Overall Rating: 4.5
out of 5 stars
MPAA Rating: PG for sequences of fantasy action and violence, including
frightening images
Appropriate for: Ages 10+
Genre: Action Adventure Fantasy
Length: 97 minutes
Year of Release: 2014
Year of Release: 2014
(Family discussion questions for this movie can be found at http://christianperspectivereviews.blogspot.com/p/maleficent-discussion-questions.html)
It seems the fairy tales have tricked us yet again.
Maleficent retells the story
of Sleeping Beauty—except this time, the tale does not begin with the birth and
christening of Princess Aurora. Rather, it begins with a young fairy named
Maleficent. Maleficent isn’t your average fairy, however. She is the size that
any human child would be at her age. Horns, similar to a ram’s horns, grow from
her head, and a pair of beautiful feathered wings extend from her back.
Maleficent is beautiful, kind, and good. She takes care of her home, the
Moors—a fairy-land full of mysterious and magical creatures. She is practically
a princess herself.
One day, a young human boy strays into the Moors from the neighboring
human kingdom. Maleficent and Stefan meet and become friends. As the years
pass, their friendship turns to love. Although Stefan tells Maleficent that
their love is true love, Stefan leaves one day to pursue his dream of becoming
a great man in the kingdom. While they are apart, the kingdom begins attacking
the Moors in order to overcome the magical realm. Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) is powerful,
however, and she defends her home, fatally wounding the king in a great battle.
On his deathbed, the king promises his crown to anyone who can overcome
Maleficent. Hearing the king’s promise, Stefan returns to Maleficent only in
order to betray her, his desire for power darkening his heart. He takes her
wings to the king, receiving the crown in return. A few years later,
Maleficent, overcome by her hatred of Stefan and her desire for revenge, curses
Stefan’s newborn daughter to an eternal sleep that will begin on her sixteenth
birthday. This death-like sleep can only end if the princess receives true
love’s kiss—something that Maleficent knows does not exist. But, as Maleficent
watches this young princess (Elle Fanning) grow, she realizes that she made a terrible
mistake: Aurora’s gentle and joyful spirit may have been the only thing that
could unite the kingdom of the fairies and the kingdom of humans. Maleficent must
undo the evil that she caused.
There is no profanity to speak of in this movie, and the romance goes
no further than a couple of innocent kisses. This flick’s biggest concern for
families is certainly the violence. Although bloodless, there are two main
battles in this film that are relatively intense for a PG film. The battle
scenes are comparable to the battles in Disney’s 2008 film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,
only a bit darker and a bit more intense. This movie also has a smattering of
magic throughout, which can only be expected in a Disney fantasy movie.
Although you could consider the magic to be “dark” at times—especially
Maleficent’s curse on Aurora—it is clearly presented as evil. Therefore, I
would not consider the element of magic in this film to be any more harmful
than the magic in the Narnia movies. Several frightening images also make an
appearance in this movie, including a scary wolf, a fiery dragon, a character
suffering from burns in several places, a pair of glowing green eyes, and the
transformation of a crow into a man. Although these violent and frightening
elements don’t quite earn this movie
a PG-13 rating, I would definitely not recommend the film to families with
children under the age of ten. However, be aware that this movie might even be
too much for even some sensitive thirteen-year-olds.
On a positive note, however, Maleficent
is a touching story that examines the consequences of hate and revenge,
showing us the corrupting nature of a selfish love of power and the danger of
acting in anger. This movie also shows the power of love. Not your average
mushy boy-girl love, the love of a pretty face or of charming words. No, this
flick differentiates between selfish love and selfless love, championing the
latter over the former. This film paints a picture of self-emptying love—a love
directed at a pure and joyful heart.
While examining the nature of true love, this movie also examines the
nature of the heart. It does so by presenting Maleficent as both a hero and a
villain. Like many other recently released Disney films—including Oz, the Great and Powerful and Frozen—Maleficent touches on the mysterious battle that is continually
raging on within every human being. It shows how the heart has the shocking tendency
toward terrible thoughts and actions. By God’s grace, however, it also has the
capacity for goodness, truth, and beauty. This element of the flick is the perfect
material for a family discussion on the nature of man. It reflects the words of
Paul in Romans 7:15-25 when he discusses the battle between his sinful nature
and the Spirit. In verses 22 and 23, Paul writes, “For in my inner being I
delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against
the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within
me” (NIV). Maleficent examines this
mystery: how one person can be both villain and hero. It shows that the biggest
battles are not fought out on a field but in the deepest parts of the heart.
