Torn between good and bad; right and wrong; greed and true love; "Maleficent" is the story of a wicked fairy with horns and wings, who casts a spell - the one about pricking her finger on a spinning wheel - on the princess Aurora (Elle Fanning), nicknamed "Sleeping Beauty".
The plot line marks the transition of Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) from a sweet caring young fairy who falls for an equally caring human orphan, Stefan (Sharlto Copley) to the wicked character that she is made out to be.
As the protagonist in the film, director Robert Stromberg humanizes Maleficent and converts her simple, "wicked" character trait from the original to a complex and convoluted one. In fact, the film gives a chance for the villain to tell her side of the story and deconstruct an image that is well imprinted in the viewer's minds.
But the problem lies in Linda Woolverton's script. The pace of the narration is lackadaisical and lacks flourish and to top it all, the arc of each character juggles to find a foothold.
In the early scenes; sweet and affable characters are played by Isobelle Molloy and Michael Higgins and as teens by Ella Purnell and Jackson Bews. It's only as adults that the equation takes a volatile turn in terms of appearance and character graph.
