DVDizzy Forum

Dr Frankenollie wrote:So I suppose we can expect a sequel or two to this bloated, uninspired, artless trash? I was wholly disappointed by Maleficent. Not in the sense that I expected it to be any good - of course not. With a script penned by someone as uniquely talentless as Linda Woolverton, I anticipated awfulness. Yet, woefully, I hoped for somewhat interesting rubbish. Something with such poor quality that you could really get your teeth into it. Something it would be fun to tear apart. Alas, Maleficent is an empty vacuum of a film, a cold unfeeling plastic structure adorned with the staples of whatever is trendy and current.

Jolie's performance was, at best, a pale imitation of the excellent original character developed by Marc Davis & Eleanor Audley. Her predictable character arc, gravitating from woman scorned to surrogate mother, is hardly a feminist revolution. The fact the director was inexperienced was ubiquitously obvious from scene to scene. And as for the production design, the visuals - perhaps the one thing that might just have been worth watching - were darkly-lit (creating an atmosphere of banality to substitute the genuine uncertainty and fear permeating the 1959 classic) and recycled tired old images and effects. It was an exercise in squeezing the credulous out of money for the sake of an inane light show. The very idea that it is tied in any way to the masterpiece that is the original is too laughable to cause revulsion.

Atlantica wrote:Does anyone know what Maleficent now stands on, WW ?

Marky_198 wrote:I didn't like the film, there was no tension or suspence whatsoever. Everybody was sweet for Aurora and wanted to help her.
It was cute but boring.

What I like about the original story is the rivalry between maleficent and prince Philip, she does everything to keep him away from the castle. That whole storyline makes it exciting. And in "Maleficent" she is helping him?

That's like making a film of "Cinderella" and her stepmother is actually helping her to find the prince, and brings the key to her room? Because everybody has to be sweet to her? WTH? Great way to ruin a story.

According to Hahn, Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, called Jolie to pitch the idea and her interest resulted in a green light. “We started this project in 2003 as an animated title,” said Hahn. It went live action as soon as the star smiled upon it.

Hahn said the light bulb to give Maleficent her own story went off more than 10 years ago in a meeting with Disney's animation department, as they were all mulling over possibilities of fleshing out existing characters in the Disney canon.

"It was about 2003, maybe, when were sitting around one day, asking, 'Who is a really strong and interesting female character we can base a movie on,' and somebody said 'Maleficent,' but I can't point out exactly who it was," Hahn recalled. "It made sense, because she was this really popular villainess who is glamorous and like a runway model. Still, she's been wounded somehow in the past."

The timing of the idea was largely inspired by the Broadway smash, "Wicked," which delved into the history of the witch sisters from "The Wizard of Oz," Hahn said. "We thought we could do a 'Wicked' thing with Maleficent and show her back story. That was just the germ of the idea and it sat in animation for a while," Hahn said. "We did some development and some drawings on it, but then it went pretty quickly over to live-action, where it sat."