Because of these redeeming elements, the brilliant acting, the exciting
plot, and the beautiful cinematography—not to mention a great soundtrack—I
would definitely recommend this movie, especially to families who love a bit of
action and adventure and who are looking for a good movie to discuss.
5 comments:
I'm definitely going to have to see this one! Sounds great.
Facebook comment from Andrew: I have a question related to the film, Leah, and I wonder what your take is.
I haven't seen the movie myself, but I was initially puzzled and perhaps even a bit bothered by the movie's main concept (i.e. the recasting of a classic villain as protagonist). Curious, I looked up the plot online (yes, I cheated ).
Given that Maleficent was so clearly an evil character in the original Sleeping Beauty story--her name literally means "evil-doer"-- should it be a startling cultural signal that such a character can be so drastically reinterpreted? To put it another way, is the movie perhaps a clever postmodern (and feminist given some of the other plot points?) reconstruction that subtly, though intentionally, redefines good and evil for its audience? Or is it more about the theme you noted in your review: showing the inner conflict of good and evil? Just curious what you think.
Hey Andrew! Yeah, really good question. That actually bugged me initially as well. I wouldn't put it past Hollywood to slip a redefinition of good and evil in there. However, although the movie does redefine Maleficent herself by depicting her as “not all bad,” it doesn’t redefine her fundamentally evil acts, such as her curse of Aurora, by saying they are good. Individually taken, a given act is clearly either good or evil. Maleficent even later regrets her evil acts, showing a change of heart. There doesn’t appear to be moral relativism here. In addition, the fact that Maleficent has the capacity to be both so evil and so good is pretty realistic. Look at David, Moses, Paul… they all suffered from a similar inner struggle. No, it’s not quite the same, but it still illustrates the fact that the heart is constantly at war with itself. Ultimately, although the topic can be somewhat troublesome when you take this movie right next to the original Sleeping Beauty, I think viewers should really look at this film as a new, different story using some classic characters that have been significantly redefined. The movie does not redefine good and evil—it redefines the characters. Nevertheless, I think it is healthy for viewers to see this possibility of the redefinition of good and evil and let themselves be bugged by it—passive movie viewers are a big problem in this culture—but I wouldn’t dismiss the movie altogether as a postmodern reconstruction of morality. Does this make sense? What do you think?
Facebook comment from Andrew: Thanks, Leah; that makes good sense. Interestingly, after reading your response, I came across yet another review (this one from Christianity Today) that was really pretty critical of the film on the grounds that we're discussing. So apparently, like so many other things, some Christians like it and other hate it.
Since you asked what I think, I suspect--though I'd withhold final judgement til actually watching the film myself--that there is a bit of postmodernism that's motivating the reconstruction of the original tale, which might explain why some Christians like the film and others not. I think that, today, many Christians aren't quite sure how to navigate between modernism and postmodernism. Here, modernism is exemplified by the old fairy-tale, with very cut-and-dried good guys and bad guys. Everything was cleanly and simply laid out--probably too simply in reality. Postmodernism, though we mostly know it for its moral relativism, critiques these kind of cut-and-dried models, saying "actually, guys, there may be good and evil on both sides." As Christians, I think we want to avoid the postmodern tendency just to scrap all categories of moral right and wrong. On the other hand (and this is what I think you rightly noticed in the movie) postmodernism does a very good job reminding an arrogant world that Evil is not just "out there somewhere far away" but often at home, and dare I say it, in your own heart. I think that's something Christians can get agree with heartily. In fact, this theme is all over the place in John's Gospel, if you look closely. So I guess I think it's complicated. :)
Yes, I agree, Andrew: it's definitely complicated! But yeah, it's good to be aware of these postmodern ideas and know how to react to them. It's also beneficial to find a healthy balance between becoming too comfortable with movies like this and dismissing them altogether. Thanks for your response!
Post a Comment