MAC brought out a limited edition colour collection inspired by Disney's iconic villain "in specially designed packaging to delight the most demanding of dark sorceresses."
On the MAC website it is stated that Maleficent is "Intensely admired for her evil elegance, despite her efforts to instill fear in the hearts of generations, this icon casts a spell of absolute adoration with sensuous shades so wickedly gorgeous, who needs beauty sleep?"
Stella McCartney launched "Maleficent by Stella McCartney Kids" back in April, and numerous make-up tutorials have popped up all over YouTube on how to recreate Maleficent's look.
(While I would love to look like Angelina Jolie, I am not sure where the Maleficent look would fit into my daily life?)
Now, on to The Review.
Spoiler Alert - before I begin, please don't read on if you would rather be kept in the dark about plot developments. I must comment though that the trailers more than hint at what to expect, and as an aside the film was nowhere near as dark as I expected.
The biggest surprise-that-wasn't: Maleficent isn't really evil. At all. King Stefan however is another story entirely, and his betrayal causes Maleficent great pain both physically and emotionally. She infamously curses his daughter Aurora at her christening, a curse that, interestingly, then everyone is trying to prevent from becoming true, and with everyone I mean Maleficent, too. Over the years Maleficent is literally watching over Aurora, and while she calls her "Beastie" and even tells a sweetly smiling baby Aurora "I hate you", her actions towards the girl (and, by the way, her raven "minion") show an increasing fondness and actually a total absence of evil on her part.
However, a curse is a curse, and we all know what's going to happen, and I won't spell everything out for you. So instead I'll give you a summary of the pros and cons of this movie, this is my personal opinion so feel free to disagree.
The Cons:
Sorry, but the Scottish accent of King Stefan is both badly executed and unnecessary. Apparently South African actor Sharlto Copley adopted a Scottish accent because he wanted his character to sound as royal as possible (?). Hm.
The three fairies - while the animated fairies entrusted with Aurora's safety were kind and sweet, the real life versions are just ditzy and seriously lack likeability and any emotional depth. In fact, you don't get a feeling that they care for Aurora very much at all.
And, sadly, I was not very much convinced by Elle Fanning's portrayal of sweet, beautiful Aurora. Nothing wrong with it so much as that I felt it was all a little too bland.
The Pros:
The action scenes of various battles I found to be an unexpected and very entertaining bonus.
I have also heard criticism of the "over the top" visuals, but personally I loved that The Moors were elaborately depicted as a truly enchanted fairy kingdom, Maleficent flying across the land and into the sky made me want to have wings and anyway, this whole film is based on a fairytale, so it gets a "yes please" from me to as much over-the-top visuals as you can squeeze into 90-odd minutes. (Along the same lines, I loved Stardust - if you do "fairytale", do FAIRYTALE - I don't want realism's nitty-gritty or elegant restraint)
And last and above all, Angelina Jolie. Admittedly, her enormous wings and unusual horns certainly help, but her performance alone commands a screen presence that makes it difficult, literally, to take your eyes off her.
You may be surprised who saves Aurora and breaks the enchantment with true love's kiss.
Verdict: Genuinely moving and a feast for your eyes - enjoy!
Stars: 3.9 / 5
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