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Maleficent

2014

Robert Stromberg

Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Juno Temple, Sharlto Copley ...

6.0

40,700

Fantasy. Adventure The "Sleeping Beauty" tale is told from the perspective of the villainous Maleficent and looks at the events that hardened her heart and drove her to curse young Princess Aurora.

	Author	Review
United States	Andrew Barker Variety	"Uncertain of tone, and bearing visible scarring from what one imagines were multiple rewrites, the film fails to probe the psychology of its subject or set up a satisfying alternate history, but it sure is nice to look at for 97 minutes."	NEU
United States	Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter	"The new feature is an exquisitely designed, emotionally absorbing work of dark enchantment."	POS
United Kingdom	Mark Adams Screendaily	"A thoroughly entertaining fantasy romp."	POS
United Kingdom	Robbie Collin Telegraph	"'Maleficent' may be short on true enchantment, but until we find a superhero who can pull off a black silk cocktail gown in battle, she’s very welcome. (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of five)"	NEU
United States	Claudia Puig USA Today	"Disney missed a golden opportunity to tell a bewitching story and instead gives audiences a muddled revisionist tale with stunning visuals"	NEU
United States	Alonso Duralde The Wrap	"The aggressively unpleasant visuals certainly detract from the overall film, but 'Maleficent' makes for a fascinating entry in an ongoing wave of projects that give 'bad' women of literature a chance to present their side of the story."	NEU
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Jolie grows horns, goes panto and shows us her inner Sophia Loren in this revisionist fairytale backstory (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of five)"	POS
United States	Joe Neumaier New York Daily News	"Angelina Jolie is so wickedly enchanting in the magical, magnificent 'Maleficent,' you may not notice how transporting this female-driven blockbuster really is (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of five)"	POS
United States	Rene Rodriguez Miami Herald	"'Maleficent' is the summer’s first real surprise (...) The movie turns out to be sweet and funny and exciting and touching (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of four)"	POS
United States	Joe Morgenstern The Wall Street Journal	"Ms. Jolie is, in truth, a formidable presence (...) Still, this icon of witchcraft can't save a production that's suffocatingly elaborate yet insufficiently bewitching (...)	NEG
United States	Manohla Dargis The New York Times	"Angelina Jolie makes a fabulous monster (...) a divertingly different rethink of an awfully old story"	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Jolie comes to this party ready to bite, but the movie muzzles her. Even at 97 minutes, Maleficent is still one long, laborious slog (...) Rating: ★½ (out of four)"	NEG

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