The Sporadic Chronicles

SYNOPSIS: A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces a battle with the invading king’s successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom – and perhaps to Maleficent’s true happiness as well. – via IMDB

I must say, I was not particularly interested in this movie because it isn’t my cup of tea, but I was interested to see what Angelina Jolie would do with the role.I know that a lot of people are not her biggest fans, but I like her, and really don’t mind watching her movies. Also, even with the crazy cheekbones, she is still a beautiful woman. The effects were actually quite good for what this movie was, and I think Jolie did wonderful work with her portrayal of Maleficent. Also, Sam Riley as Diaval cracked me up immensely. That crow was just absolutely classic! This was certainly a different telling of the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty, and it didn’t really bug me. Those tree protectors were cool, and looked like the ents and the balrogs had kidlets. Here’s another role of Sharlto Copley that I was not a fan of, and again, it comes down to accent. Gosh, it was terrible! Plus things didn’t improve when he started shouting, the little semblance of accent was completely ruined then, and I actually cringed a few times. Why dude, why?! Nope, I really didn’t like that. I also felt that he was extremely miscast here. The relationship between Maleficent and Diavan was also something I enjoyed, and Maleficent calling Aurora “Beastie” all the way through was actually pretty endearing. The three pixie/fairy things irritated the absolute crap out of me, I just cannot stand things like that. Overall, I expected to hate this, but I actually thought it wasn’t half bad. Not necessarily something I will be adding my collection or rushing out to see again, but definitely more than I had hoped for, and even if just to see Jolie and the effects.