The stunning new Disney release, that retells the story of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the villainous character Maleficent, is available to the public today for home viewing. The movie, starring Angelina Jolie, turns the old fairy tale on its head, creating compassion for the ‘evil’ fairy, and exposes the true villain of the story.
A well written script, committed actors, and beautiful set design made for a fantastic movie experience, big screen or small. Though, I do wish the creators had made a solid decision on whether they wanted to go with an adult classic fantasy aesthetic like that of movies like Legend or Labyrinth, or use CGI to create characters with a more simplistic, cartoonish feel (I would vote the latter.) But, mashing up the two styles didn’t feel completely cohesive. A minor complaint, that doesn’t deter me from wanting to watch it again and again.
The Blu-ray features numerous deleted scenes, making of clips, and interviews with Elle Fanning (Aurora), about how the classic animation inspired her performance, and Angelina Jolie, on what it was like to play a role that frightened children.
I was sad that the segment on medieval couture and prop making was the shortest, but it too was an interesting watch. (Get on the ball Disney, hard core fans and cosplayers adore that sort of thing!) Maleficent is sure to be a family favorite and much requested stocking stuffer this holiday season.