i liked this far more than i expected to. watched after frozen and taken as a disney fairy tale, it is quite good. aside from what jolie does with the character, the characterization is paper thin, cliches are liberally used, and the two worlds are shallow and tiny, geographically (which might be more a matter of plot than of not spending resources to show more). but this is still a fairy tale, so it is not concerned with world building or with complex character development. which leaves me puzzled as to why the movie is what it is, since it is not quite family fare, yet would not stand on its own without the allowances made for fairy tales. but i am not thinking all that hard about such matters because i enjoyed it. it is not great, as it has just 2 things going for it: jolie/maleficent and the visuals. while so many movies splatter copious cgi on the screen, it is always good to see it used with a sense of purpose that isn't "blow dat shit up!". sure, the action scenes were well-done and the moors were shiny and lovely, but the most memorable scenes for me involved maleficent (the walls shattering behind her like the missing wings, but not too much like it; the joy of flight; the power of flight; the "healing" - all of it; bursting through the window...) this movie made use of bits of slomo and it was great; that's a star right there. another bonus star for not just having frozen's themes, but going an extra mile with them (female empowerment, isolation, betrayal from men, true love - the prince actually gets his chance here): this movie is not subtle; it is fuckin' triumphant.