Maleficent (2014)

Right let's see if I remember how to do this...

 The new live action movie from the Disney studios is 'Maleficent', the retelling of the Disney animated classic 'Sleeping Beauty' told from the point of view of one of the most recognisable villains of all time. It gives back story to the reasoning behind Maleficent's evil curse placed upon the kings daughter, a wider look into the world in which the story is set and gives us the supposed 'truth' about what actually happened to Maleficent, Aurora and all of the other characters children grow to know and love.

 I went to see this a few weeks ago with one of my oldest friends who I have known since we were children and she is, to put it mildly, obsessed with Disney. One particular film stands out for her and I'll give you three guesses as to which one that would be. She had, of course, already seen it and told me beforehand that it was amazing, therefore sky-rocketing my expectations. Unfortunately, this film fell well and truly flat for me.

 Before I start with my reasons why, I should just state that this is not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. The special effects are phenomenal and really create a fantastic world in front of your eyes for this story to be set in. However, the true reason why this film is not a flop is because of Angelina Jolie. If ever someone was born to play a role, this was hers. Aesthetically, physically and emotionally, Jolie comprehensively completes this role giving an engaging, varied and layered performance (she also looks weirdly like Madonna in the poster above). To be completely honest with you, she's the only reason I really went to see the film, and in terms of her performance, you can't be disappointed.

 To move onto why the movie isn't so great, let's just deal with a few of the smaller issues. For one, the actress portraying Aurora (Elle Fanning) is not right. There's just something about her performance that seems so focused on playing the completely happy aspect of the character that any other emotion just doesn't really exist or comes across as kind of blank and hollow. Also the storyline of the king is a pain in the arse. I will get onto the real reason behind this in a second but the storyline allows for nothing better than a mediocre performance from Sharlto Copley (most notably, he was in District 9) and I don't think it even reached mediocre levels.

 The reason for this, and the reason why this film just didn't work for me, is because when Disney have said "it's a re-imagining of the story of 'Sleeping Beauty' from the villains perspective and tells the true version of events" what they actually mean is we are going to completely change the entire storyline that you have grown up with, change the characters and their personalities and basically tell a completely different story. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression Sleeping Beauty slept for a hundred years, was awoken by the kiss of a prince who has to fight through an ivy ridden city and battle a dragon before he got to her. In this 're-imagined' version, Aurora should be renamed the napping beauty as she's barely asleep for 10 minutes, she's awoken by Maleficent's kiss because throughout Aurora's teenage years they have become best chums and the King goes absolutely bat-shit crazy with paranoia. Now I get they needed to change it up a bit to get some back story and what not, but this is just a bit too much for my liking. I suppose there is an element of Disney's recent trend to make true love be something other than a Prince and a Princess ('Frozen' and 'Brave' being a couple of examples) and I appreciate the effort to do this, but don't mess with a classic fairy-tale story. They could've made a much better film and Angelina Jolie could've given an equally as good performance with the original ideas and plot lines from the original 1959 movie.

Overall, as long as you don't go into this movie expecting the storyline of 'Sleeping Beauty' then you won't be disappointed.

5 Films To Look Forward To In July 2014

1) Guardians of the Galaxy

In the newest addition to the Marvel franchise of movies, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) finds himself the focus of an intergalactic bounty hunt after stealing an artefact from one of the Universe's greatest villains.

2) Transformers: Age of Extinction

It seems to me that every year brings another Transformers movie, but maybe now that they have gotten rid of Shia LeBeouf and replaced him with a proper action actor (Mark Wahlberg) this sequel might not be as horrifically abysmal.

3) Begin Again

This comedy follows a singer songwriter (Keira Knightley) and a disgraced record label executive (Mark Ruffalo) team up to make an album in the streets of New York.

4) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

There's an ape riding a horse on the poster. I think that pretty much sums up my expectations for this film.

5) Earth to Echo

Seen as the school holidays are coming up, here's one to take the kids to. A bunch of kids discover a small alien who has fallen to Earth and help him find his way home.