Maleficent: Wicked witch is a Jolie good fellow!

Disney's 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty takes new shape, and is retold, with a longish back-story, in which the vamp comes across as the true heroine.

A beautiful, pure-hearted young ‘woman’, Maleficent has an idyllic life, growing up in a peace-loving forest kingdom of quaint animals, birds and varied creatures, until one day, when an invading army from the neighbouring human kingdom of King Henry threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to become the land's fiercest protector, and defeats the army. But she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal by a human, her close friend Stefan, who aspires to become the king. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the new king, Stefan, and, deeply grieved, places a curse upon his newborn daughter, Aurora: at the age of 16, she shall fall into deep slumber, and only the kiss of true love will awaken the sleeping beauty. Three flower pixies are charged with taking Aurora to a ‘safe-house’ and caring for her until her sixteenth birthday. Meanwhile, Maleficent has to face the wrath of Stefan’s entire army, her only ally being Diaval, a loyal servant, who, on her command, can take on different animal/bird/nature forms, to suit her purposes, and return to human form when the task is achieved. He also serves as Maleficent's conscience.

Angelina Jolie looks and feels the part. The get-up add-ons, like the angular cheek-bones, the horns, the wings, etc. are well carried off. Her character has shades of grey and ultimately emerges as whiter than white. The dark costume is apt. She is the star value of the film, and lives up to expectations. Sleeping Beauty Elle Fanning (younger sister of Dakota Fanning) looks exquisite and acts with gushing abandon. South African actor Sharlto Copley (District 9, The A-Team) plays Stefan. Crude and scheming in the beginning, distraught and crazy in the second half, his physique and mannerisms blend well with both situations. Britain-born Sam Riley, who now lives in Germany, puts on a pointed nose and plays Diaval. He gets only a couple of scenes to show emotions, and he shows them well. Brenton Thwaites (Oculus) makes a most handsome Prince Phillip. Kenneth Cranham plays King Henry in full dramatic style. Then there are the three pixies: Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton), a tangled knot of bad humour, a bossy superior to the other two pixies; Flittle (Lesley Manville), a blue flower pixie, she always has butterflies flying around her head; Thistlewit (Juno Temple), the youngest of the pixies, always giddy, playful and childlike. Sadly, before these three could develop into a humorous side-track, they are turned into caricatures

Though the screenplay is mainly the work of Linda Woolverton, credit is given where it is due. As many as ten names are listed, including the Brothers Grimm (original fairy-tale), French author Charles Perrault (for his story La Belle au bois dormant) and seven names from the original Sleeping Beauty writers. Linda Woolverton wrote Beauty and the Beast, co-wrote The Lion King, and provided additional story and writing material for Disney's 1998 feature, Mulan. In 2010, Woolverton returned to Disney to write the screenplay for the Tim Burton adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, a sequel to the original works by Lewis Carroll. So, she is no less than an expert of the genre. There is a slight problem with merging of various formats though, especially since all ‘characters’ exhibit human emotions. After a while, you cannot keep track of which entity is gifted with what ability and under what circumstances will that ability get de-activated. Scratch the surface, and you might find a science-fiction plot unfolding. It’s not easy to separate fairy-tales from sci-fi, is it?

Maleficent is directed by Robert Stromberg, who graduated from production designer and VFX artist to make this feature, his directorial debut. Stromberg won two Academy Awards for Art Direction (Alice in Wonderland, Avatar) before getting his feature shot. He was also the production designer on Disney’s Oz, The Great and Powerful, and also worked on visual effects for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Master and Commander.

He describes this version of Sleeping Beauty as a search for the truth about love. “What is true love? I think you walk away saying that maybe love isn’t that 16-year-old boyfriend that I think love is. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong place. Maybe it’s the person I’m not being nice to. Maybe it’s a parent. I want people to examine their own life, who they love and what they think what true love is.”

In parts, Maleficent does convey that message. But it is drowned in (very well done) VFX, and a rather unnecessary 3D film format. Of course, many a 16-year heart of either sex will go thump at the physico-sensual appeal of the Prince and the Beauty. Yet, some of the most interesting moments in the film are the shots of the myriad life-forms, with cute, wonder-eyed human faces.

Rating: **1/2

Trailer: http://movies.disney.com/maleficent/video

Confession: I played the Prince and kissed a Sleeping Beauty twice, once in primary school production, and the second time on professional stage. Cannot ever forget the teasing I was subjected to afterwards by my friends.