‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ Movie Review: A Wildly Entertaining Take On What Happens After The Fairytale

With Disney’s continuous onslaught of high budget and yet uninteresting remakes, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil comes as a refreshing piece of cinema that is simply a wonderfully delightful film to see. And though sequels like these have a tendency to remain overshadowed by their predecessor, Joachim Ronning’s take on the iconic villain has actually risen up to be just as good as the first film if not better.

While the first Maleficent drew heavily on the sleeping beauty mythos to spin the story of the villain’s redemption, the story of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil gloriously takes a life of its own. It severs itself from the mythos but, it also pays tribute to its origins as well as other Disney princess tales. And all in all, the film is one great epic fantasy showdown. However, it falls short of successfully trying to tell what happens after the “happily ever after.”

New Charms of Maleficent: The Mistress of Evil

Picking up five years after the events of the original, the film begins on a light, pleasant, and humorous tone that rekindles the emotions that the first film evoked. Aurora is now queen of the moors. And she is getting married to Prince Philip hoping to finally bring the union between the human world and the fairies’ world. Unfortunately, like any classic fairytale, this marriage has a long way to go. The first hurdle is the to-be in-laws.

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As expected, Maleficent isn’t in for the ride. If there’s one thing that never changes about her, it’s that her approval is like a needle in a haystack. However, instead of a serious and maybe terrifying rebuttal from Maleficent, we get a silly and somewhat lighthearted interaction between Aurora and her godmother. Even the scene that follows with Diaval helping Maleficent practice her social graces for the dinner with the king and queen is just precious.

Sam Riley’s doting and loyal Diaval is delightful as always and his dynamic with Maleficent remains to be one of the most underrated relationships in the film. Angelina Jolie, on the other hand, is just as magnificently, adoringly, and awkwardly delightful in giving new color to her morose character. And this is just a tenth of what she brings to the whole film. Those scenes together with Maleficent trying to smile without fangs and make small talk at dinner all made to be charming, pleasant, and unexpected comedic touches to the film.

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When Maleficent is introduced to her to-be nemesis though, it becomes apparent that Aurora’s godmother might have just met her match. Queen Ingrith has a lethal combination of cunning, intelligence, ambition, and deceit. And if King Philip was the image of greed and violence, Ingrith is the very embodiment of bigotry. As the quickly souring dinner scene draws on, it becomes more and more evident that Michelle Pfeiffer is just the perfect person to play the role. Standing toe to toe with Jolie, the two women create an explosive tension that sets the balls rolling.

The World of the Dark Fae

Later on, Maleficent discovers the world of the dark Fae, her own kind, who were hunted into hiding in a cave. This is where Ronning does his visual magic. From the limited and more fairytale-like quality of the beauty of the moors, Ronning has created a fantastic, magical, and more tangible new world in the home of the dark Fae. In a presumptuously overly cavernous cave, he fit in ice tundras, deserts, and even rainforests for us all to marvel at in one continuous dive and swoop take. And it’s very reminiscent of our very own world wonders. What makes it all more curious is the marvelous costume design by Ellen Mirojnick of the dark fae. From snow-white wings to eagle-like colors and then to colorful Macaw-esque feathers, Mirojnick has certainly outdone himself in the costume department.

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This addition of a new kingdom gives a meaty explanation to Maleficent’s origins. However, it does noticeably dodge away from explaining why Maleficent was separated from her kind and how she ended up in the moors in the first place. It also explains why she’s capable of so much more magic than anyone else of her own kind. In addition to that, this also gives way to the introduction of a couple of new interesting characters in the persona of Ed Skrein’s warrior fae Borra and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s peaceful Conall. One wants war with the humans and the other wants a peaceful reconciliation. However, this is where the trouble begins.

Trouble in the Brewing War

As much as the subplots are interesting for building a new fantasy world, Maleficent 2 drowns in them. The film fails to find a central anchor that would pull everything and everyone together cohesively. And it is just one tonal mess. With everything that’s going on at every corner of the film, it fails to push through with its intended message loud and clear. Case and point: Borra and Conall could’ve been great contributors to the inner turmoil in Maleficent. However, they quickly became background noise, easy to drown out, and easy to forget.

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Jolie, on the other hand, is truly the embodiment of Maleficent in the aspect that she’s truly a force to reckon with. She is amazing in all aspects, a magnetizing force for this film. However, most of the time (except perhaps the last act), she’s confusingly reduced to a passive character that’s seemingly lost the complications that the first film showered her with.

Then, in the final act, the film builds to this all-out war that’s basically genocide to the fae folk. It’s truly an epic showdown between the two sides, especially when an upgraded Maleficent comes along. However, there are too many spaces in between to keep it continuously encapsulating. And as the battle draws on, the more the conviction of this explosive battle wanes. And in the end, every meaningful thing that the film is exploring ends up in the conventional and predictable heroine ending that makes it all better again in a snap.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is great for the kids and for the fans of the genre. But once the glamour fades, it makes you wish it had done so much better.

‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ Overall Verdict

Despite the missed opportunities of the film, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is still one greatly enjoyable film to watch. It encapsulates you. Plus, the cast is simply spectacular. Jolie is absolutely captivating once she’s given the chance to be and she truly redeems the villain in her own right, especially in the last act. And Pfeiffer is just one marvelous villain that proves there can be something worse than cursing a baby.

Where Maleficent 2 succeeds is that it has the ability to reawaken your sense of wonder. Simply watching it without thinking about where it goes wrong brings you back to your childhood when every fairytale seemed like an adventure. They don’t make films like this anymore, and Maleficent helps fill that hole. Hopefully, its misgivings give way to the new and better generation of films in this genre that are both enjoyable and completely meaningful.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil also proves that no amount of remakes of the classics no matter how visually appealing they are could compare to an original. Sure, improved retellings look great and they bring in serious amounts of money, but what else is there? As Maleficent 2 has shown, we’re not limited to tell the same tale over and over and over again.

There is always something more after the happily ever afters.