Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019):
Written by Linda Woolverton, Noah Harpster, Micah Fitzerman-Blue,
directed by Joachim Ronning. Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle
Fanning, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sam Riley, Ed Skrein, Imelda Staunton,
Juno Temple, Lesley Manville, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Running
Time: 118 minutes.
Rating: 2.5/4
I have made no secret of my utter
contempt for the entire "Disney Live-Action Remakes of Animated
Classics" enterprise. The very idea of this whole concept
directly feeds into longstanding American bias that anything animated
is automatically "kid's stuff," i.e. "nothing to be
taken seriously or treated like real art." I find this
particularly sickening in light of how many of these films are
specifically designed to overtake the animated originals as the
versions most people see and show their kids, effectively replacing
them from popular culture.
Beyond this insidious aspect, there's
also the frustrating fact that most of these remakes just aren't any
good. And in nearly all cases, even in the more okay ones, the
movies fail to grasp the very concept of remaking something, that
being to offer a genuinely new angle on the source material. Such
reimaginings of past works can and often do result in new,
challenging works of art that stand on their own. Here, though, so
many of these films are either nearly shot-for-shot identical to the
originals (but, you know, "real," erego, "better")
or pretend that they've magically "fixed" any flaws in the
animated films by offering pitiful, faux-wokeness in leiu of actual
artistic vision.
There has been one, lone, solitary
exception to this Dreck that has so clogged our theaters beyond what
the worst Marvel movies could ever do. Ironically, said exception is
the very first film released under the newfangled "Live Action
Remake" banner: Maleficent, the remake of Sleeping
Beauty. Featuring a jaw-dropping, perfect performance by
Angelina Jolie in the titular role, Maleficent actually did
take a decidedly new perspective on the original fairy tale and stood
it on its head, taking one of the drier Disney classics and turning
it into an aggressively subversive story of motherhood and female
empowerment. Jolie was particularly upfront about making a kew
moment for her character a direct metaphor for rape, and the result
remains one of the most stunning and forceful moments in her entire
career to date.
Maleficent Two: Pfeiffer's Boogaloo
picks up a few years after the events of the first film, which Aurora
happily living alongside Maleficent as Queen of the magical Moor.
Despite Jolie's wholly justified deposement of the last king, the
story of her as the real villain has somehow still seeped its way
into the consciousness of the humans. This has started to couple
with an increasingly hostile mistrust of all magical creatures
throughout the kingdom. Into this volatile mix marches Michelle
Pfeiffer, dazzling as the warmongering mother of Prince Phillip.
What this kingdom has to do with Sharlto Copley's kingdom from the
last film is unclear; borders of states are a rather nebulous concept
in this series. Sporting a literal allergy to magic and her own
assistant/personal attack dog, Gerda (a scenery-chewing Jenn Murray),
Pfeiffer launches a scheme to use the anticipated marriage of Phillip
and Aurora to provoke a genocidal war on all the magical entities of
the Moor.
The attentive viewer will know rather
quickly where this is all going, as the film never bothers to hides
its cards. But that's not the point anyway; this film is content to
simply wallow in its bright colors and campy production design, a
relentless barrage of style that sets the film apart from its
competition. Stuff like a bonkers "loudspeaker" system, or
a poison-gas-spewing organ, will be dropped into play without so much
as a word of warning. I wish more films had this sort of zany
self-confidence.
The designs are matched by arresting
visuals and cinematography, especially in the sequences after
Maleficent stumbles into an entire underworld inhabited by her own
kin, so-called "Dark Faes." The introductory shots in this
section are genuinely beautiful swirls of color and light.
The sequel, like the first film, also
sticks to its guns by focusing squarely on the women as the real
movers and shakers of the plot; here, the men have pretty much
nothing of consequence to say or do, and the best moments continute
to center around Aurora and her adoptive mother, a powerful argument
for true family as something born more out of choice and lived
experience than of blood.
All in all, I dig this franchise.
It's big, it's bright, it's messy, it's not everyone's cup of tea,
but it has a commitment to itself that most other studio features
lack. This is the one live-action adaptation I'm willing to keep
coming back to, if it'll have me.
-Noah Franc
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