When I first read about this movie I was not entirely sure whether I liked the idea or not. After having watched it I have to say that I really liked it. It is a nice fairy tale based on the Sleeping Beauty but from the perspective of the evil fairy (who is not really that evil actually) instead. As far as I am concerned the concept worked surprisingly well.

Obviously the story is highly rewritten compared to the original Sleeping Beauty story. Whether that is good or bad is probably a matter of personal opinion. I think it is good since it allowed to story in the movie to have its own merits and not be too dependent on the original. It works for me since the original story is not very present except and thus you do not get any annoyed every so often because the deviate from the “original” since the movie clearly demonstrated that it intended to be quite different from the start.

The movie is quite beautiful with a typical fairy-tale air to it and at the same time dark and ominous during the scenes that required it. There are plenty of CGI of course and, to me, it was all quite well done. Angeline Jolie did a good job as Maleficent. I was actually less impressed by the three fairies that were supposed to take care of the princess though. They tried to be funny but it never really became very funny.

On the whole I found this to be a very enjoyable movie. So did the kids by the way. When I watched it (with the kids) the kids had already watched it twice.