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With the flutter of her eyes she conveys her signature playful malevolence.
With the lilt of her voice she hints at a fearsome wit.
(This isnt a spoiler; were talking about sequels toprequelshere.)
Pfeiffer is an actress who continues to provide some of the most complex, modern depictions of femininity onscreen.
Jolie is a cunning master of her own image, with a slinky physicality that demands to be studied.
Each providesMaleficentwith outsize, charismatic, quicksilver presence and tremendous skill.
And in return, theyre given ample material to play with, just not enough together.
Pfeiffers character wears elaborate gowns and capes, whose saintly coloring of ivory and pearl belie her perspicacious scheming.
Something darker, more grotesque that lives up to the evil in its title.
The best scene in the film comes early, around the fraught familial dinner table.
What starts with tense civility quickly dovetails into emotional and physical warring.
Maleficent is uncomfortable with small talk and breeds fear wherever she steps.
Ingrith is a gimlet-eyed wonder finding pressure points and utilizing them with maniacal precision.
Maleficent responds with vengeance at the suggestion.
In the end, joy is in short supply in the film for reasons narrative and aesthetic.
The script is laden with cheap jokes that miss more than hit.
The story is at once overstuffed with ideas and half-developed.
Much of that could be forgiven if the film could inspire any wonder or awe.
Unfortunately, the editing is jagged, granting little whimsy to the story.
