Disney bastardizes their animated classic Sleeping Beauty with the updated adaptation Maleficent, which follows the recent trend of de-vilifying fairytale villains. Angelina Jolie stars as a guardian fairy named Maleficent who is betrayed by a former childhood friend, causing her to seek revenge by cursing his first born child to a death-like sleep on her sixteenth birthday. Jolie gives an extraordinary and charismatic performance that makes Maleficent a compelling character. However, the film seems to go out of its way to belittle and malign the humans and the three good fairies. Additionally, Disney cheaps out on the special effects; delivering some really shoddy CGI. But, James Newton Howard’s score picks up some of the slack by providing powerful and sweeping themes that heighten the fantasy quality. Maleficent has some good action and puts a few interesting twists on the original story, but overall it’s an unnecessary and inferior retelling of Sleeping Beauty.