In case you've been hiding under a toadstool somewhere, Maleficent is the story of that bad witch from the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. The movie has shades of 'Wicked' and also reminded me of Darth Vader and how he did wrong things because he believed they were right.
The story begins with the fairy as a young girl with wings who lives in a magical realm called The Moors and falls in love with a young human man from the non-magical kingdom. The humans believes the fair folk are a threat to them and the two kingdoms go to war.
Maleficent is growing in power and the young man betrays her terribly and leaves her crippled. When the man becomes the King, marries and has a child named Aurora, Maleficent sees the innocent child as her means of revenge against her former beau. Along the way she discovers that her heart is not made of stone and she questions her motives.
For me, there was something that didn't sit right with this movie. I'm not sure if it was because of Maleficent's lack of emotional depth, or because it was hard to figure out just who the baddie was. There certainly was a lot of darkness surrounding all the characters. The only likeable one for me was the raven, oddly enough. Aurora is lovely and inanely happy, but ultimately a bit unsatisfying. Maleficent is just too uncertain with her motives and I didn't really root for her.
Overall, I'd say it's worth a look for the wonderful magical and special effect, but for heart, I preferred 'Wicked' or 'Snow White and the Huntsman.'