Maleficent

[dreamflower]

The DH and I went to see "Maleficent" tonight. The two diet Cokes and the popcorn cost $15.50. Our two tickets together cost only $9.00. There's something a little warped about that. (Yes, I know that's been the trend for years, but I still find it rant-worthy in a minor way.)

I had sort of mixed feelings about the movie going in. The Disney version of Sleeping Beauty was by far my favorite Disney animated fairy tale, much more so than Snow White or Cinderella. (Speaking of the latter, looks like a new Cinderella will be coming out next year, going by the trailer.) I was afraid I wouldn't like it.

Non-spoilery reaction: I really enjoyed it; it was quite a fun evening, and I will probably go looking for some Maleficent fanfic to read.

Spoilery reactions behind the cut, and using the "spoiler feature". I hope it works.

I have to say, the themes from Once Upon a Time found full play in this movie. A backstory and motivation for the villain which makes her a sympathetic villain, the subverting of the "true love" theme and the emphasis on parent/child or even surrogate parent/child relationships. I'm beginning to wonder about the new direction of recent Disney movies--they are certainly anything but the ordinary "Hero Prince rescuing the Princess" trope. It's an interesting change, with an emphasis more on family dynamics, rather than "boy meets girl" plots. However, I hope they don't get too hung up on that, or it will get just as predictable as the traditional fairy tale.

Still, knowing how things played out with OUaT, I saw the curse-lifting coming a mile away. Not that I minded. Jolie played her reluctant fascination with Aurora gradually transforming to something more maternal perfectly--you could see her regret for her hasty curse just grow in her with each interaction. At first it seemed that she was just rescuing the child so she'd live long enough to succumb to the curse, but soon it was more.

Also, I just loved the Raven character, Diaval. Y'all know I am not a 'shipper, but I think I could possibly 'ship Maleficent/Diaval if it were done well.

BTW, ff.net already has 127 Maleficent fanfics.

Comments

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm beginning to wonder about it too. Once or twice is all right, but too much of it would be an awful bore, I think.

[dreamflower]

Yep. Of course there are no original plots, but they could mix things up a little bit more.

OUaT, Tangled, Brave, Maleficent...I think that's enough for a while. Maybe they can find another trope to use for a little bit. Maybe plain old friendship might work, and it has a lot more variations.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen this movie and don't know if I'll get around to it this summer, but that's an interesting observation about the new trope. I kind of like it. It seems deeper somehow, something I can more emotionally connect to. I'm too cynical to believe in the prince coming along and boy meets girl romance, but I love to read about friendship and stuff like the sisters in that Frozen movie (although if I have to hear that theme song ONE MORE TIME from that movie I will do something rash, lol).

[dreamflower]

(although if I have to hear that theme song ONE MORE TIME from that movie I will do something rash, lol).

The media has a habit of picking one song and totally overdoing it. Lately it's been "Happy"; before that it was "Frozen", before that "Roar". There's been many a case in recent years of a song I liked when it first came out being ruined by overexposure.

Of course, the upside is that after a different song takes over I can eventually like the previous one again after NOT hearing it every ten minutes.

[ysilme]

We didn't go on Friday as planned since I was having a very bad eye day, and depending on the current heat wave we might not go next weekend either. But I'm looking forward to it, and hopefully in 3D as well.
Your observations are interesting for me. I never watched Disney movies regularly previous to the Beautiy and the Beast, as at the time I couldn't stand them (just saw Djungle book and Robin Hood whom I loved, but the others I always switched off ;) ), but I have grown up with the Czech realistic fairy tale filmings, and some German movies, both of the 70s, and usually so well done any fairy tale filming is having a hard time to compete. The last disney movies have been a mixed bag for me, so I'm going to let myself be surprised with this one. :)

[danae_b]

I really want to see this movie, hopefully I'll be able to soon. *sigh*

*hugs* <3

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it yet so am only going by the non-spoilery stuff, but that's encouraging. I may see it in the theaters, definitely once it hits the various streaming sites like Amazon and Netflix. The premise looks good, but like you my love of the original was holding me back.

I hear you on the outrage over the food prices! I think it's because movies really don't make much money at all off the ticket prices themselves, and these days you're really paying for two services, the movie itself and the theater to watch it in. Which still stinks as a movie-goer and paradoxically doesn't incentivize good movie making (I almost never see the same movie twice, so they have no incentive to make it good enough for me to want to do that.)

Anywho, glad you had a fun night out.