Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
by Eric Hillis
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Unlike the redundant ‘live-
action’ updates of Cinderel-
la and The Lion King, 2014’s Ma-
leficent saw Disney take one of
their existing properties, Sleep-
ing Beauty, and deliver a fresh
take that cleverly played with
the themes bubbling under the
surface of that classic fairy tale.
Maleficent, formerly a one-dimen-
sional villain, was put front and
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center in a movie that explored
such ideas as nature vs nurture,
the futility of revenge, and wheth-
er or not true love really exists.
Most surprisingly of all, it served
as a potent allegory for how vic-
tims of sexual abuse are often
shunned by society. But impor-
tantly, it never took its eye off the
fact that it was primarily a fantasy
romp aimed at children.
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