Maleficent

Finally I got to see Maleficent in 3D and found it shocking, loveable and inspiring. I wanted to begin this post by telling you how refreshing it was to find a movie with a strong female hero. Maleficent is a far stretch from the comforting original and its archaic reliance on a man to save the day. It shows one woman’s both physical and mental struggle in overcoming betrayal in love to become the hero in many different ways.

I found myself empathising with Maleficent (Angelina Jolie), through both the darker times and in her ability to defeat the demons within herself. I felt an element of justice was served and although ultimately the film did end happily (it is PG after all) I found it a more fulfilling happiness, one that makes sense. Rather than leaving the theatre dreaming of ‘prince charming’ coming along to make everything better, I felt it connotes a feeling of ‘you can do anything you put your mind to’, ‘don’t let people get you down’ and ‘stay true to yourself’. In all, I feel this is a great film to show young girls as it provides an adult truth in a visually pleasing and relatively colloquial manner.

To the costumes… As you can probably tell I love anything fantastical or futuristic. Give me 3D, visual effects, lights, silhouettes and surround sound. I love it all. Her are some great screen shots of Maleficent in her iconic cloak with some amazing examples of the visual effects you will find in the film further on down the page.

In the beginning we meet Maleficent as a small child (Isobelle Molloy), innocent of the dangers and evil that lurks outside of the enchanted forest. Below are some of the mystical creatures and stunning enchanted forest.

 The Pheasant x