Malificent 2

[tommybahama]

Last night I watched Malificent 2 starring Angelina Jolie. I don't think I watched the original and I'm not sure how this sequal did at the box office, but I highly recommend it for all you warlock and druid fans looking for inspiration.

Someone involved in production had to be a FRPG fan. There was a shape shifter that shifts into a ravenbear and some of the fairies looked like branchwraiths from Warhammer. Two thumbs up!

 

[Guang]

SPOILERS







I'd love to see the 4 varieties (tundra, desert, forest, jungle) of dark fey as fully-detailed societies in a well-developed rpg setting.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

.

 

[tommybahama]

It wasn't a let down for me. I would have.preferred her to be a unique creature. I didn't understand how she could be powerful enough to have her own kingdom while others who seem almost her equal were living underground. Still, like most D&D modules, it's probably best not to give those things too much thought and just roll with it.

 

[Imaculata]

The original was a trainwreck, so I have no intention of watching this one.

From what I remember, the original had a fantastic performance by Angelina Jolie, but a mess of a script and distracting CGI. The weirdest thing was how they tried to make Maleficent not a villain, and had to alter the plot of Sleeping Beauty in ways that didn't work. It started off by following some of the original plot beats from the Disney animated movie accurately, but then when it came to the third fairy-godmother giving her last gift, she gets interupted by the arrival of Maleficent, and then the movie completely forgets about it. It was an obvious setup that had an important purpose in the animated movie: because the third fairy-godmother uses her gift to transform the deadly spell that Maleficent casts on Aurora, into an eternal sleep. But the live action movie leaves that plot point hanging and then goes off to do its own thing. It ends up feeling like a cadaver of the original story.

There's a plot twist at the end that isn't actually a surprise, because it was copied from several other movies that came out just a year or two earlier, such as Snowwhite and the Huntsman in 2012, and Frozen in 2013.

And like I said, the CGI was so distracting. There are large action scenes where you are clearly watching a CGI Maleficent with Angelina's face awkwardly pasted on top of it. What was also confusing, is that Maleficent doesn't actually turn into a dragon in the movie. Yes, there is a dragon at the end, but she does not transform into it herself. I had to remind a friend of mine of that detail, because she misremembered it. It is such a bizarre and confusing change.

It is a shame that the script was so terrible, because Angelina really is perfect for the part. But no matter how hard you try, you can't make the character of Maleficent into anything but a villain without completely butchering the original fairytale.

 

[Guang]

Yes, there is a dragon at the end, but she does not transform into it herself. I had to remind a friend of mine of that detail, because she misremembered it. It i

Pretty sure that's a phoenix, not a dragon. An interesting change, I think, but one that ties back into Dark Fey heritage with being decended from the phoenix in the cave and and all - she resembles it when she changes quite a bit. Also makes her coming back to life make more sense since that's the whole phoenix shtick. And all the Dark Fey bow to her, seeing in her the image of their founder.

 

[tommybahama]

From what I remember, the original had a fantastic performance by Angelina Jolie, but a mess of a script and distracting CGI.

What was also confusing, is that Maleficent doesn't actually turn into a dragon in the movie.

I agree that the CGI was distracting but I got over it and the cutesy faerie stuff about halfway through. I like Guang's interpretation of Maleficient shape shifting into a phoenix, but I thought it was a cockatrice when I first saw it.

 

[Imaculata]

Pretty sure that's a phoenix, not a dragon. An interesting change, I think, but one that ties back into Dark Fey heritage with being decended from the phoenix in the cave and and all - she resembles it when she changes quite a bit. Also makes her coming back to life make more sense since that's the whole phoenix shtick. And all the Dark Fey bow to her, seeing in her the image of their founder.

You're telling me that this thing here is a phoenix and not a dragon? Okay....

But my main point was that she doesn't transform herself into it. She transforms her minion. Everyone who has seen the Disney animated classic knows that Maleficent transforms herself into a dragon. It is one of the things that makes her such a cool villain. Such a bizarre thing to change. Plus that dragon was iconic.

 

[ccs]

You're telling me that this thing here is a phoenix and not a dragon? Okay....

But my main point was that she doesn't transform herself into it. She transforms her minion. Everyone who has seen the Disney animated classic knows that Maleficent transforms herself into a dragon. It is one of the things that makes her such a cool villain. Such a bizarre thing to change. Plus that dragon was iconic.

You're talking about in Maleficent.

Guang is talking about in the sequel; Maleficent, Mistress of Evil - where she absolutely does transform herself/resurrect into a very Phoenix form. Her minion? He becomes an owlbear (well, ok, more a ravenbear, but we D&D players know what we're looking at. )

 

[Tonguez]

.

But my main point was that she doesn't transform herself into it. She transforms her minion. Everyone who has seen the Disney animated classic knows that Maleficent transforms herself into a dragon. It is one of the things that makes her such a cool villain. Such a bizarre thing to change. Plus that dragon was iconic.

I agree that was my biggest disappointment with the movie too - Malificient transforming into a dragon is THE most iconic scene in any Disney Princess movie ever and the Live Action reimagining entirely botched it. I was okay with the sympathetic take on Malificient, but also agree that the script was not well executed and too much of it became forced sentimentality.