Disney’s new fairy-tale adaption ‘Maleficent’ is based on the story of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ which was a popular 1959 animated film, also from Disney.

 

But while Walt Disney’s adaption of the story has been hailed as a classic, will this live-action film justify its animated counterpart, answer?

 

Yes, and no.

 

This is another film which its marketing is different from the actual movie, while the trailers make it out as an action film, I know the story isn’t one, until the climax, but this movie is less action based than what people might think there is.

 

The movie has some great visual effects, reminding me of ‘Oz: The Great and Powerful’, as the movie is very beautiful and the world is nicely built.

 

The acting is a mixed bag. Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning are the film’s stand outs of acting performances, everyone else, meh.

 

The story is probably the film’s problem. The story sets the film up to be an interesting tale of Maleficent and a different take of Aurora’s story, but the second act is slow and just uninteresting. The film’s climax is over, once it starts, and the twist and turns are nice, but feel unnecessary.

 

Overall, the film has it problems, but with some good acting performances, some great visual effects and a great score, ‘Maleficent’ has a half-baked story as it is more style over substance, but families might end up enjoying the film more than I did.

 

Score: 4.6/10