Maleficent: Mistress of Evil was directed by Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) and came out in 2019. The movie stars Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Elle Fanning as Aurora, Harris Dickinson as Prince Philip (replacing Brenton Thwaites) and Michelle Pfeiffer as Queen Ingrith – Prince Philip's mother. Some old faces, some new faces and mostly importantly, a standoff between Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Unlike the first movie which was an adaptation of the classic fairytale of Sleeping Beauty, this story takes a different turn. A more action turn. Sure, it is still a stunning movie. The visuals of all the creatures living in the Moors. The colors. The clothes. The beginning is also nice, the movie starts with Prince Philip asking Aurora to marry him, which she agrees to. Maleficent does not like Philip and that's an understatement. We meet Philip's family. His peaceful father and his very not peaceful mother. But she is very smart and her own evil plan is very brilliant. Which is not very magical.
The queen and king ask from Philip to invite his new bride to be to the castle as well as the woman who raised her, Maleficent. Obviously everything goes very wrong here.
The acting in this movie is really good. Angelina Jolie is as wonder as always as Maleficent. Elle Fanning is as charming as ever as Aurora, although her character has become slightly less endearing and a bit more annoying. I guess Brenton Thwaites was too busy to return, or he didn't want to play such a boring role so he was replaced by Harris Dickinson who has nothing to do in this movie. Michelle Pfeiffer is a brilliant actress and she brings her best game to this movie, so she matches Angelina Jolie perfectly.
As for the plot of the movie, well, that's a bit problematic. It feels too much like an action movie. A lot of fighting and battles and intrigues, which are all done excellently with beautiful visuals, but that's not very charming. I felt like all the fighting and the side plots made the movie loss the magic that the first one had.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a fun and beautiful movie, but it is just not magical fairytale anymore.
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