Maleficent Review

Last night my daughter and I went to see Maleficent and I promised a review today.  I went into the movie not really knowing what to expect based on the mixed reviews I'd read, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was predictable and Disney seems bound and determined to have a bad guy, so they made the king's decent in madness due to guilt rather dark and a bit overwrought.  It was definitely a kid's movie that was targeted to girls.  It was also a fun and sweet story, and Angelia Jolie played Maleficent brilliantly as a very strong and sympathetic character.  There was some subtle humor that worked well peppered throughout the film.  The version of Once Upon a Dream that played over the closing credits was haunting and fit really well with the overall mood of the film.

The message in the story reminded me of a conversation I had with a good friend of mine in high school.  Her father was a hyper-brilliant mathematician from Mexico who was rarely ever around because he was always so focused on his work, and her parents were going through a divorce at the time.  As we were walking home one day she told me that she didn't believe in love.  I asked her didn't she love her mother and brother (I left her dad out because the relationship was so complicated).  It was like a light came on and she realized that there are different types of love.  I don't want to say anymore because I'd give away too much.  Although you'll be able to figure out how the conflict will be resolved fairly early in the movie.  So to sum up the movie:  I don't think it's going to win any major awards, but if you go in with the proper expectations, it is a pleasant way to spend 97 minutes, especially if you have a daughter.

We had dinner out last night also and I decided to have iced tea to drink.  I figured: no calories and no chemicals.  I didn't stop to think about what having caffeine at 7:00 at night would do to me.  It didn't dawn on me what I'd done until about midnight when I was still lying in bed awake knowing that the alarm would sound at 4:15.  In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "D'oh!"