Robert Stromberg
Maleficent

The recipe for this film contained as many ingredients to create something good as there were to produce yet another warmed-over soup with the Disney label. The main unknown was the debuting director Robert Stromberg, an Oscar winner for best production design, first for Avatar and then for Alice in Wonderland the following year. Well, I'd say Stromberg managed very well despite being a first-time director with a mega-production in his hands. 

The first risk taken by the writers was to completely depart from the character as depicted in Disney's classic "Sleeping Beauty," choosing to include in this film only some events already depicted in the previous movie, making them key events not in relation to Aurora's story, but to the development of Maleficent's personality and feelings. Her personality, if one cares to grasp it, possesses a thousand and more nuances, an absolute novelty for such a character in a Disney production in recent years, which had seemed to produce every film with the same bland and monotonous mold. Maleficent thus becomes a character with multiple interpretations: she comes to represent the two ways a child sees their mother (with love and with hate depending on the moments and the age) and to be at the same time the incarnation of both good and evil, and in this transition of her personality lies the film's strength. The conflict between her plans for revenge and the feelings for Aurora that grow in her over time is the keystone of the film, which, by masking these with each other for most of its duration, manages not to be at all banal, giving us a character of notable depth with whom one can easily identify both in anger and in love.

Some scenes will remain etched in memory for a long time: Maleficent's despair when she awakens without wings, her appearance at Aurora's christening to cast her spell, and her attempt to break it. Finally, the scene of the kiss deserves a special mention: awakening Aurora with Philip's kiss would have been shockingly banal (considering Philip in question...), but trying to find another way out was a bold gamble, as it deviated immensely from the story we all know from childhood. I would say the scene in question couldn't have been resolved better. Crushed by the weight of her guilt and the futility of the feeling of revenge that strikes her upon seeing the princess still asleep, Maleficent, crying, confesses to Aurora all the feelings she has developed for her over the years and tells her she does not deserve her forgiveness after what she's done. After saying what she needed to say, she kisses her on the forehead and is about to leave. At that moment, she hears the princess calling, who, thanks to the love that the very creator of her curse has come to feel for her, has awakened. Maleficent looks at her moved as she smiles, and they remain like that for a while, immersed in an unrepeatable atmosphere. Now, all this may be as sweet and sentimental as you like, but it works. The emotion that grips you in the face of what happens is authentic, or at least it was for me. And it's strange because the films that have had this effect on me in my life can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Some scenes could have been handled better: the return of the wings, the dragon, etc...

These definitely represent a fall in style compared to the rest.

The special effects are cutting-edge, and the "Moors" are excellently created, as you would expect from someone who designed Avatar.

Finally, it must be said that Angelina Jolie is stunning and perfectly cast. This will become one of those films in which the viewer cannot even try to imagine another actress in the lead role. Her unique beauty, her magnetic gaze, and the ease with which she goes from goodness to malice, from irony to the purest seriousness are impressive. Many of the supporting characters are successful as well, starting with Aurora and Fosco and ending with King Stefan. The only terrifying note is Prince Philip, who looks like one of the One Direction just out of a medieval fair... We could definitely have done without that...

In short, despite all the genre's inherent flaws, it turned out to be a good film with a complex and great protagonist.

A must-see.