tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4295031300306454362.post5347554526545173406..comments2015-05-02T09:16:37.179-04:00Comments on Leslie Kendall Dye: Of Mighty Hearts and Leaden Wings: A Review of "Maleficent"Leslie Kendall Dyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00137983295245025135noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4295031300306454362.post-36755610799824678192014-09-03T13:18:38.849-04:002014-09-03T13:18:38.849-04:00I saw the movie several months ago, when it first ...I saw the movie several months ago, when it first came out, and I am a bit of a sleep deprived mother of a toddler, but my memory is that Aurora does indeed help Maleficent any way that she can in the end. However, I do think that they pulled a punch at the end and NO ONE kills him, Maleficent actually does the 'decent" thing and tries to pull him back from the tower and because he reaches out to try to kill her he plunges to his death. That's my recollection, and it's an old movie trope, and easy way to murder the villain without the "good guys" having to do it. The "good guys" must always act on their noblest impulses in finales, at least in big budget Hollywood films. I think they attempted to soften the brutality of the men (which was mindless and poorly drawn) by giving Maleficent a soft-hearted male sidekick who serves as her conscience and reminds her of her humanity. I don't think it is worked all that well, as his character was little more than a prop at best. One of my biggest complaints with the film is how phony it all rings. If you are going to depict a horrific mutilation of a woman than it is simply not a children's film, but they tried to be both appropriate for children (10? 12? I am not sure what the target audience was) and also have this grotesque violence. If you are going to depict a woman's journey after such an assault, you may not sprinkle Disney corn syrup on it and belittle such a real and important topic. My second major complaint was that Aurora was a cardboard fairy princess blonde -- don't we have enough of those? She had not one spec of originality. The screenwriting, the direction and the plot all failed the actors in this debacle of a film. And I am generally an enormous fan of Angelina Jolie's serious work as an actor. I am surprised that she had so much creative input and the film was a train wreck. But Hollywood is known for wrecking great ideas, and alas, in my opinion, this was one of those times! I hope I answered your question! Thanks for reading my review!Leslie Kendall Dyehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00137983295245025135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4295031300306454362.post-52589858429789001052014-09-03T13:07:06.313-04:002014-09-03T13:07:06.313-04:00Thank you for this. I took my daughter to see the ...Thank you for this. I took my daughter to see the movie over the weekend and was disturbed by it. Not because of the "rape" idea (which, like any good metaphor, is there if you look for it), but by the way the men in the movie use and abuse their women, and vice versa. Every character is a pawn in each other's sadistic head games, and it's hard to fathom just what the filmmakers mean by that message. Also, am I reading it wrong, or does Aurora take an active part in helping murder her father at the end?D.W. Lundberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03709428152190690075noreply@blogger.com