The Way You Did Once Upon A Dream

Let me just start by saying: what kind of parents in their sane mind would name their child Maleficent? It's like condemning your child to a lifetime of crime and hatred or, at the very least, bad luck. Future parents, the name you give to your child would stick with them for the rest of their lives. So please, make sure it's a good one!

The story took place in a fantasy world, where two kingdom lived in terror and hatred of one another. One of the kingdom, a monarchy ruled and inhabited by realist humans, seem to be threatened (or was jealous a more proper word?) by its neighbor, a rich hippies community inhabited by ents, naiads, dryads, trolls, fairies, and many other beautiful mythical creatures. The strongest of which was Maleficent, a beautiful and kind-hearted fairy with a avian-like features; seemingly the last of her kind.

 To make a long story short, Maleficent met a human boy, fell in love, was abandoned, and reunited with her true love (or so she thought) only to be broken by her true love. After she was hurt, physically and mentally, bitterness got the best of her. Poisoned by hatred and anger, she turned the whole magical moor into a dark place. I don't blame her though, if a man drugged me and cut one of my organs out, I would also most  probably be bitter and vengeful.

The mean man (whose name I've already forgotten) that hurt Maleficent because of his stupid patriarchal ambition ascended into the neighboring kingdom's throne and basked in the glory of his newly acquired power for a while, without even considering the consequences of his action to Maleficent. Even when Maleficent openly showed her frustration by unleashing a badass burst of power towards the sky. After a while, the oblivious new king had a baby girl and the whole kingdom, along with three stupid traitor fairies from the moor, rejoiced in festivity. When a guy hurt one of my friend in such evil manner, I would never visit his daughter's christening. Let alone giving her lavish gifts. Just saying.

Maleficent, still hurt because of the betrayal, crashed the party and set a curse on the unbelievably cute baby, humiliating the king in the process. This Maleficent, being smart and powerful, made the spell unbreakable by any force in the world, except a true love's kiss, which she truly believed did not exist. A decision she later regreted. Kids, this is exactly why you should never ever ever make important life-changing decision when you're angry. Take a moment to reflect if it was really something you really want before taking drastic measures.

Making a stupid choice when you're feeling hurt is one thing. Making them because of unreasonable pride is another. Humiliated and terrified by Maleficent, the king decided to give her child for safekeeping to the three traitor fairies, who are highly incompetent in raising a human baby, and preparing himself for battle with Maleficent. Another message to all of you parents out there: when you're trusting your kid to another person, make sure you do a thorough background check!

Maleficent, being naturally curious, could not stay away from the baby. She kept watch, and in the process, took care of the little princess from the shadows. Without Maleficent's presence, I am confinced the little darling would have been dead by the third day. Unfortunatelly, being raised by the three fairies who were clearly on drugs, the little princess grew into what I usually refer to aspartame type of girl. Sweet, but artificially sweet. So sweet that it left a bitter aftertaste in your mouth.

Somewhere along the way, the princess met Maleficent and shared a mother-daughter bond with her. Genuinely caring for the princess, Maleficent tried to revoke the curse, but was unable to do so. So she tried to protect the princess by asking her to live with her in the moor; but Aurora found out that it was Maleficent that cursed her when she was a baby, and thing went downhil from there.

I could carry on bragging about the whole storyline but that would be extremely boring. For most everyone in the planet knows how the princess pricked her finger on the spindle and slept. However, it's not the kiss of a smitten teenage prince that woke Aurora in this particular story, it was the kiss of a motherly figure: Maleficent.I enjoy this twist of plot because, personally, I never believed in love at first sight. For me, love is something that needs to be nurtured over time, there's no such thing as instant love. Although lust at first sight, often mistaken as love at first sight, is a very real thing for me.

This scene reminded me of Chi'i**

The other thing I really really like about this movie is how it portrays Maleficent. Maleficent is everything a woman should be. She is beautiful, smart, strong, proud, and kind. For me, her emotional slip only shows that it is your flaws that makes you truly remarkable. It shows that beings made mistake, but if you have a strong enough core, you will rise against anything that comes your way. I think that is a very important message to pass on to the children. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, the king is exactly how a person should never be.

Personally, I think the king is plain old awful human being, a product of an awful system in an awfulk society. Blinded by ambition, he did not mind hurting a person who genuinely cares for him. And the worst thing is he blamed the person for being hurt, and refused to accept that what happenned to him was in fact the consequences of his own action, creating more pain in the process. Sadly, I think there are a lot of this type of people around in this world that we are living in.

Anyway, lately I seem to disagree with public perception on good movies. Although this movie seem to receive rave reviews; I was just in love with every aspect of the movies. The plot, the characters, the setting, the CGIs, and the values that the movie showed were exactly my cup of tea. 

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*Picture of Maleficent on a cliff taken from this page.
**Picture of Maleficen flying was taken from this page.