The original Maleficent (2014) was the second, after Alice in Wonderland (2010), live-action sequel to Disney’s classic animated films made in the twenty-first century. The first attempt, the tentative first phase of Disney’s live-action/CGI Universe, including The Jungle Book (1994), 101 Dalmatians (1996) and 102 Dalmatians (2000), was not as commercially successful, so it took Disney 10 years to venture into a second run.
And new cartoon adaptations with live-action actors, as they call it, have fired the shot. Alice in Wonderland (2010) grossed $1.025 billion at the box office and won an Oscar for Best Art Direction; the first Maleficent (2014) earned $758.5 million and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design; Cinderella (2015) earned “only” $543.5 million and went without a mention. and went without a mention on the Academy’s shortlist; the frankly weak The Jungle Book (2016) earned $966.6 million and an Oscar for Best Visual Effects; Beauty and the Beast (2017) earned $1.264 billion and Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.
Except for the very bad Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), which was nominated for three Golden Raspberries and, it seems, never recouped its budget, and the very niche Christopher Robin (2018), which paid off only barely.
The four (Disney is clearly going for the record!) “live-action” films of 2019 are doing more than fine. The Lion King has already grossed $1.650 billion, Aladdin brought in $1.051 billion for the studio, and even the frankly bizarre Dumbo managed to break even on production. There’s no doubt that Maleficent: Mistress of Evil will earn more than the first part, somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion, and will become Angelina Jolie’s highest-grossing film.
All these numbers shouldn’t convince you that all movie adaptations of Disney cartoons are unequivocally good, but it’s obvious that they are liked by the public, bring in good money (and we haven’t touched on the merchandising theme yet), and Disney will continue to make such pictures. So far, three upcoming releases are certain: Mulan (2020), Lady and the Tramp (2019) (exclusive to the Disney+ streaming service), and Cruella (2021). Plus the film versions of The Little Mermaid, The Jungle Book 2, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Godmothered (another Cinderella adaptation), Peter Pan, The Sword in the Stone, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lilo & Stitch, Pinocchio, and Rose Red (that’s Snow White’s sister from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) remain without dates for now.
But back to Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, after all, we’re not talking about Disney’s business (although it’s insanely interesting), we’re talking about a feature film. So, five years have passed since the events of the first movie. Maleficent lives in exile, acutely experiencing the fact that people’s rumor (actually well-planned enemy propaganda) has made a real monster out of her; Aurora rules the kingdom of flighty magical creatures as well as she knows how; and the unhappy prince, whose kiss didn’t work in the first movie, still doesn’t dare to make a proposal to the girl. But in the end this long-awaited event does happen, and Aurora, accompanied by Maleficent, goes to visit the groom’s parents. Obviously, this visit will not end well.
If the first Maleficent allegorically discussed the topic of sexual violence, then in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil the authors decided to take a slightly less acute theme – the conflict between mother-in-law and mother-in-law for the right to manage the wedding. No, I’m not kidding. Although there are some attempts to talk about racial intolerance and the repeated refrain of a completely toothless leftist slogan “for peace in the world and for everything good against everything bad”, the main theme of the movie is the conflict between the parents of the bride and groom, well, and at the same time the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
Yes, in case anyone forgot, the theme of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship was one of the main themes in Charles Perrault’s fairy tale (where, by the way, there was no awakening kiss), but in Disney’s movie adaptation it got some strange development. It seems that Queen Ingrith and Maleficent clung to each other’s hair in the marriage parlor, not sharing the wedding dress or not coming to an agreement on where the young people will live after the wedding. However, we did not expect that the authors would dare to show the cannibalistic amusements of the mother-in-law from the original fairy tale.
In the end, the confrontation between the two moms turns into a full-scale war with the use of aircraft (!) and weapons of mass destruction, gas chambers and holocaust of magical creatures. It’s a riot of CGI in the spirit of The Lord of the Rings. Everything looks great, but there’s not much sense in it all. And the fact that to stop the mutual slaughter of two peoples it is enough to “just stop shooting” looks absolutely mocking and stupid. Yes, let’s just shake hands over the corpses of soldiers torn to shreds five seconds ago, or in a concentration camp for fairies, where everything is covered with their bodies turned into ashes. We shake hands and go to a wedding feast where humans and fairies just ready to rip each other’s throats out start flirting with each other. That’s how it all works.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a movie of Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning, the rest of the actors, especially men, are just extras. Somehow stands out from the gray mass except Sam Riley (Diaval), but he has frankly little screen time. Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson) and King John (Robert Lindsay) – rarely passable and unremarkable characters. Angelina Jolie hasn’t done much acting lately, so her return to the big screen is welcome, especially since the role of Maleficent suits her just fine. Jolie’s characteristic facial features, emphasized by makeup, make her really look like a bird – a fragile, vulnerable, but deadly bird. Given the ending of the movie, this resemblance is now completely justified.
As for Michelle Pfeiffer, the actress seems to be back on the cusp of popularity. Where Is Kyra? (2017), Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2018) and now Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. It seems Pfeiffer has never had such a box office success with a movie before. And even though it’s been 34 years (!) since Ladyhawk, Michelle Pfeiffer is still beautiful and… majestic. And the role of the strong-willed and powerful Queen Ingritt suits her just perfectly. Elle Fanning is a little lost against the background of such strong actresses, but here the script is to blame, according to which Aurora in the first half of the movie is just a fool blinded by love.
Besides the trio of gorgeous actresses, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is worth watching because of CGI. Disney continues to improve technologies, sometimes frankly flaunting some effects, showing especially bright scenes in slo-mo. However, CGI specialists created really very bright battle canvas, which you want to consider in slow motion. The work of concept artists, who managed to come up with really bright and memorable magical creatures, is also worthy of praise. By the way, I wouldn’t mind a movie with only magical creatures and no people at all.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil can hardly be called a movie masterpiece. The plot and dialogues here are frankly weak, actresses of such caliber as Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer obviously deserved a more interesting story, but… The second Maleficent is a very bright movie, with excellent special effects, bright characters and good actors. It’s definitely worth taking a child of 10-14 years old to see. However, parents will probably also enjoy meeting the actresses of their youth.
Conclusion:
A beautifully drawn fairy tale that is worth watching just for the sake of the female performers in the lead roles alone
Pros:
Great acting trio of Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning; lavish costumes and sets; pretty good computer graphics and colorful CGI characters
Cons:
The plot is frankly weak and somewhat far-fetched; the male actors are only here as set pieces
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil / “Maleficent: Mistress of Darkness” / “Chaklunka: Volodarka Temryavi”
Fantasy genre
Directed by Joaquim Ronning
Starring Angelina Jolie (Maleficent), Elle Fanning (Aurora), Michelle Pfeiffer (Queen Ingrith), Ed Skrein (Borra), Sam Riley (Diaval), Harris Dickinson (Prince Phillip), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Conall), Robert Lindsay (King John), Jenn Murray (Gerda) and others.
Walt Disney Studios
Year of release 2019
IMDb Website
