‘Maleficent’ (2014)- known as the mistress of Evil is the story of reality behind the curse of Sleeping Beauty. In the era of Princess and Fairy tales, this movie breaks the norms of a fairy tale and leaves the audience with a question “Was maleficent really a mistress of Evil?”
Content:
- Cast & Crew
- ‘Maleficent’ Movie Review: Mistress of Evil
- Awards Won
- More Cast Details
- More Crew Details
- Audience Reviews
Cast and Crew:
| Director | Robert Stromberg |
| Screenwriter | Linda Woolverton |
| Producer | Joe Roth |
| Executive Producer | Angelina Jolie |
| Executive Producer | Don Hahn |
| Executive Producer | Palak Patel |
| Name of the Actor/ Actress | Name of Character |
| Angelina Jolie | Maleficent |
| Sharlto Copley | Stefan, an old childhood friend of the Moors who takes Maleficent’s wings. |
| Elle Fanning | Aurora, the daughter of King Stefan. |
| Sam Riley | Diaval, a raven that is given human form by Maleficent. |
| Hannah New | Princess Leila, the daughter of King Henry and wife of Stefan. |
Maleficent (2014) Movie Review – Mistress of Evil:
Critic’s Review: 4.5/5
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Written By: Linda Woolverton
Box Office: $190,871,149
Time: 97 minutes
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
‘Maleficent’ Story:
The story of ‘Maleficent’, a very powerful fairy with long wings like vultures living in Moors – a magical forest realm bordering a human kingdom, is about the iconic villain of the famous Disney classic movie ‘Sleeping Beauty’.
The movie revolves around a young fairy girl named Maleficent, who is born in Moors and falls in love with a peasant boy ‘Stefan’, her only human friend passionate about going to the King’s Palace. As she grows up, she takes care of moors with her extravagant powers.
The King of the bordering Kingdom tries to attack the Moors and capture it when Maleficent and the Creatures of Moor fight and defeat them back. Then the King declares that whoever kills the Fairy of Moor, he shall be the next King.
Listening to this, Stefan deceits Maleficent and cuts her Wings and take it back to the King and becomes the next King and is married to the Princess.
Meanwhile, when Maleficent comes to her complete consciousness and sees that her wings are taken Off, she fills up with Vengeance.
Climax
After a long wait to complete her thirst for revenge, she goes to the birth ceremony of Princess Aurora, King Stefan’s newborn child where every fairy came to give her blessings; and curses the child “And to show I bear no ill will, I too, shall bestow a gift on the child. Listen well, you all! The princess will indeed grow in grace and beauty. But before the sunset on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel, and she will fall into a sleep-like death! ”
The movie takes a dramatic turn in its story when Aurora is sent to a village far away from King’s Palace and starts growing there, taken care of by three little fairies.
The climax of the movie changes the mind of its audience dramatically about the idea of Maleficent, and leaves with a confusion “Was Maleficent a mistress of Evil?”
‘Maleficent’- My Review:
Robert Stromberg’s movie ‘Maleficent’ released in 2014 collected lots of positive comments and reviews by its audience. It has brought a drastic change in the era of happy ending fairy tales by its great putting a question mark in front of everyone.
It enforces that the idea of ‘Prince Charming saving the life of the princess from a Witch’ to be dragged out in reality.
Angelina Jolie as Maleficent has done extraordinary work. She played both as a strong powerful fairy and a witch full of vengeance with absolute perfection.
This movie premiered at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on May 28, 2014, and was released in the United Kingdom that same day. It was released in the United States on May 30, 2014, in the Disney Digital 3D, and in conventional theaters.
The film was earned mixed reviews from critics, and praise for its visuals, costumes, musical score, and Jolie’s performance, but was criticized for the lack of effort on the screenplay and inconsistent tone.
Overall, it was a commercial success, having grossed over $758 million worldwide, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2014 and the highest-grossing film starring Jolie.
‘Maleficent’ also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design at the 87th Academy Awards.
This film was a super hit, which leads to the release of its another sequel in October 18, 2019. A novel was also published alongside with movie release in 2014, written by Elizabeth Rudnick, named ‘Maleficent’.
