We are getting dangerously close to that borderline where Walt Disney’s fantasy fairy-tale adventure Maleficent has almost shown us too much footage ahead of its summer bow. The studio didn’t really have to tell us too much more about the movie beyond that fact that they lured the mega-powerful Angelina Jolie to play the menacing (and possibly misunderstood) Maleficent – a character made famous from the Sleeping Beauty myth. But now we get this international trailer, shared via YouTube, that fills in several more tantalizing story points. Watch at your own risk.
Right off the bat, the trailer reminds us what Maleficent looked like in the animated version of Sleeping Beauty, which charmed and terrified audiences in 1959.
Nowadays, with Jolie pulling the strings, the wicked Maleficent looks a lot more like this:
The movie looks to follow the tried-and-true bedtime fable, with baby Aurora (later played by Elle Fanning) receiving a curse from the jealous Maleficent that, on her 16th birthday, plunges her into a deep sleep. Like this:
But it’s not as traditional as you might assume. There will be magical spells, battle scenes lifted out of either Snow White and the Huntsman or Jack the Giant Slayer (you know, because they both did so well), and dragons. In this day and age of Game of Thrones adoration, there HAS to be dragons!
Maleficent marks the directorial debut of Robert Stromberg, whose long list of credits exist in the Visual Effects departments of such blockbuster titles as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Chronicles of Riddick, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Life of Pi, to name just a few. Basically, he has studied under some visual wizards, and he appears to bring a lot of that imaginative magic to the screen in Maleficent. He also has Jolie, who looks like she has dropped all pretense and is having delicious fun in this fantasy thriller.
The movie arrives in theaters on May 30, and co-stars Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville. Will you check it out?
