Maleficent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took my 15 year old to see it, and I absolutely loved it. And I'm not a Jolie fan. With that said, there were numerous kids there under 9 years. They were also well-behaved but that may have been because they were either mesmerized or scared. We saw it in 3-D.

There are intense moments, though. I'm no critic but I think Johnny Depp would have made a better king. I've read differing critics opinions, thumbs up and down. What they forget is that it's a Disney movie and not a foreign film.

If your kids might get scared, I might forego the 3-D.

So, the NYT review seemed to suggest that Maleficant's theme is older women envy young girls and seek to destroy them. As I recall "Tangled" also hinted at this. I'd be interested in your take as the mom of a teen girl, PP.

[Anonymous]

I saw it yesterday and the "older woman envies young girl" theory is just plain wrong. That isn't even hinted at, it's not in the story at all.

I thought it was good, and my 5 year old loved it. I read a review that suggested that "mature kindergarteners" could handle it and talked to a friend who had seen it before I took her. She wasn't scared, but she doesn't scare easily. I think a child who does scare easily would not like it, because there are a couple of violent sequences and one very sad scene near the beginning that made me cry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take this at face value, but Angelina Jolie said her daughter ended up in the role of young Princess Aurora because all the other 4-5 year old girls who auditioned were too frightened to be next to her.

Not all the other 4-5 year-old girls, that daughter was the only one of HER kids to not be afraid of her.

No, the first PP is correct. Other young girls were afraid of her, so Vivienne got the part.

[Anonymous]

I took some 3rd grade girls to see it this weekend. I don't like 3D, so we saw the standard version. They both claimed that they didn't fine it too scary. Neither seemed to have any trouble falling asleep that night.

On the scariness spectrum, it was probably equivalent to the later Harry Potter movies. A character dies. A fair amount of medieval warfare. An attempted murder.

There were some younger kids in the audience. I couldn't tell you if they were scared, but they couldn't follow the storyline. A lot of questions from what sounded like ~5 YO voices.

[Anonymous]

[Spoiler Alert] i took both my boys - age 6 and 9. They both LOVED it. And I find the messages amazing and fascinating. Children know that there is evil in the world - but Maleficent is not the evil one here. I think I found some scenes more disturbing than my children because of the subtext about which they, fortunately, are still innocent. When the king takes Mal's wings - it's the very definition of date rape - and she acts accordingly. Good wins out over evil, and the sisterhood (and brotherhood) prevail over ambition and greed in the end. This tale hearkens back to the original fairy tales in that it doesn't shy away from the darkness. It also allows kids to feel the fear and the sadness in a controlled setting and shows them that things can and do turn out ok in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took my 15 year old to see it, and I absolutely loved it. And I'm not a Jolie fan. With that said, there were numerous kids there under 9 years. They were also well-behaved but that may have been because they were either mesmerized or scared. We saw it in 3-D.

There are intense moments, though. I'm no critic but I think Johnny Depp would have made a better king. I've read differing critics opinions, thumbs up and down. What they forget is that it's a Disney movie and not a foreign film.

If your kids might get scared, I might forego the 3-D.

So, the NYT review seemed to suggest that Maleficant's theme is older women envy young girls and seek to destroy them. As I recall "Tangled" also hinted at this. I'd be interested in your take as the mom of a teen girl, PP.

The NYT is wrong. Dead wrong. In so many ways, wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took my 15 year old to see it, and I absolutely loved it. And I'm not a Jolie fan. With that said, there were numerous kids there under 9 years. They were also well-behaved but that may have been because they were either mesmerized or scared. We saw it in 3-D.

There are intense moments, though. I'm no critic but I think Johnny Depp would have made a better king. I've read differing critics opinions, thumbs up and down. What they forget is that it's a Disney movie and not a foreign film.

If your kids might get scared, I might forego the 3-D.

So, the NYT review seemed to suggest that Maleficant's theme is older women envy young girls and seek to destroy them. As I recall "Tangled" also hinted at this. I'd be interested in your take as the mom of a teen girl, PP.

The NYT is wrong. Dead wrong. In so many ways, wrong.

Actually, the NYT does not say this - simple reading comp - the NYT says, in fact, the exact opposite: "[Maleficent] does so by suggesting, among other things, that budding girls and older women are not natural foes, even if that’s what fairy tales, Hollywood and the world like to tell us. And while that may sound drippy, it’s exactly the kind of hokey that, movie by movie, may finally make a real difference.

[Anonymous]

Parent of 7 year old girl.... She absolutely loved it and was a huge Sleeping Beauty fan before this. For what its worth she wants the Blu-ray and says its overtaken Frozen as her favorite movie.

