Geekscape Reviews ‘Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil’ In 4DX
I’ll admit, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the original Maleficent. Despite a fantastic performance by Angelina Jolie, the half remake, half rewriting of the animated Sleeping Beauty often felt like a film caught between two masters. And yet, trying to both recreate the Disney classic while creating its own sympathetic portrayal of one of the company’s most purely evil villains ensured that it didn’t succeed at either goal. Even then, I was optimistic heading into Mistress of Evil. With the remake aspect out of the way, the filmmakers have the chance to craft their own story with this unique portrayal of the titular character without any surprise changes to her characterization getting in the way. It ultimately does a good job of continuing the story of this heroic evil mistress, (however that works), but clumsily stumbles on its way to get there.
Taking place five years after the death of King Stefan, Maleficent has crowned her adopted human daughter, Aurora, (reprised by Elle Fanning), as the queen of the Moors. As the land where all manner of monster, fairy and magical creature presides, the new queen has no problem with coexisting with her subjects, all of which are under the watchful eye of her overprotective mother. Her parental instincts kick in at full force when Prince Philip returns (in a manner of speaking since Harris Dickinson is taking the reigns from Brenton Thwaites), with a marriage proposal. With Aurora accepting, Maleficent reluctantly agrees to the union despite maintaining a strong distrust for humans. Proving her right is Michelle Pfeiffer’s Queen Ingrith, who is using this marriage bonding the human world and the Moors as an opportunity to further her own dark ambitions.
Like the original, Jolie shines as Maleficent, who manages to maintain an air of fear and respect around her despite being shown as a big sweetheart by the end of the first film. In a film named Mistress of Evil, she never does anything to earn her the title as one of the characters who is completely altruistic throughout its entire run time. Despite being understandably wary of the intentions that her human counterparts have for her and her daughter, she never acts in a way that isn’t justified, making it easy to sympathize with her need to protect her land and family. When things inevitably go south for her leading up to the second and third acts, there wasn’t a time where I wasn’t rooting for her to get back at the bad guys, which is largely in part to Pfeiffer’s performance. Queen Ingrith is easy to hate.
What’s odd about this film though, is that Maleficent is strangely absent for a large portion of it. This story is mostly about the relationship between Aurora and Philip and the political ramifications of their union. These characters are fine for what they are, but they’re both held back by a case of “stupid character syndrome”, where they make obviously questionable decisions for the sake of moving the plot forward. I didn’t buy for a second that Aurora would trust complete strangers, one of which was obviously antagonizing her mother, over the woman who raised her for most of her life. Just like I didn’t buy that it would take so long for the creatures of The Moor to realize something was shady with Queen Ingrith considering the events that took place in the first act of the film. I can’t give too many examples without going into spoiler territory, but one of the most frustrating parts of Mistress of Evil was how contrived the process felt when moving from one plot development for another. What’s even more confusing is that this movie goes out of its way to explain how Maleficent was given her reputation as an evil being, essentially calling the animated Sleeping Beauty a lie spread to sully her reputation. But you know who should believe that lie least of all? Probably her surrogate daughter.
However, as frustrating as the plot developments can be, nothing was worse than the underground society of fairies that aid Maleficent in her time of need. Their leader, Conall, (who commands the screen thanks to Chiwetel Ejiofor’s performance), expands the world even further by explaining the history of Maleficent’s kind and how they were driven into hiding by humans. But before these revelations can go anywhere interesting, it’s thrown aside almost as quickly as its introduced, leaving us with wasted potential as the fairies inevitably march off into battle against the humans. What ensues is an extended battle scene where some shocking developments, but ultimately falls flat when the conclusion in no way fits the events of the war. Topping it off is Jenn Murray’s Gerda, Queen Ingrith’s right hand woman. I’ve never seen someone be so stoic while overacting so much, which distracted me throughout the film, but her final scenes are so over the top that I couldn’t wait for her to be gone.
One major positive of the final battle, and the movie as a whole, was the use of 4DX. The effect did a great job of immersing the audience in this world with its abundant use of aroma, bubble and water effects throughout, bringing this magical world to life. Even though the love story takes center stage, there’s a surprising amount of action throughout, making good use of the format. It creates an experience that’s easy to become immersed in as the fantastic costume design, set pieces and visual effects pop even more thanks to the physical interaction that 4DX provides.
All in all, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is an improvement on the original that comes across its own share of stumbles. Jolie commands the screen as expected, but her character is oddly absent through most of the film in favor of Aurora’s love story, which isn’t nearly as compelling. Some glossed over story beats, annoying antagonists and an unsatisfying conclusion take away from the overall package, but the Maleficent character carries the movie well enough to make up for its flaws when she’s on screen. Overall, fans of the first will get their money’s worth, but it’s nothing you need to rush out and watch. You might be better off catching up on a few z’s until the home release.
Final Score: 3/5
