Maleficent and Diavel

Here is my take on Angelina Jolie as Maleficent from the movie.

In the second image I pair her up with the Crow-Turned-Human Diavel, as someone pointed out to me that this would probably be the most popular 'ship' among fans who saw the film , and with the last image I just had to be Me ^_^

Anyway, I went to see it with two friends this past weekend, so here are my thoughts on the film (SPOILERS follow):

One of them, while he isn't a disney 'purist', did have problems with the fact that the story was being re-written as a sort of 'revisionist history', and I can see what he means to a point.

If you compare this version to the original it almost sounds like the 'evil' Maleficent has decided to put her own story out, to put a positive 'spin' on her actions.

In the original version, it was the final faerie who was able to put a condition on the curse with her final wish, while in this version Maleficent herself put the condition, on the belief that True Love doesn't exist.

In the original version the three fairies were more caring beings, while in this one they were more concerned with themselves than taking care of infant Aurora (leaving room for Maleficent to take care of the child).

According to my friend, this is just another attempt by Hollywood to show that there no right or wrong actions, and no true villains (something he tends to dislike Hollywood for ^_^).

Myself (and my other friend) take the story for what it is, an interesting, 'adult' retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale that gives a reason behind the actions of Maleficent, making her a more rounded character than just a cardboard 'villain'.

However, I do feel that she should have paid some 'real' price for her actions (as everything works out in the end). If I were telling the tale, I would have the crow/human Diavel be killed by the king's men in his defense of Maleficent (in one of the coolest Dragon fights I've ever seen on film, even beating Smaug in my opinion ).

Not only would that have provided a bit of pathos to the film (Maleficent, in an attempt to undo her biggest regret, ends up losing the only person in her adult life she was ever close to [besides Aurora]).  Also she would have paid some kind of price for being so 'evil' initially (after all, cursing a newborn child to essentially 'die' on her 16th birthday is definitely a "Dark Side" action ).

One final thing: In the credits I saw that Angelina Jolie was an Executive Producer. I'm not sure, but we came to the conclusion that this was a 'vanity project' of hers; she may have come to Disney with the idea that she play a 'sympathetic' Maleficent, and who are Disney to turn down such a huge name actress (although Johnny Depp and Tonto should have made them a bit wary )