I personally didn't see anything scary about it all unless you just think Jolie looks scary... There were some adult themes though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[Spoiler Alert] i took both my boys - age 6 and 9. They both LOVED it. And I find the messages amazing and fascinating. Children know that there is evil in the world - but Maleficent is not the evil one here. I think I found some scenes more disturbing than my children because of the subtext about which they, fortunately, are still innocent. When the king takes Mal's wings - it's the very definition of date rape - and she acts accordingly. Good wins out over evil, and the sisterhood (and brotherhood) prevail over ambition and greed in the end. This tale hearkens back to the original fairy tales in that it doesn't shy away from the darkness. It also allows kids to feel the fear and the sadness in a controlled setting and shows them that things can and do turn out ok in the end.

PP, I like you. Not every children's movie has to be rainbows and unicorns and it sounds like this one provokes some healthy thought as well. I'm looking forward to seeing it with my 9yr. old!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took my 15 year old to see it, and I absolutely loved it. And I'm not a Jolie fan. With that said, there were numerous kids there under 9 years. They were also well-behaved but that may have been because they were either mesmerized or scared. We saw it in 3-D.

There are intense moments, though. I'm no critic but I think Johnny Depp would have made a better king. I've read differing critics opinions, thumbs up and down. What they forget is that it's a Disney movie and not a foreign film.

If your kids might get scared, I might forego the 3-D.

So, the NYT review seemed to suggest that Maleficant's theme is older women envy young girls and seek to destroy them. As I recall "Tangled" also hinted at this. I'd be interested in your take as the mom of a teen girl, PP.

Here's another review from the NYT. Most reviews are from a personal prospective, and the reader may not share the same tastes. “Opinions are like armpits – everyone has them and some of them stink,” so the old adage goes. This phrase rings doubly true when it comes to movie critics and their reviews of films.

“I sat cringing before M-G-M’s Technicolor production of The Wizard of Oz, which displays no trace of imagination, good taste, or ingenuity… I don’t like the Singer Midgets under any circumstances, but I found them especially bothersome in Technicolor… I say it’s a stinkeroo.” – Russell Maloney, The New Yorker


“It’s a Frankenstein’s monster stitched together from leftover parts. It talks. It moves in fits and starts but it has no mind of its own. Occasionally it repeats a point made in The Godfather (organized crime is just another kind of American business, say) but its insights are fairly lame at this point. The Godfather, Part II, which opened yesterday at five theaters, is not very far along before one realizes that it hasn’t anything more to say. Everything of any interest was thoroughly covered in the original film, but like many people who have nothing to say, Part II won’t shut up… Looking very expensive but spiritually desperate, Part II has the air of a very long, very elaborate revue sketch.” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took my 15 year old to see it, and I absolutely loved it. And I'm not a Jolie fan. With that said, there were numerous kids there under 9 years. They were also well-behaved but that may have been because they were either mesmerized or scared. We saw it in 3-D.

There are intense moments, though. I'm no critic but I think Johnny Depp would have made a better king. I've read differing critics opinions, thumbs up and down. What they forget is that it's a Disney movie and not a foreign film.

If your kids might get scared, I might forego the 3-D.

Johnny Depp would have been terrible. He ruins any children's movie he is in now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took my 15 year old to see it, and I absolutely loved it. And I'm not a Jolie fan. With that said, there were numerous kids there under 9 years. They were also well-behaved but that may have been because they were either mesmerized or scared. We saw it in 3-D.

There are intense moments, though. I'm no critic but I think Johnny Depp would have made a better king. I've read differing critics opinions, thumbs up and down. What they forget is that it's a Disney movie and not a foreign film.

If your kids might get scared, I might forego the 3-D.

Johnny Depp would have been terrible. He ruins any children's movie he is in now.

Johnny Depp = overexposure. His best moments were in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and "Edward Scissorhands".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took my 15 year old to see it, and I absolutely loved it. And I'm not a Jolie fan. With that said, there were numerous kids there under 9 years. They were also well-behaved but that may have been because they were either mesmerized or scared. We saw it in 3-D.

There are intense moments, though. I'm no critic but I think Johnny Depp would have made a better king. I've read differing critics opinions, thumbs up and down. What they forget is that it's a Disney movie and not a foreign film.

If your kids might get scared, I might forego the 3-D.

Johnny Depp would have been terrible. He ruins any children's movie he is in now.

“Opinions are like armpits – everyone has them and some of them stink,” so the old adage goes.