This movie is a little hard to judge. Its main concern is to revisit the title character's story in a much different way to how it has previously been portrayed. It does this very well. Other parts of the film and story, however, are given very little attention to the point that it feels the filmmakers weren't concerned with them at all.
The film takes a much more sympathetic view on the character of Maleficent than the animated Disney film did (I've seen the film, but not since my age was in the single digits, so I won't be making many comparisons). She is given a backstory that explains her motivations when it comes time for her to cast the "sleeping beauty" curse. Angelina Jolie delivers a really fantastic performance--one that the film would probably be lost without. She has perfect command of subtle facial expressions that allow the audience to know what her character is thinking at all times, but without being too obvious or over the top about it. She doesn't just get a single character arc to work with, either. She takes the character full circle, from virtuous to villainous and back again. While the film, especially in the middle, often feels directionless in the plot department, Jolie's performance provides an anchor to keep it on track. It is, in most instances, a much smaller and more intimate film than your typical Summer Movie Season Fantasy Film, but I appreciated the change of pace.
It's a good thing that the handling of the title character is done so well, because aside from that the film gets a lot wrong. No character other than Maleficent gets much of anything in the way of character development. I was fine with this in the case of the Princess, who was portrayed competently if stereotypically as just that: a kind-hearted princess. It makes sense to me that since Maleficent was a stereotypical villain in the animated film, the princess might as well be a stereotypical "good guy" in Maleficent's film. The other characters don't fare quite as well. The King is also given a more complicated backstory, but while most of his motivations can be inferred on an intellectual level, the film never truly manages to get inside his head. It is the three fairies, however, who get the worst treatment. They exist in this film purely for (ineffective) comic relief, and if believability or any sense of realism must suffer in order for them to make a joke, the filmmakers seem more than happy to make that sacrifice. After the Princess is cursed, the King assigns the fairies the job of raising her in secret to keep her safe, an inexplicable decision since these fairies are three of the most inept characters I've seen on film in a long time. They are so bad at their job that it took me out of the film more than once--it was like watching three of Jar Jar Binks's even dumber cousins try to raise a child (and if you can imagine any humor in that scenario, I assure you that there is none).
The film more or less has two climaxes. First, there's the emotional climax that is the real conclusion of the story, but it is then followed by the "action" climax. I won't spoil the film's emotional climax here, but it was obvious it was where the film was headed. I saw it coming well before we were even at the half way point. That isn't to say its not effective. Even though it's predictable, it is consistent with what we've come to learn about the characters and feels earned. The second climax that follows just feels sloppy. As I said before, I appreciated the smaller and more intimate scope the film had for most of its runtime. This is why the addition of a big action scene to tie up the plot's remaining loose ends felt out of place. I don't so much have a problem with there being an action scene--my complaint is that the action is used to resolve some story elements and character relationships, something I wish could have been done through dialogue. Since Jolie's character was so well drawn, it was disappointing that the film climaxed on a note that did little to showcase her development.
"Maleficent" could have been much more effectively constructed in the screenwriting stage, but Jolie's performance manages to hold the film together in spite of its myriad of deficiencies. It's worth seeing the film for her character work alone.
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