Also, loved it a lot more than I thought I would (though any number of recent faerie tale reboots have been interesting, including the two versions of Snow White).
Which brings us to that new iconic moment: True Love’s Kiss (or act or whatever). Snow White and Thor, er the Huntsman did it… Frozen did it… Maleficent did it; breaking our expectations of faerie tale romance and giving us a new perspective on the word Love.
His dog comment had me scratching my head (it was a wolf, and ravens and wolves have an actual biological as well as mythic relationship) until I realized he is saved from a farmer and DOGS by Maleficent. Of course he’s allergic to dogs.
Also: how many ways can you do walking talking ents… uh… trees. (quick, think of all the films, books etc where trees pull up their roots and kick butt… there’s even a line in Shakespeare somewhere). I thought the ones in Maleficent were done well. (Tolkien, Lewis, um, and some other places).
(now… how are they gonna fit the dragon in there…???) Dragon. Need I say more.
Also, Disney and its propensity for having villains fall to their deaths (no, the Hero cannot just run them through). I wondered what they would do with that, and it was neatly accomplished.
There is a lot to be said here about villains, heroes, redemption and choices. (I know someone whose life is paralleling Maleficent’s story right now). Aurora’s father might have made other choices. Why did he make the ones he did? The old king was simply a despot, a tyrant, a conqueror, out to take what he wanted, by force, from Faerie (the Natural World). Aurora’s father is a different sort of tale.
And of course Maleficent’s world darkens as she does.
The three small faeries (with their flower/garden imagery) were not just better comic relief than Olaf the Snowman, but had a wonderfully alien (faerie) non-human quality (like, whattheheck DO you feed babies?) which made them feel far more faerie-like.
The Love Pirate 
Going to see this tonight. Can’t wait to see what you have to say!
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Short answer, I loved it a lot more than I thought I would. I hope to have a review up in the next couple of days. What did you think?
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Also, loved it a lot more than I thought I would (though any number of recent faerie tale reboots have been interesting, including the two versions of Snow White).
Which brings us to that new iconic moment: True Love’s Kiss (or act or whatever). Snow White and Thor, er the Huntsman did it… Frozen did it… Maleficent did it; breaking our expectations of faerie tale romance and giving us a new perspective on the word Love.
Raven Boy ruled. (I’ve been writing/drawing a raven shapeshifter for some years and it was fun to see one on screen).
http://www.swordwhale.com/tradigital-illustration.html
His dog comment had me scratching my head (it was a wolf, and ravens and wolves have an actual biological as well as mythic relationship) until I realized he is saved from a farmer and DOGS by Maleficent. Of course he’s allergic to dogs.
Also: how many ways can you do walking talking ents… uh… trees. (quick, think of all the films, books etc where trees pull up their roots and kick butt… there’s even a line in Shakespeare somewhere). I thought the ones in Maleficent were done well. (Tolkien, Lewis, um, and some other places).
(now… how are they gonna fit the dragon in there…???) Dragon. Need I say more.
Also, Disney and its propensity for having villains fall to their deaths (no, the Hero cannot just run them through). I wondered what they would do with that, and it was neatly accomplished.
There is a lot to be said here about villains, heroes, redemption and choices. (I know someone whose life is paralleling Maleficent’s story right now). Aurora’s father might have made other choices. Why did he make the ones he did? The old king was simply a despot, a tyrant, a conqueror, out to take what he wanted, by force, from Faerie (the Natural World). Aurora’s father is a different sort of tale.
And of course Maleficent’s world darkens as she does.
The three small faeries (with their flower/garden imagery) were not just better comic relief than Olaf the Snowman, but had a wonderfully alien (faerie) non-human quality (like, whattheheck DO you feed babies?) which made them feel far more faerie-like.
Angelina Jolie rules. ‘Nuff said.
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