The first Maleficent wasn’t well-received critically but that didn’t deter Disney from creating a sequel. After all, the movie did make 758 million worldwide. Surprisingly, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is not the cheap cash grab that people thought it to be. There is much more to this movie than capitalizing on the success of the first movie.
First of all, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a vast improvement over the original movie. There is a deep message about classes and race that’s surprising for a kids’ movie. Yet it’s something that kids and adults can identify with. Not to mention, the movie takes this idea of classes and race and intertwine it with a “Game of Thrones” style storyline. There are betrayals and a lot of internal politics. There’s even a scene that almost plays out like the Red Wedding.
This kind of storyline also opens the door to showcasing all of Maleficent’s vulnerabilities. Whether it’s Aurora or her Fey brethren, everything that breaks down Maleficent’s barriers is in this movie. That’s what makes her more of a sympathetic character. It also allows her to show off her bad side as well. This doesn’t mean that the movie is phenomenal. The movie still feels a little soulless CGI-fest. There’s a magical appeal from other Disney live-action adaptations that seem to be missing here.
Much like the first movie, Angelina Jolie carries this movie to the best of her (many) abilities. She is still stellar as an evil villainess but she’s able to open up and expose her vulnerable side. But this time around Jolie is helped by the one-and-only Michelle Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer is delightful as the antagonist as she’s able to ham it up with her performance. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is quite bland in their performances.
Overall, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a huge improvement over the original movie. Not to mention, the message about class and race sets this movie above other kids’ movies. Yet the movie is still missing that special something that makes Mistress of Evil a truly magical experience.
Movie Rating: 3.5/5 atoms
Video
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil hits Ultra HD Blu-ray with an HDR transfer and a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The picture has a nice medium contrast which gives a bit of depth to the picture. Not to mention, the brightness is perfectly vibrant with zero bloom whatsoever. There is also a nice grayscale to the blacks—from a deep black to a lighter shade of black. With the color saturation, the colors are bold and natural-looking as the colors never jump off the screen. The details are also incredibly sharp. You can see all of the intricate details of the amazing production design. Overall, this is an amazing video transfer.
Video Rating: 5/5 atoms
Audio
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil hits Ultra HD Blu-ray with a Dolby Atmos and a core 7.1 Dolby TrueHD Master Audio track. This review will reflect Maleficent: Mistress of Evil‘s Dolby Atmos track. Right from the get-go, you get to hear how fun and playful the audio mix is. There’s a lot of movement including sounds that sweep across the sound stage and sounds that move like a wave. There are a limited amount of subtle overhead effects, but at least there is a lot of immersion due to the accurate object placement and subtle atmospherics. The music itself is boisterous and layered across the soundstage. And despite the loud mix, the dialogue can still be heard in the center channel. Overall, this is a pretty good audio mix.
Audio Rating: 4.5/5 atoms
Special Features
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil‘s Ultra HD Blu-ray disc doesn’t have any special features on it. However, you can find the following special features on the 1080p Blu-ray disc:
- Origins of the Fey
- Aurora’s Wedding
- If You Had Wings
- Maleficent: Mistress of Evil VFX Reel
- Extended Scenes
- The Queen Comforts Aurora
- Philip and Aurora Dance
- Outtakes
- “You Can’t Stop the Girl” performed by Bebe Rexha
As you can see from the list above, there isn’t a lot of bonus features in this release. At the same time, the features are all short“Origins of the Fey” takes a look at the Dark Fey through the words of Angelina Jolie. She looks at the inception of the Dark Fey and the reasoning behind their inclusion into the sequel. As you can imagine, “Aurora’s Wedding” goes behind-the-scenes on the film’s magical wedding between Princess Aurora and Prince Philip. It’s not an in-depth featurette but at least it gives you an inside look at all of the wonderful costumes in the film.“If You Had Wings” is the first true behind-the-scenes look at Maleficent’s wings. In other words, how they act, the mythology behind each Fey’s wings, and the visual effects work to get them to look like they’re flying.
The “VFX Reel” continually shows the pre and post visual effects shots of the film. So you can see all of the work done to bring the world to life. The deleted scenes themselves have beautifully shot scenes but none of them add to the overall progression of the film. The outtakes are really fun to watch and you can see that everyone had a lot of fun during filming. As you can probably guess, “You Can’t Stop the Girl” is the official music video for Bebe Rexha’s exclusive song for the film.
Special Features Rating: 3/5 atoms
Overall, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a movie that vastly improves upon the original movie. Unfortunately, it’s still a bland movie that has yet to find that magical element to set it apart from other Disney live-action movies. The picture quality and audio mix are all spectacular. Unfortunately, the special features don’t quite live up to the level of quality as other Disney releases.
Overall Rating: 4/5 atoms
This Blu-ray was reviewed using a retail/advance copy/unit provided by Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
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