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As a little girl, I was fascinated by Maleficent, the evil fairy that curses Sleeping Beauty. I wasn't at all into being a princess, or wearing pink, nor did I have any dreams of marrying my Prince Charming; it all seemed a bit saccharine and felt completely false to me and my world. My day dreams where full of powerful (and beautiful) magical beings that took no shit from anyone and made no excuses. Maleficent was my ideal. Fast forward a few decades and Angelina Jolie is one of my favourite actors, for the same reasons - she takes no shit and makes no excuses. So I was thrilled to find out that she had been perfectly cast as Maleficent. It's quite literally one of my role models playing another.
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As the trailers will tell you, there is more to Maleficent than the fairy tale. The movie is a story of love, betrayal, revenge, power, redemption; of a beautiful and powerful magical being that, well, holds her own. It is a story beautifully told, with stunning visuals, an intelligent but uncomplicated story line, well cast and acted characters and some interesting twists along the way. Maleficent is deliciously evil yet you feel complete empathy and admiration for her. There are some very funny moments, and the audience I sat with laughed out loud quite a bit.
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Visually, the movie is absolutely beautiful, in the way that P.J. Hogans version of Peter Pan is stunning. It is not all Maleficent and her scary horns, there is also plenty of sweetness and light with Elle Fanning as the charming and completely princessy Aurora, a bit of Prince Charming, a quite handsome and witty raven man named Diaval, and three very funny fairy ladies, not to mention the quirky magical creatures that live in the forest. There is no swearing, 2 chaste kisses and a few large battle scenes. I would be completely comfortable allowing small children to see it, and there is plenty to keep the parents interested as well.
Maleficent opens today in Australian Cinemas
NB: I attended Maleficent as a guest of Shout Media, all words and opinions and girl crushes on Angelina Jolie are entirely my own. My only regret is that I did not receive any horns.
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