For a while, Disney have been making countless efforts to bring some of their animated films, into a more live action territory and for the most part, its been a mixed bag. There hasn't really been many Disney films that are live action and based on one of Disney's old films and the only ones I can think of (which we will look at on a later date) are 101 Dalmatians (a live action remake of the old animated one) The Sorcerer's Apprentice (based on the segment of the same name in Fantasia and Fantasia 2000) and Saving Mr Banks (while not based on a completely animated film, it is a fictionalised documentary on the making of the live action with animated segments film, Mary Poppins). The latest one to come out of this trend, comes in the form of Sleeping Beauty, a beloved Disney film that had one of the first Disney Princesses out there and was home to in my opinion, the greatest Disney villain of all time in an animated film, Maleficent. So let's have a look at Angelina Jolie's take on the villain as well as the film's source material as well:
Sleeping Beauty
So I'll kick things off by looking at the original film and this review will be solely based on memory as I haven't seen the film in years. So we come to a kingdom where the king and queen (who have been childless for years), give birth to a beautiful daughter that they call Princess Aurora (voiced by Mary Costa). The royals decide to declare a holiday for this wonderful news and everyone (or rather most people) is invited to meet the newborn. Among the guests are the 3 faries Flora (the red one, voiced by Verna Felton who also voices the queen), Fauna (the green one, voiced by Barbara Jo Allen) and Merryweather (the blue one, voiced by Barbara Luddy) who each bestow a gift upon the newborn. However as Merryweather gives her gift, the film's main antagonist Maleficent (voiced by Eleanor Audley) arrives to see the newborn, only to be turned away by Merryweather and the Queen, who then have Maleficent give the baby a curse which is that by a prick of the finger on a spinning wheel, she will die. This of course allows her to grow up and be beautiful, but this will indeed happen on her 16th birthday. Maleficent then leaves, allowing Merryweather to bestow her gift which is able to weaken the curse and will instead allow Aurora to fall into a deep sleep and can only be awakened by true Love's kiss. The king then orders all the spinning wheels to be destroyed and the fairies (with consent from the king and queen) take Aurora to a woodcutter's house where they disguise themselves as peasant women and look after her until her 16th birthday. Will she find true love or will evil prevail? I got to admit, this film served as one of the earliest Disney films that I saw and for what it is, I thought it was good. Its very clear that Maleficent is the most loved Disney villain of all time and this was the film that made her that very thing. The story is good, the background is very artistic (as most Disney films were back when the film originally released), the characters are memorable and despite this having the same formula that other Disney films have had over the years, its used well here for the most part and I like it. 9/10
Maleficent
So this re-imagining of the original film, tells the story from the perspective of its titular character (played by Angelina Jolie) and feels like more of an alternate story than the original film. So we come to a place called the Moors, a place where fairies and fantasy characters live. Maleficent is among those fairies and is also the most powerful. She meets and falls in love with this human called Stefan (played by Sharlto Copley, also the same name for the king in the original film), but unfortunately, it was never meant to be. Years pass and Maleficent grows a hatred for humans and during a battle against the current king, she manages to fatally wound him which would have him pick a new heir to the throne for whoever can kill Maleficent. Stefan takes up this offer to find Maleficent, but instead of killing her, he instead takes her wings as a trophy for killing her even though he didn't. He then becomes king and Maleficent puts a spiky wall across the Moors to mark her territory and saves a crow in the process and makes him a human and he as a thank you for rescuing him, becomes her servant called Diaval (played by Sam Riley). Then the rest of the film plays out the story from the original film, with some significant differences in the story and characters. Now last year, the film that had people split on opinions, was Man of Steel and this year, its this film. Some people like it, some people hate it and some people aren't sure about it. I like it. Its a visually impressive film that has some great visuals and Jolie surprised me greatly. Initially, I never really saw Jolie as the villainous type and for most of the film, she does play a villain and does a very good job of it. The story is both surprising and alternate to what we had before. However the only problem I had, was the 3 fairies. The original film had them be more loving and caring to Aurora, but this time, they are far more annoying to the point that they pay no attention to the girl. That and their CGI appearances are terrible and scary in some sense. But other than that, you get your moneys worth in this film and its great. 9/10
Now I know this isn't an old and new review as the re-imagining film feels very different, but similar to the original film so really, there isn't anything to compare if both stories are different. But do check these films out as the both serve as great Disney films and great films in general.
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