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I've never seen Sleeping Beauty myself, but I have to say this trailer has me interested.

It appears as if the Maleficent character has some kind of connection to the forests/nature in general as can be seen by about a minute in to the trailer.

Those tree creatures are really what's driving me to see this film. Angelina herself looks amazing and apparently she was the driving factor behind the character retaining her darker look.

"Maleficent" explores the untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty and the elements of her betrayal that ultimately turn her pure heart to stone. Driven by revenge and a fierce desire to protect the moors over which she presides, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) cruelly places an irrevocable curse upon the human king's newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Aurora (Elle Fanning) is caught in the middle of the seething conflict between the forest kingdom she has grown to love and the human kingdom that holds her legacy. Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land and is forced to take drastic actions that will change both worlds forever."

I suppose the idea is Maleficent is the dark side of nature whereas the three good fairies are the light side?

Is that Lana Del Ray singing?

A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone.

I don't think they are going for the "She was evil from the beginning" angle.

 purplefood wrote:
Is that Lana Del Ray singing?

Yeah.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's Lana Del Rey.

 purplefood wrote:
Is that Lana Del Ray singing?

Ugh... those giant fake lips....

 Medium of Death wrote:

A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone.

Dark doesn't mean evil, I meant they could be going for the natural disasters/predators/thorns side of nature rather than the cute bunny/pretty flower side that the other fairies clearly represent.

I get what you are saying. Perhaps she represents the aspects of the forest which scare this invading army and she arguably, and rightly, sees the right of their own existence.

 Soladrin wrote:

 purplefood wrote:
Is that Lana Del Ray singing?

Ugh... those giant fake lips....

Are they fake though? People can have those lips without surgery.

Look at her music video's from before she got popular then come back to me.

On one hand, Angelina Jolie is a good actress, I have no doubt she'll be able to do well in the role, and she looks absolutely amazing as Maleficent.

On the other hand, this looks like it'll go down the same route as all of the other Disney darkifications/villinifications, and just won't be particularly good. They've got to have that big battle scene, because they've got to make use of that CG budget somewhere, they've got to turn Maleficent into a misunderstood anti-hero, they've got to add a bunch of fluff to something that never needed it.

Yeah this looks a lot like the Snow White and the Huntsman version of Sleeping Beauty.

It probably didn't help casting the insipid Stewart as Snow White though.

I think remaking some of the Disney movies with a darker tone to appeal to a wider audience is quite a smart move by Disney. They'll always have the classic animated films and even those weren't without their dark elements.

 Corpsesarefun wrote:
Yeah this looks a lot like the Snow White and the Huntsman version of Sleeping Beauty.

I was thinking more of the Wicked version of Sleeping Beauty.

Which could go either way really...

I don't recall there being any dramatic angsty battles or pseudo-Game of Thrones politics in Wicked...

 Corpsesarefun wrote:
I don't recall there being any dramatic angsty battles or pseudo-Game of Thrones politics in Wicked...

I was thinking more of the theme of the movie (and characters) itself.

Snow White and the Huntsman really didn't do anything to redefine the characters of the story. Snow White was still the good character. The Queen is still the bad character. They made it an action movie, but they really didn't change the characters "roles" on the good/bad spectrum.

Wicked focuses more on the background of the Wicked Witch, her motivations, what made her bad (or if she is really bad at all).

That's what made me think of it being more like Wicked than Snow White and the Huntsman.

Of course it can always have the action to 11 of Snow White and the Huntsman combined with the character focus of Wicked.

 Medium of Death wrote:
I think remaking some of the Disney movies with a darker tone to appeal to a wider audience is quite a smart move by Disney. They'll always have the classic animated films and even those weren't without their dark elements.

True. Maleficent is widely regarded as the best Disney villain and she definitely is pretty dark, considering she was in a 1959 animated children's movie.

 Fafnir wrote:
On one hand, Angelina Jolie is a good actress, I have no doubt she'll be able to do well in the role, and she looks absolutely amazing as Maleficent.

On the other hand, this looks like it'll go down the same route as all of the other Disney darkifications/villinifications, and just won't be particularly good. They've got to have that big battle scene, because they've got to make use of that CG budget somewhere, they've got to turn Maleficent into a misunderstood anti-hero, they've got to add a bunch of fluff to something that never needed it.

God, I hope not. I don't think they need a reason to make her "misunderstood" or any of that nonsense, I want her to be evil just because she is. I mean, in the 1959 movie, she threatens to kill Princess Aurora simply because she wasn't invited to a party.

Plus, her battle with Prince Phillip is one of the greatest climaxes in Disney history:

fething called that gak.
W00T!