LOVE conquers fear and intolerance twice upon a time in director Joachim Ronning’s fantastical sequel based on characters from Disney’s 1959 animation Sleeping Beauty and Charles Perrault’s fairytale La Belle Au Bois Dormant.
Stuffed to the seams with digitally rendered creatures, Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil is slow-cooked to the same family-friendly recipe as the first film and underscores the empowerment of female characters. Women resolutely hold sway in a script which spares no expense with lavish spectacle but is thrifty with character development and plot twists. Angelina Jolie reprises her role as the winged warrior reborn by motherly love.
She’s more reactive and less imposing in the sequel but snags a few deliciously droll one-liners.
The heart-warming redemption of dark fairy Maleficent (Jolie) has been lost to the sands of time.
Once again, she is the shadowy villain of nervously whispered legends in the human world.
Magical creatures continue to live in harmony on the Moors, where Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) blossoms in her role as queen of the enchanted realm with guidance from adopted mother Maleficent and shape-shifting henchman Diaval (Sam Riley).
Aurora’s sweetheart Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson) goes down on bent knee and the princess accepts his proposal.
Their union promises to bridge the divide between the Moors and humankind.
Philip’s parents, King John (Robert Lindsay) and Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer), invite Aurora, Maleficent and Diaval to their castle to celebrate the engagement.
The two tribes declare an uneasy truce until a member of the royal household falls victim to Maleficent’s sleeping curse.
Aurora’s allegiances are tested as Queen Ingrith declares war on the fairy folk and raises an army led by captain of the royal guards, Percival (David Gyasi).
Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil is an impressively staged but emotionally lightweight second chapter in Aurora’s coming of age. Fanning radiates sweetness while Pfeiffer looks lustrous as she slinks through a narrative laden with predictable betrayals and hard-fought absolution.
Riley and Dickinson, replacing Brenton Thwaites as Aurora’s strapping love interest, are largely surplus to requirements as Ronning seeks a well-trodden path to the fabled land of happy ever afters.
RATING: 6.5/10
DAMON SMITH
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