solid steel, is given a sympathetic back story to explain all that聽nastiness. Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning), upon whom Maleficent聽placed a curse in a fit of vengeful pique, has become a rather ga-ga maiden聽tended by a trio of pixies (Imelda Staunton is the standout).聽
Director聽Robert Stromberg, making his debut as a director after supervising the聽visual effects for movies like 鈥淎lice in Wonderland鈥� and 鈥淎vatar,鈥� lacks聽the transcendent touch. At least Disney was smart enough to cast Jolie.聽She has a genuinely heroic presence. If only the movie were equal to it. Grade:聽C+ (Rated PG for sequences of fantasy action and violence, including frightening images.)