Director: Joachim Ronning
Writer: (Screenplay) Charles Perrault, Milt Banta, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright (Characters)
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Harris Dickinson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sam Riley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ed Skrein
Plot: Maleficent and her goddaughter Aurora begin to question the complex family ties that bind them as they are pulled in different directions by impending nuptials, unexpected allies and dark new forces at play.
Tagline – Go beyond the fairy tale.
Runtime: 1 Hour 59 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Entertaining Sequel
Story: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil starts when Queen Aurora (Fanning) arranges to marry Prince Philip (Dickinson), with the plan to have both sets of parents meet, King John (Lindsay), Queen Ingrith (Pfeiffer) from Philip’s side and Maleficent (Jolie) from Aurora’s side.
When the dinner goes horribly wrong King John is left cursed, Maleficent left to take the blame, on the run where the meets her own kind, with Conall (Ejiofor) looking to create peace, while Borra (Skrein) wants war, all while Queen Ingrith is planning her move for kingdom.
Thoughts on Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Final Thoughts – In what is a follow up to one of the first successful live-action Disney stories, we get to return to this kingdom once again, Maleficent is trying to be a good figure in the world, continue to care for the wildlife within the world, only she needs to prove herself after one of the humans looks to expose her to put the final nail in the coffin of the fantasy world of characters, add in the fact Maleficent gets to learn where she is from, and is torn between creating a great peace between all, or starting a bigger war, we get to see her grow in character depth, unlike Aurora who is basically just preparing to get married, the villain Queen Ingrith is doing whatever she can to gain power. It does feel like more of a forced sequel that we didn’t need, while the bigger world looks beautiful, it does leave us wondering did the character we have need this much more to get the most out of them. When we look at the performances, we do get nothing short of great from all involved, nobody looks out of place in this film, leaving us enjoying what we are seeing.
Overall: Families to Enjoy.