Escape to the Movies: Maleficent - An Unusual Fairy Tale of Revenge

[bladeofdarkness]

THEY ALREADY DID JAFAR !!!.
__________________________
there is a musical called "Twisted" which wickedfy the story of Aladdin and turns Jafar into the incredibly sympathetic hero, while being a very faithful adaptation of the disney film in terms of events.
you can see the entire on Youtube.

its crazy awesome.

 

[MowDownJoe]

Oh god please tell me your joking and there is not a Jajar revisionist film in the works!

That would be sure to fuckup and be extremely yet unintentionally racist.

Gilbert Gottfried is heading back into the Disney voice-acting studios. That only means one thing.

 

[themilo504]

The movie sounds completely bat shit insane, haven?t decided if I want to watch it.

I have a very good reason why you don?t want maleficent to wipe out the humans, mass murder is bad.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Oh god please tell me your joking and there is not a Jajar revisionist film in the works!

That would be sure to fuckup and be extremely yet unintentionally racist.

Gilbert Gottfried is heading back into the Disney voice-acting studios. That only means one thing.

That Disney bought out another comic studio and is making a Spawn reboot?

 

[lionday]

Huh. I thought you'd hate this because as you said, Maleficent is the first and only Disney villain to be played completely straight without any redeeming factor or quirkiness to her. To try and create a framework capable of painting the 'mistress of all evil' as good sounds awkward as all hell.

As for Jafar, it's already halfway done. The Sultan is an incompetent buffoon without a clue how to run a kingdom who inherited it by birthright. I've already read a fairly good fic where Jafar starts out taken on as a palace guard in his youth and murders and backstabs his way up to the top because he feels he would run the kingdom better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-77cUxba-aA

Hey look a musical all about Jafar as a good guy!
It's actually fairly well done and makes jokes about other disney villains being not as bad as their movie counterparts.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

A Jafar story in this vein would probably be set in the fucking Crusades.

 

[Merklyn236]

The more I've heard about this film makes me wonder if they wrote the full story out (mutilation/revenge included) and then someone pointed out what the unintentional subtext was and they collectively tried to undo the damage with the second act. Sometimes we write things and then others have to look at it to make us understand what we accidentally came up with.

Or it could have been 'The maniacal love-child of Mae West and Vegeta on bath salts.' You never know.

 

[jdarksun]

That was an awesome review, Bob. I'll definitely catch this one when it hits video.

 

[LobsterFeng]

So should we just ignore the spoiler warning from now on? I mean if you hadn't included them in the last two reviews I honestly don't think anyone would have noticed or cared.

 

[Jofe]

Sounds interesting. Though from what Bob says it looks like the movie would be better without the whole second act. Like it should have ended with the start of the original (well the Disney version) Sleeping Beauty. You know, she arrives to the castle in the middle of the celebration gets close to baby Aurora and credits roll. You already know what's going to happen and there's nothing more to say.

 

[Xman490]

The second act here might not be as "weird and clunky" as it is just cliched. It's a familiar sequence of events in which a very powerful not-quite-human character learns about how good mankind can be and decides not to destroy at least part of it.

 

[Frozengale]

So, we should never watch your video's again because they're going to contain spoilers every, single time. >_>

Seems like it. I'm getting pretty sick of Bob not being able to actually discuss a movie without spoiling huge plot points. Probably not worth it to watch his stuff anymore.

 

[AgDr_ODST]

Bob's review convinced me to check it out just for the hell of it. This movie sounds like such a crazy idea that I can't help but want to see it with my own eyes.

Oh, and I don't think Jafar would be the ideal candidate for a revisionist retelling; I think it could work for Scar or the villain from Frozen, though. Maybe Gaston as well.

I'm torn regarding the idea of Jafar getting his story rewritten.[footnote] Saw a great idea but I hate the ideas of either Aladdin being the villain or Jasmine falling for Jafar.[/footnote] I do think a Gaston rewrite could be excellent if it turned out that among other things, Beauty gets Stockholm Syndrome during her time with Beast who really is just a dangerous animal, and the 'castle' could either be an abandoned one that the beast moved into or a cave filled with some familiar junk that Beauty decides can talk so that the grim, depressing nature of her situation doesn't drive her insane. Gaston could be someone who has loved her since they were kids, but because of his slight social ineptness he picks on her and comes across as bully because he can't bring himself to admit his feelings.

 

[Azhrarn-101]

So...take my 6 year old, Disney Princess obsessed daughter to see this, or not?

Considering this is either PG-13 or higher (I have no idea what the US rating is, in Europe it's PEGI 12).
I don't think it's a good idea, unless your daughter is mentally quite mature for her age.
This is a scary, ultra-dark version of a Disney fairy tale, if she's like the average 6-year-old she'll have nightmares for weeks if you're lucky.

 

[Sylocat]

THEY ALREADY DID JAFAR !!!.
__________________________
there is a musical called "Twisted" which wickedfy the story of Aladdin and turns Jafar into the incredibly sympathetic hero, while being a very faithful adaptation of the disney film in terms of events.
you can see the entire on Youtube.

its crazy awesome.

"All I wanted was a coat made out of puppies!"
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"

 

[PunkRex]

O... kay, well i'm sure as hell giving it a watch.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Does anyone else cringe when Jolie tries an English accent, or is it just me?

 

[Imrix]

I think I saw a little more nuance in Maleficents time bonding with Aurora, or possibly just a different stock progression.

Her time meeting and bonding with Aurora didn't really seem like redemption through letting go of her revenge so much as narrowing the focus.

The realization that in her quest to spit Stefan's head on a goddamned pike, she dragged a beautiful soul into the mud and blood of her warpath.

Recall that when she goes to Stefan's castle, she refers to it as 'her fight'. I never really got the impression that she was going back just to save Aurora, but instead to visit revenge on Stefan the way she should have to begin with; on him, personally, not striking at him through things he cares about.

Her final confrontation with Stefan felt less like letting him go, and more like she didn't see any point in killing him. She'd already reclaimed her wings, defeated him in his own home and stolen his daughter from him. There was nothing left in him that was worth killing; just a mad, broken shell of a man.

Which is not to say it didn't have problems, but I felt its problems were more a matter of being awkward in places. It could've done with a good deal less narration for certain.

 

[RJ 17]

You know, I had my doubts...but this actually sounds like it could be a lot of fun. =D

 

[2xDouble]

Moral of the story: All stories are lies, no matter who is telling it.

Here's my problem:

Since when does Maleficent, of all people, need to be sympathetic? She does what she does because she felt like doing it; because she could, not because of some asshole hurt her feelings. Before she was a bold, powerful creature of pure will, completely in control of herself and her destiny (for the most part), and now she's nothing; a victim, her agency completely stripped from her first by a man she thought she loved and then by a child she didn't want. (That "implied rape" goes deeper than onscreen action, does it not? well played, Disney... I think.)

So it's perfectly fine for some men just wanting to watch the world burn, but women? no, that's to much for her. She must have been raped.