Disney’s ‘Maleficent’
Disney has unveiled the first trailer for “Maleficent,”a new take on their 1959 classic “Sleeping Beauty” with Angelina Jolie starring as the iconic villainess from that movie.
“Maleficent” is produced by Joe Roth, directed by Robert Stromberg, and written by Linda Woolverton.
Between the grim and gritty fairytale movie like “Snowwhite and the Huntsmen” or “Hensel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” this film looks refreshingly vibrant and surreal. That it does so despite the clearly dark theme is mostly thanks to the orignal costume and the over-the-top cartoonish nighttime looks that look more at home in a cut scene from World of Warcraft than a fantasy movie but if any setting can take that sort of glowing fairytale look and make it work it is a Disney tale.
This teaser already looks good to me and that’s not only because Malificent was criminally underused in “Once Upon a Time”. No, in a world of movies that still underrepresented women in general both as heroes and villains it is flat-out amazing to see Disney go out and star this movie with the self-proclaimed mistress of all evil. Malificent may not only have the best villain name of all time, she also competes in a league of evil overlords usually reserved exclusively to men. And not just any men either. We’re talking the league of Sauron, the Emperor and Satan himself. Plus if you piss her off she turns into a dragon. It’s hard to argue with that.
Mentioning Satan of course opens up the real question. It takes a certain kind of bravery to make a trailer with an evil theme like that and yet stay cartoonish and surreal but it’s entirely another kind to confront oversensitive modern audiences with a villainess who summons “all the powers of hell”
We’ll see if Disney dares to let Malificent go as far as she did 1959, in theaters May 30, 2014
Jolie has talent. This isn’t my kind of movie but I’ll take the kids and go just because she’s in it.
She looks very sexy – apart from the dragon bit
Big fan of Angelina Jolie and this genre so I will be seeing it. I hope it’s in IMAX….
This looks very interesting….
I have GOT to see this movie and I can’t wait until it opens. We’re all big Disney fans in this family. Thanks for the teasers.