Perrault's "Sleeping Beauty" is easily my favourite Walt Disney adaptation and this film takes up on by far the best character from that delightful animation - the wicked witch "Maleficent". It tells us how this true epitome of wickedness was actually quite a good-natured elf until an evil king duped her and stole her wings. Now that had to hurt - not to mention get her a touch irked, so she set out on a vengeful existence culminating in a curse on the young Princess "Aurora". As per the novel, the three good fairies take the princess to hide in the forest but the crafty witch tracks them down almost immediately and has some fun manipulating them all as the baby grows to womanhood, at which point this story takes an unexpected turn (from the book too!). The cast are really good in this: Angelina Jolie - in the title role - could have been a bit more menacing, but she is still on good form, as is Sam Riley as her rather kindly sidekick "Diaval" whom she changes into whatever she needs to do her bidding. Elle Fanning is just a little bit too "nice" (for me, anyway) as "Aurora" and Sharlto Copley as the rapidly losing the plot "King Stefan" just a bit too hammy but cutie Brenton Thwaites does a half decent English accent as Prince "Philip" and the three fairies inject some light-hearted comedy into the proceedings too. The whole thing, though just a wee bit cheesy, is still a really well produced watch with some superb visual effects. Though it looks great, I didn't like the ending, much - but then I always wanted "Darth Vader" to win, too...

Good movie seeing how maleficent became maleficent. Pretty bogus what they did to her. Now she fights to get her wings back.

_TL:DR An enchanting retelling of a classic story which really holds it's own with the changes in it's story-line. If you love magical worlds, definitely give this one a watch! (7/10 on the Dragon-Scale for including two very badass dragons!)_ I truly appreciate the modern trend of humanizing the "villains" in a story, real life is rarely as simple as: 'This person is just evil.' and it allows for so much more depth and emotional investment in both protagonists and antagonists. Hats off to the visual effects team for making the Moors feel truly enchanted, with many magical critters and beautifully strange fauna all pining for your attention. Everything feels like it has it's own personality through their movement and design, making the whole movie a feast for the eyes. (And I of-course cannot forget the raven-like aspects in all of Diaval's forms. Raven dragon? Yes please!) As for the story, it takes great inspiration from the original but brings it's own charms to the table. Opting to take the 'Parental Love' definition of true love, rather than Romantic Love. Which is a decision I personally can get behind. (Even _if_ Maleficent is not Aurora's birth-mother, she has certainly been more of a mother to her than her biological mother. Which is another great message to send!) Lastly, what did I get out of the story? When we're young, we tend to be young, naïve and have an optimistic colorful view of the world. And something will inevitably happen to change our views and jade us. (Making our outlook darker and thornier. _Wink wink nudge nudge._) This new outlook will usually stay for years, if not for life, but sometimes we find something or someone who revives (part of) the child we all have inside of us that we wish dearly to protect. (The Moors going from colorful to dark and back to colorful again.) And I can certainly find myself in that.