This novel also earned great feedback and reviews. The novel elaborates on the movie with great details which the movie could not cover.
Award’s Won:
| Award / Film Festival | Category | Recipient(s) |
| Heartland Film Festival | Truly Moving Picture Award | Robert Stromberg |
| Hollywood Film Awards | Hollywood Production Design | Dylan Cole and Gary Freeman |
| Kids’ Choice Award | Favorite Movie | |
| Favorite Actress | Angelina Jolie | |
| Favorite Villain | Angelina Jolie | |
| People’s Choice Awards | Favorite Movie | |
| Favorite Family Movie |
More Cast Details:
| Name of the Actor/ Actress | Name of Character |
| Isobelle Molloy | Young Maleficent |
| Ella Purnell | Teen Maleficent |
| Michael Higgins | Young Stefan |
| Jackson Bews as | Teen Stefan |
| Vivienne Jolie-Pitt | Aurora (5 years) |
| Eleanor Worthington Cox | Aurora (8 years) |
| Imelda Staunton | Knotgrass, a red fairy. Staunton portrayed her human form and provided motion-capture for her fairy form. |
| Juno Temple | Thistlewit, a green fairy. Temple portrayed her human form and provided motion-capture for her fairy form. |
| Kenneth Cranham | King Henry, a king and Stefan’s predecessor who tried to take over the Moors. |
| Brenton Thwaites | Prince Phillip, a prince that befriends Aurora |
| Lesley Manville | Flittle, a blue fairy. Manville portrayed her human form and provided motion-capture for her fairy form. |
More Crew Details:-
| Cinematographer | Dean Semler |
| Production Design | Gary Freeman |
| Production Design | Dylan Cole |
| Executive Producer | Matt Smith |
| Executive Producer | Sarah Bradshaw |
| Film Editor | Richard Pearson |
| Original Music | James Newton Howard |
| Costume Designer | Anna B. Sheppard |
| Supervising Art Direction | Frank Walsh |
| Casting | Lucy Bevan |
| Set Decoration | Lee Sandales |
Audience Reviews:
Review 1
Not a lot of good movies out right now so settled for this one and was pleasantly surprised. Had a little bit of a Lord of the Rings Vibe, with the war between the flying whatever and the humans, kinda intense.
But in the Disney way, everyone lives happily ever after. It was a bit long with a lot of fairies flying around and interesting, but cute forest creatures running away in chaos trying to escape towards the end. It had a great large screen, 3D, special effects, and cinematically psychedelic Wizard of Oz influence.
Some funny dark humor moments. I would have liked more of a back story on Maleficent’s people and what family did she specifically come from and so on. All in all, it held my attention.
Rating: ⅘
Review 2
Followed by a spoiler alert, I should say, it was ironic.
So the story is of Maleficent, whom we’ve all known until now as nothing but a cruel, heartless, jealous villain. We were never told *how* she became “evil” in the first place.
She was betrayed by who she thought was her true-love (I know I hated humans for a reason. They’re no good even in fairy tales!). Out of vengeance, she cursed the king’s daughter (whose father, of course, took the throne by betraying Maleficent).
Despite all her vengeance, jealousy, and of course, effort to hate the princess, she fell in motherly-love with the girl. She regretted having ever cursing Aurora. She tried to revoke the curse, but her own words didn’t allow her.
On the mentioned day, Aurora fell in sleep.
Here, something happened that definitely makes more sense than what we knew until now. When the prince kissed Aurora, she didn’t wake up.
But when Maleficent did, she was awakened. Because the prince’s “love” for Aurora couldn’t be called “true love” in the first place. How could it? They just met! They didn’t fall in love with each other, they just liked each other
Rating 4/5
Review 3
Surely there’s no truer love on this earth than motherly-love. And Maleficent had it for the princess.
Aurora was awakened by motherly-love, the truest of all love (after the love of God).
And in the end, we can see Aurora undoing the stupidity, the cruelty of her father. This, I really had to see.
So overall, I loved it. It really touched my heart and despite being “just a fairytale”, it taught me that there are always two sides to a story. What we think to be evil, may not always really be evil. And what we think to be good, may not always truly be good.
Never judge someone without knowing their back-story.
Rating: 5/5
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