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movie review - Maleficent

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2015.08.02

This is the story of Sleeping Beauty's wicked witch, who it turns out is rather a pained and resentful survivor with a lot riding on her slender shoulders - she's the queen of a fey realm beset on all sides by truly moronic humans, and she has herself been personally betrayed by the one who now sits on the throne. This is indeed a fairy tale, in that it belong among the stories of witches burning in their own ovens, and children being sold.

I rather enjoyed the tale, it hung together beautifully. I liked the tone as well, being as aloof and caustic as it was hopeful. And the whole thing looked great.

Strongly recommended.

rand()m quote

In the wake of 9/11, we [in America] have made the decision as a society that we can never again create something in which we can take pride, for fear that someone will destroy it. Moreover, we must suppress any trace of individualism, lest someone have the desire to rise above the bland sameness that protects us. I have, alas, no idea how to recapture our courage.

—Anonymous post to boingboing.net, 2009