Maleficent
With “Maleficent” and their recent box-office behemoth, “Frozen,” Disney appears to be attempting a rewrite of one of the fundamental cornerstones of their fairy tale, “princess movie” triumphs. That cornerstone idea is that for a young woman, “true love” means the love of a Prince Charming who can make all their dreams come true. Don’t get me wrong– both “Frozen” and “Maleficent” toy with that idea, but in the end, both films subvert it to show that “true love” can be more than romantic; for Ilsa and Anna in “Frozen,” and Aurora in “Maleficent,” true love comes to mean the emotions one feels from family, or a mother figure that may not be biological. (Even “Tangled,” Disney’s 2010 animated treat, toyed with this notion, even though it played straight to formula by the end.)
“Maleficent” turns the Disney formula upside down in another way, of course, and that’s by telling it’s story (based on their beloved 1950 film, “Sleeping Beauty”) from the point of view of the villain. On the surface, it’s another attempt at fairy tale revisionism akin to previous films like “Mirror, Mirror” and “Snow White and the Huntsman,” but because the film plays to much of the Disney formula in a lot of ways, even as it stands apart from it, there’s a much stronger connection to what writer Linda Woolverton and director Robert Stromberg are doing.
Even if you haven’t seen “Sleeping Beauty” in a while (and indeed, it’s been ages for me), the character of Maleficent is one of Disney’s most iconic, even if it’s primarily in design. Few actresses could believably portray the character in live-action, and thankfully, one of them is Angelina Jolie. The star, with her classic Hollywood beauty, also has an on-screen persona that can bounce back-and-forth between heroine and villainess effortlessly, which is important here. Because of the focus on her looks, her action heroine choices (like “Salt” and “Wanted”), and her red carpet-ready marriage to Brad Pitt, it’s easy to forget what a good actress Jolie (an Oscar winner for “Girl, Interrupted” back in 2000) is, and indeed, “Maleficent” is a fine return to form for Jolie, who hasn’t had a role this interesting since “Changeling.”
So what twists are in store for the viewer with “Maleficent?” Start with the character itself, who is a fairy in a magical realm just on the edge of the human world. But we aren’t talking Tinkerbell, here; Maleficent, though awash with heart when we first meet her, is something of a protector of this realm, a fairy godmother, if you will. When she’s younger, she meets a boy named Stefan, who shows her kindness she hasn’t seen from other humans, and wins her heart. As they grow older, they also grow further apart, with Stefan (played as an adult by Sharlto Copley) becoming a squire for the king, and Maleficent settling into her role of leadership of the magical characters, although less cheerful than she was as a child. The king is fearful of Maleficent, though, and promises his kingdom to the man who kills Maleficent, and brings him her wings as a prize. Stefan plans to do just that, although we see– in what has become the film’s most discussed sequence –he only takes her wings, and let’s her live. That Stefan presents himself to Maleficent as a friend before taking her wings as she sleeps has become a bold talking point, and rightfully so, about consent and “rape culture”; that Disney actually allowed such a moment in what is basically a family film is a sign of trust in their audience. It works because the subtext is clear to adults, while (hopefully) not being obvious yet to children, but also because Jolie sells the pain and change in the character beautifully, and makes us understand why Maleficent puts up the wall of thorns around her world, in hopes of keeping mankind out. After Stefan becomes king, gets married, and has his first child (a daughter named Aurora), Maleficent comes to exact revenge, putting a curse on the girl that will put her into an everlasting sleep upon her 18th birthday that will only be broken by true love’s kiss. From there, we see more of the “Sleeping Beauty” story we remember, as Aurora (played by Elle Fanning) is raised in the woods by three fairies made human (played by Leslie Manville, Imelda Staunton, and Juno Temple), while Maleficent watches over her, awaiting the time her curse takes hold. But things don’t always turn out the way we expect in fairy tales, as you can imagine.
The last time Disney tried to rework one of their classic fairy tale animated films for live-action, it was Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”– a box-office monster, but a creative dead-end that has a great visual imagination, but a dramatically and emotionally empty narrative. “Maleficent,” thankfully, is anything but, adding layers of feeling to the story that pay off beautifully in the ways they turn the tale on it’s head, while also playing to the strengths of the actors involved (especially Jolie and Fanning). It’s also a visual wonder, using sets and CGI in conjunction that makes for a more tactile world than Burton built with “Wonderland,” and also reminding us of the darkness inherent in the “Sleeping Beauty” storyline. (I really need to watch the original film again, sometime.) I’ll be honest– I wasn’t too high on this film before it came out; after “Wonderland” and the two Snow White films, the idea of another revisionist fairy tale just didn’t really interest me. And when I first walked out of the threatre about a week and a half ago, I liked it, but wasn’t as over-the-moon as some people were. I’m still not in the “love it” column, but my appreciation for the film has grown in the past 12 days, as I’ve been able to let “Maleficent” stew around in my head, and work it’s magic on me. That is something none of the other revisionist fairy tale films managed to do, which alone shows how much better “Maleficent” is than those movies. By toying with their own formula, Disney is breathing new life into the family-friendly fairy tale. I can’t wait to see where they take us next.
