Maleficent

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

(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.

Tangled

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

MPAA Rating: PG for brief mild violence

Appropriate for: All Ages

Genre: Animated Fairytale Musical

Length: 92 min

Year of Release: 2010

(Family discussion questions for this movie can be found at http://christianperspectivereviews.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_3851.html)

Tangled is a lighthearted and adventurous Disney adaptation of the classic German fairy-tale about the long-haired blonde, Rapunzel. The story begins when the pregnant queen of a happy, thriving kingdom is healed from a deadly sickness with a magic flower. Soon, a healthy, blonde baby girl is born to the king and queen, and they celebrate her birth by releasing a floating lantern into the sky. However, the golden hair of baby Rapunzel appears to have acquired the magic qualities of the golden flower that saved her mother. Hoping to use the princess’ magic hair to keep herself young forever, an old, selfish woman named Gothel kidnaps the baby princess and locks her in a lonely tower, far from the kingdom. The king and his men search far and wide for the beloved princess, but their search is futile. Clinging to hope, however, the king and queen release hundreds of floating lanterns into the night sky every year on the Rapunzel’s birthday in hopes that she will one day return. Rapunzel (the voice of Mandy Moore), forbidden by her “mother” Gothel from leaving the tower, sees the lanterns through the windows of the tower every year, and every year her desire to see them up close increases, even though she does not know their meaning. On her eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel gathers up the courage to ask Gothel if she can go to see the floating lanterns. Gothel refuses, explaining that Rapunzel is not ready to face the challenges and evil people in the world outside of the tower. But when an unsuspecting thief, running from the palace soldiers, tumbles through the window of the tower, Rapunzel has her chance to live her dream and prove to Gothel that she is strong enough to handle the world. 

The first and most prominent objection to the movie is that the whole movie rotates around a girl’s disobedience to the authority in her life. Along with this element of disobedience comes a discussion of rebellion between Rapunzel and the thief, Flynn Ryder. Right after disregarding Gothel’s orders by leaving the tower, Rapunzel experiences a see-saw of emotions concerning her choice. One moment, she is overflowing with joy because she is finally free, and the next moment, she is despondent and tells herself she is a “despicable human being” for disobeying her “mother.” Noticing the battle Rapunzel is carrying on with herself, Flynn, who Rapunzel bribed into chaperoning her to see the floating lanterns, decides to give her some advice about growing up. He basically tells her that it is healthy for every teenager to rebel against his or her parents at some point. Although this is exactly opposite from the Christian view of rebellion, viewers must note two things before totally bagging this movie. First, Gothel is not really Rapunzel’s Mother. The rules she gives to Rapunzel are not given out of love for Rapunzel, but out of a selfish desire to keep anyone from taking her source of youth and beauty. Second, Flynn gives this advice to Rapunzel in an attempt to make her feel guilty so that she will return to her tower and let him out of their bargain. However, this objection is still very present and very prominent in the movie, especially since Flynn never takes back what he said about rebellion. As a result, I would not watch this movie without discussing the biblical view of a child’s relationship with his or her parents with the younger members of the audience.

With the major objection aside, there are only a few more things to be aware of regarding this movie. The movie involves some violence, including sword fights, fist fights, people being hit on the head with frying pans, and one stabbing. However, this is an animated movie, and there is virtually no blood and certainly no gore involved in the fights. There are also a few suspenseful parts of the movie that may be scary for young children, but the individual scenes of suspense are no worse than what you would find in The Lion King, for example. Additionally, Gothel and some of the ruffians and thugs are rather scary at times, and an underlying thread of magic is deftly woven into the fabric of the movie. However, the magic is only to be expected in a fairytale, we soon discover that the ruffians and thugs are not people to fear, and the evil Gothel is ultimately given what she deserves. 

While keeping in mind the previous objections, there are still many beautiful and valuable elements to this movie. The soundtrack and music are lovely, the animation is impressive, the ending is satisfying, and, overall, the movie is as fun and lighthearted as you could hope for. More significant, however, are the lessons that the movie offers to its viewers. The movie has some wonderful elements that enforce self-sacrifice and friendship and other elements that could potentially spark valuable discussions regarding growing up and obeying parents. Tangled also reminds Christian viewers that God’s plans for us are often even bigger and even better than our greatest dreams. Finally, to you audiences who enjoy government and politics, the main plot of Tangled can be analyzed as a poignant political allegory that has some interesting things to say about governments with too much power.

Overall, I found this movie to be very appropriate for a PG audience, unlike many PG movies, and would readily recommend it to viewers of all ages (allowing for the discretion of parents, of course). Not only is this movie fun and lighthearted, but it is also a great discussion starter for some very important topics. Tangled is a family movie worth seeing.

(For more of my thoughts on this movie see my blog posts Tangled, and A Government Like Mother Gothel.)