In preparation for the release of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil I decided to rewatch the film that spawned this sequel yes for those of you playing at home, Disney decided to make a sequel 5 years after the original, which is usually Warner Bros.
And in my rewatch, I found myself often bored by the film, as it attempted clumsy homages to the original Sleeping Beauty. However, when the film broke away from Sleeping Beauty , when Maleficent began to grow fond of Aurora in a relationship where Maleficent still found some disdain that morphed slowly into love, I was enthralled.
And when the conflict arose of Maleficent having to tell Aurora that it had been she who cursed the princess, things just got juicer and more fun to watch. Maleficent was a flawed but endearing film, and Angeline Jolie and Elle Fanning were marvelous together. The sequel missed the mark on what was the strength of the first, and stumbled its way along its two hour runtime because of it.
With Maleficent ending in the same sequence more or less as the original Sleeping Beauty , Maleficent: Mistress of Evil was a chance for the writers to explore what happens next. They have a blank slate and can take Maleficent anywhere they wish. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil opens on the proposal of Prince Phillip Harris Dickinson to Aurora Elle Fanning who has been queen of the Moors, the land of the fairy people for the last 5 years.
Maleficent Angelina Jolie is displeased by the union, not only because it means interacting with humans, but because it may mean losing Aurora. After a disastrous dinner party that results in the king being cursed to sleep, the Queen Michelle Pfeiffer declares war on the people of the Moors. I know! Or something. Her suave candor mixed with her dangerous power just makes her cool. Jolie has more than enough charisma and star power to carry this film on her back wings? Like its predecessor, when Maleficent 2 focuses on the relationship between Maleficent and Aurora, it gets interesting.
