Here comes the queen, the dark faery, the mistress of evil. Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of Maleficent managed to overcome a mixed critical reception and flew straight to big box office receipts and audience praise for her version of the evil queen. A sequel seemed almost inevitable.
So here it is, and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” may even be an improvement upon the original in some respects. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good film, but improvements, especially for a live action Disney film, are welcome nonetheless.
Jolie’s (“Girl, Interrupted,” “Salt”) version of the evil queen is just as bombastic as before. She sulks around each corner, brooding at anyone who dares cross her path. Yet, the threatening menace never robs her performance of a high energy as she overacts her heart out, spinning her scenes into pure melodramatic gold.
Elle Fanning’s (“Somewhere,” “The Beguiled (2017)”) Aurora, meanwhile, is just fine. She isn’t as plain as to be forgettable, but she maintains a base level of status quo, as does Harris Dickinson (“The Darkest Minds,” “Trust”) as Prince Phillip. The pair have some great chemistry but aren’t particularly memorable. The same goes for Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years A Slave,” “The Martian”) who’s role as Conall the dark faery likely consists of five minutes of screen time, all of them spent spewing exposition.
Ed Skrein (“Deadpool,” “Alita: Battle Angel”) continues his streak of bringing faceless anti-heroes to life, and the three fairy godmothers, portrayed by Imedla Staunton (“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” “Vera Drake”), Juno Temple (“Far From the Madding Crowd,” “Horns”) and Lesley Manville (“Another Year,” “Phantom Thread”), are as bland and horrifying to look at as ever.
Thankfully, Michelle Pfeiffer (“Scarface,” “Hairspray (2007)”) is here and ready to compete with Jolie for the 2019 award for overacting. The pair churn out delicious melodrama ever time they share the screen; each one grins and broods, snickers and bickers with laser precision. They make the film worth watching, and it’s better for it.
Oddly enough, the supporting cast seems to make more of an impact than the leads here. Warwick Davis (“Return of the Jedi,” “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”) might not be on screen a lot, but when he is, he continues to beam with the same wonderful charm he’s maintained for the last 37 years in film. Sam Riley (“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” “Control (2007)”) reprises his role as Diaval the Raven from the first film and continues to be just as lovable, if not more so, than before. Jenn Murray (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Brooklyn”) has a minor role here as the lead henchperson of Pfeiffer’s queen, but each time she’s on screen she’s clearly giving it her all, chewing up the scenery and reveling in the cliched ridiculousness.
That is what is at the core of this film. It’s part “Meet the Fockers” and part “every fantasy anti-hero film of the last three decades.” Not a shred of the plot feels original in any respect, and the longer it goes on the more the tiny plot inconsistencies pop up.
For example, how is it that, when they’re called to a big event in the third act, the entire population of the forest Moore where Maleficent and Aurora live only take up half of a church? How is it that the story of the first film has turned to manipulated legend in just five years’ time? How is this legend passed around and known by all, and yet the queen doesn’t even know what happened to Aurora’s former castle? How does no one notice the huge evil layer beneath the castle?
Also, for a film about Maleficent, she spends an awful lot of the second act doing…not much at all. She bums around the dark faery world and doesn’t leave it until she needs to do more semi-evil actions.
The visuals are also a sore spot, because, while the physical aspects are top notch, just about anytime a greenscreen is involved, things plummet for the ground. Maleficent’s outfits and makeup are a consistent highlight, growing and evolving as the film progresses, and the sets are clearly well constructed and gorgeous to look at.
The same goes for the world of the dark faerys, as the physical aspects of their world are extremely well done and gorgeous to look at. The other faerys are also gorgeously crafted, each sporting dozens of color, horn and wing variations, giving the feeling that this is truly a whole other race. Even the effects of Maleficent’s powers are sewn into the film well.
But anytime she takes flight, it’s clear that Jolie is floating against a greenscreen with wires all around her. Wires may not be visible, but there’s a clear cheapness to these flying sequences that dampers their effect. A handful of odd inconsistencies also pop up, like poor makeup on any fantasy child creature, and bizarre editing cuts that don’t even attempt to hide reused footage.
For all its flaws, there’s something remarkably engaging about “Mistress of Evil.” It isn’t good, but it has a melodramatic soap-opera feel to it that makes it constantly watchable. The overacting of Jolie and Pfieffer and likable supporting cast mix…interestingly with the plot-hole ridden story and weirdly inconsistent visual effects. It delivers a film that feels like if Disney did a big budget fairy tale soap opera; literally the entire film is 100% extra. If an entire film could be described as “scenery chewing” this would definitely be it. 2.5/5
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