Someone at Disney had a premonition of confused people standing in line at the box office, skipping their latest tentpole because no one knew how to pronounce its title. That’s all I can gather from a trailer that has a narrator say “Maleficent” not once, but twice. It’s the opposite of their John Carter problem.
That said, my girlfriend is going to molt when she sees this. Sleeping Beauty is her favorite Disney film and it’s hard to argue with her on the point. The animation is as lush (and expensive) as the studio ever produced, and Maleficent is, no doubt, their most striking villain. I’m just not interested in these live action reboots. Alice In Wonderland stripped the psychedelia of the original for a generic hero’s journey™ and bad special effects. I don’t know that this story has as much meat to it, which makes me wonder what the screenwriters have done to pad it.
Eh, whatever, Jolie looks great. This is her jam. She’s too otherworldly to play real people anymore, so this works. May 30th, 2014.