Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Synopsis: Maleficent travels to a grand old castle to celebrate young Aurora's upcoming wedding to Prince Phillip. While there, she meets Aurora's future mother-in-law -- a conniving queen who hatches a devious plot to destroy the land's fairies. Hoping to stop her, Maleficent joins forces with a seasoned warrior and a group of outcasts to battle the queen and her powerful army.
Movie Review:
"Maleficent Mistress of Evil" is a sequel to the 2014 film "Maleficent" and it is a slight improvement over the first film which isn’t saying much. This film has better action sequences and a better story but it is still a flawed movie with a lot of issues. Maleficent and her goddaughter Aurora question the complex family ties that bind them as they are pulled in different directions and must battle the queen and her mighty army. Angelina Jolie once again delivers a powerful performance as Maleficent. She made the movie watchable as the intimating and menacing witch. I really loved her chemistry with Aurora (Elle Fanning). Their mother/ daughter relationship is some of the sweetest moments in the movie. The action scenes were really entertaining to watch accompanied with all the amazing visual effects seen and heard on a big theater screen. The relationship between Aurora and Prince Philip (Harris Dickinson) was endearing and they made you want to root for them as a couple. Now, let me tell you about the negatives of the movie. First, there are so many annoying characters especially the three fairies — Thistlewit, Fittle and Knotgrass — although they had less screen time, their characters are dopey and not funny; their jokes fall flat and don't work. Also, the movie at times drags and is just boring particularly the sub plot explanation of the villain. I wish the plot would have shown us more of Maleficent’s arc because it was more interesting than Aurora’s. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Conall (one of Maleficent’s own Kind). He was on screen about 10 minutes which was a waste of a great talent. And he was actually an interesting character that the audience wanted to know more about. Finally, the villain queen Ingrith played by Michelle Pfeiffer was a one dimensional stereotypical villain that I have seen millions of times. "Maleficent Mistress of Evil" is an improvement over the first film, Angelina Jolie shines as Maleficent, and it is action packed, but I was not a fan. I am giving "Maleficent Mistress of Evil" a 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Director: Joachim Ronning
Cast:Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Harris Dickinson, Sam Riley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ed Skrein, Robert Lindsay, Jenn Murray, Juno Temple, Lesley, Manville, Imelda Staunton, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Runtime: 118 minutes