{"id":110508,"date":"2019-10-15T14:04:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T13:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=110508"},"modified":"2023-02-23T13:07:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T13:07:46","slug":"maleficent-mistress-of-evil-film-review-something-wicked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/reviews\/maleficent-mistress-of-evil-film-review-something-wicked\/","title":{"rendered":"Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil film review: something wicked"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil<\/i><\/strong>\u2019s opening narration unashamedly admits to its audience that they\u2019ve heard its story before\u00a0<\/span>\u2014 <\/span>one that sees the eponymous figure deemed a villain, only to discover that true events say otherwise. It\u2019s a fair observation, given that its predecessor positioned the dark faery as a baddie driven to evil by wretched humans wronging her. But this goes even further with that controversial concept, retconning Sleeping Beauty<\/i> <\/strong>and making her an out-and-out hero. <\/span><\/p>\n

Set five years after Maleficent (Jolie) restored the enchanted Moors to their former glory and crowned Aurora (Fanning) as queen, it centres on the impending nuptials between the latter and Prince Phillip (Dickinson). The young lovers believe that their marriage will unite their kingdoms but Maleficent and Phillip\u2019s mother Queen Ingrith (Pfeiffer) \u2014 who has her own complicated history with peace treaties \u2014 aren\u2019t as hopeful. An alliance becomes even more unlikely too, when a celebratory dinner ends in tragedy, Aurora is torn between her new family and the woman who raised her and Ingrith\u2019s wicked schemes are exposed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Abandoning Robert Stromberg\u2019s more serious tone, new director <\/span>Joachim R\u00f8nning opts for a sillier, more exaggerated tale this time round. Early on in the film, the humour lands often \u2013 like when shapeshifter Diaval tells Maleficent to \u201ctry it with a bit less fang\u201d as she practices greeting Phillip\u2019s parents \u2013 but as the stakes get higher and dark themes of intolerance, and even genocide, are explored, the campness of characters such as Ingrith and her crazy-eyed henchwoman grates uncomfortably.<\/p>\n

Pfeiffer and Jolie are electric when they\u2019re together though, as they spit venom and flash sinister smiles at one another in petulant powerplay. It’s just a shame they’re separate for the most part, and it’s the former who gets the most screen time otherwise.\u00a0Even in her subplot, where she discovers she\u2019s not the last of her kind, Maleficent is eclipsed by Ejiofor\u2019s gentle Conall and Skrein\u2019s warmongering Borra – a baffling choice considering how much the film revolves around her allegiances and morality, and how well Jolie could have portrayed that escalating inner conflict.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Aurora fares well as the writers continue to give her more agency than in the 1959 classic, and Fanning imbues her with warmth and light.\u00a0The visuals are impressive too \u2013 from gorgeous glimpses of the magical Moors to its gothic and ornate costumes \u2013 as is its action-packed third act that\u2019s matches the thrills of the animation\u2019s epic battle. How it further alters certain aspects of the cartoon won\u2019t go down well with diehard Disney fans, but there\u2019s something to be said for its boldness and if regarded as a standalone piece, it\u2019s much like its protagonist\u2026 more good than bad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Angelina Jolie’s misunderstood villain returns in Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":110510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2615,8],"tags":[6553],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-14.00.55.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127649,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110508\/revisions\/127649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}