It’s been five years since we last saw Maleficent make her way to the big screen, over five years in fact, and now it would seem that she’s coming back and she’s going to remind us that the flip she did when it came to being the protagonist is just as tenuous as you might think. In this featurette of the movie we’re given the opinions of the cast members when it comes to who and what they think Maleficent is, and it’s an agreement for the most part that she’s a force of nature, no one to be reckoned with when she gets good and angry. There are some that believe this to be more of a cash grab than an actual attempt at creating a lasting and seamless story but some would argue that it’s completing the story that was started years ago by seeking to understand things from Maleficent’s perspective, since in the earliest tale she was seen as the ultimate evil that needed to be destroyed.
At the very least we were given a reason why she harbored such animosity for most humans, she did suffer quite a bit at their hands and as a result was turned against humanity for quite a while. In this movie it would seem that things haven’t really changed, despite the fact that she’s willing to make a concession for Aurora, who has met the man of her dreams and wants to get married in what can only be deemed as the traditional staple of a romantic fairy tale. But it would seem that Maleficent doesn’t want this and is bound and determined to stop it since the trailers that have come along have shown quite well that she’s firmly against Aurora marrying into another family, perhaps because it feels as though she might lose her. If you remember from the first movie Maleficent isn’t too good at losing anything or anyone and in some cases it tends to turn her quite bitter.
It seems optimistic to agree with Scott Mendelson of Forbes to think that Maleficent: Mistress of Evil will be one of the top box office contenders of September and October, but it’s not without some merit. After all, just about anything Disney does these days seems prone to being given the kind of hype that makes it seem as though it’s going to be an all-out epic when in truth some of the movies it’s pushed in recent years haven’t been able to deliver. Loyal fans and those that are simply curious to see if Maleficent can do once again what she did five years ago will no doubt help to boost ticket sales, but considering how the movie was left back in 2014 it does feel safe to say that it might falter a bit since people might have to will themselves into it again. I might be wrong, that’s entirely possible as it’s happened before and will happen again, but from an honest and true standpoint this movie doesn’t really seem as though it’s going to be able to top at least a few of those that are already out or are coming out soon. If for no other reason it could be because the villain turned heroine now turned villain again might seem a bit flaky to a lot of people and will come off as being more like a grown woman throwing a temper tantrum rather than a wise and noble forest spirit that’s just looking out for those she cares about.
In the first movie she had every right to be angry and to be mad with humanity as she was tricked and had her wings stolen from her. But the turnaround from being a villain was something that was kind of hard to accept since it does make her feel like a rather manic character that can’t make up her mind on whether to accept the humans and all their faults or condemn them with every breath because she’s been offended in some way. Plus, the idea that she’s willing to deny Aurora a marriage to the man she cares for is more petulant than anything it would seem, even if there are a few tricks up the sleeves of the humans. In a big way it almost seems as though she and the humans she’s bound to interact with will be vying for Aurora’s attention in a tit for tat kind of battle that typically doesn’t see many winners but definitely produces losers on both sides. There seems to be more to it than this, and perhaps even something that will allow Maleficent to be seen as the heroine once again, but at this point it’s become an eye-rolling thought that makes a person think that she needs to make up her mind and just get on with it. I’m with Meredith Woerner from Gizmodo on this one, Disney kind of mucked up the whole idea of Maleficent from the start.
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