Maleficent Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Stephen Hornbrook

Synopsis

Maleficent takes you on the journey of one of Disney’s most iconic villains, the evil Maleficent from the classic “Sleeping Beauty.” This tale begins with a young and innocent Maleficent who’s happy and curious of the world around her. Two worlds collide as a young boy stumbles upon Maleficent. Intrigued with each other, the unlikely pair continue to visit and eventually fall in love. Believing it to be true love, Maleficent is heart broken when Stefan leaves her and never returns. Instead he chooses power and greed over love. Stefan becomes king and has a baby girl Aurora whom Maleficent places an evil curse upon.

Commentary

Maleficent is a clever twist on the classic “Sleeping Beauty” where we see the events unfold from a different perspective, that of the evil Maleficent. Angelina Jolie does an excellent job showing the range of emotion from happy and in love to bitter and resentful. The twists in this version of the classic tale are not major, but they do make for a more interesting story. Seeing how Maleficent was not born evil, but was driven to darkness after being betrayed by someone she loved and trusted adds an interesting perspective. The movie relies heavily on CG to create its fantasy world and while much of the work is beautiful and convincing, there lacked a sense of tangibility in most scenes. The three pixies added some needed whimsical humor as did Maleficent’s servent, Diaval. I assume that Elle Fanning did exactly what was wanted for the part of the innocently happy Aurora, but her constant dead smile was not fooling me. Even though Aurora was sweet and nice, her character was completely shallow, giving us no real reason to fall in love with her. As a movie for kids, I actually think some of the scenes could be too intense, like the mutilation of Maleficent. Then again, much of the movie is clearly directed at a younger crowd, so I am not sure what to make of its target audience. At a smidge over an hour and a half, Maleficent is not a big commitment and if Angelina or the concept of this movie intrigue you, then it is worth checking out.

Technical

Disney’s presentation of Maleficent on Blu-ray varies from very good to excellent. At times the image, usually in scenes largely made up of computer generated graphics, looked a bit soft. I wonder if the visual effects artists might have purposefully softened some of the imagery in an effort to blend it in with live action footage. I’ve noticed this effect in other movies and given how some images looked razor sharp on this Blu-ray, I won’t automatically blame it on the transfer. This is only nitpicking of course, as the picture quality as a whole is excellent. Bright saturated colors and deep black levels really make this movie pop off the screen. I love seeing the recent trend by Disney to push DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtracks. If you have a 7.1 setup, you know that added excitement when seeing a movie with those 2 extra tracks. I would have liked Maleficent to have used the surrounds a bit more actively, for example, the crackling burning fire from the dragon’s mouth in the final battle was presented only in the front speakers. Low frequency was plentiful with good definition and detail.

Extras

Features include: From Fairy Tale to Feature Film, Building An Epic Battle, Classic Couture, Maleficent Revealed – a look at the special effects, Aurora: Becoming a Beauty, and Deleted Scenes.