Maleficent reached our screens in 2014, a live-action retelling of a Disney animated classic that also puts a new spin on the classic fairy-tale. Since this release, there has been a few other live-action remakes of Disney classic animated films, like Aladdin and The Lion King. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil doesn’t have any significant connections to the original Sleeping Beauty story, there are some elements that we didn’t see in the first film that we do see in this film, like Aurora's dress turning colour due to the fairies but this film is mainly original content.
Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning are portrayed as three contrasting archetypes of femininity, who all work so well together and bounce off each other in scenes. This sequel picks up five years after the events of the first film. Maleficent's (Angelina Jolie) adopted daughter Aurora (Elle Fanning) is still Queen of The Moors, the magical fairy homeland. Aurora and Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson, replacing Breton Thwaites from the first film) hope that their engagement will finally unite the human and fairy worlds in peace.
Before this union can happen, the couple must survive the meeting of the in-laws. Maleficent does her best to put on a non-threatening smile and tries to master small talk with the King and Queen. We meet Phillip's parents, King John (Robert Lindsay) and Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer). King John wants peace between the two kingdoms, in contrast to Queen Ingrith who has secret plans and intentions for her husband and wants to see the end of the fae folk. The first film shows the greed and violence of masculine aggression of King Stefan. In this film it uses Queen Ingrith to explore the different forms of manipulation that she uses. It doesn’t take much for Ingrith to get under Maleficent's skin thus consequences occur.
Not only do we deal with Queen Ingrith in this film but we also learn of Maleficent's heritage. We discover that she is a "dark fae", a race of fairies who have gone into hiding after being hunted nearly to extinction. This discovery helps us understand why Maleficent looks so different to the rest of the Moors' magical creatures. Even though we learn of her heritage, we don’t learn why she wasn’t raised with other dark fae and how she got to the Moors in the first place.
There is so much going on this film, maybe it is a bit too much. Maleficent isn’t the main star of this film, which you would expect her to be as this film is named after her. With that being said Jolie still puts on an amazing performance throughout but her character doesn’t have as much as an active role as in the first film. Most of our time is spent watching Ingrith and Aurora or watching the two dark fae leaders, Borra (Ed Skrein) and Conall (Chiwetel Ejiofor) arguing between war and peace. We only get real Maleficent content at the beginning and right at the end. Also, Diaval (Sam Riley), always shows the softer side of Maleficent and can be a scene stealer at times. He is incredibly likeable and you are excited to see him next. When he cries at the end, this is humorous yet moving as he is family to Aurora, therefore she means an awful lot to him but this makes Maleficent teary too. We see how far all our character have come, Maleficent knows who she is and where she comes from and knows that at a point it’s time to let certain people go. Aurora has gone from timid girl to a strong but caring women and Queen who always puts what’s best for the Moors first but has also found true love. These two characters have gone through so much but in the end, they still have each other, as they are each other’s only family.
The ending battle is a spectacular showcase, yet once again so much happens with a lot of destruction throughout. This battle takes a huge unexpected turn near the end and it is quite upsetting too. However, Fanning’s performance when Maleficent is shot is heart-breaking. Her reaction is so pure, it does break your heart.
There are a few emotional moments throughout this film. Even though there isn’t as much Jolie action as maybe you would expect, this character still goes on a journey. Emotionally, all the characters go on a journey but especially Maleficent and Aurora. The end of this film, in particular, is the most touching part. It is so sweet to see our couple, who truly love each other, come together and bring peace between two warring kingdoms.
Mistress of Evil showcases Jolie and Fanning's great chemistry on-screen, even though they are separated for most of the film. Acting is amazing throughout, however the script at times is quite slow making certain scenes slow when we just want to get to the point of the scene. Visually, this is a very pleasing film to watch but the three 'Aunties' fairy godparents from the first film still look out of place compared to the other CGI magical creatures. This is a delightful film to watch, it isn’t perfect but it is original and still worth a watch.
