The directorial debut of Robert Stromberg is not only a visually delightful reconstruction of the 1959 Disney fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty", but also a deconstruction of its simplistic black-and-white universe, its feel-good storyline and the values it championed. I particularly enjoyed the presence of powerful female characters: the eponymous fairy queen, antagonist in the Disney version, is here the protagonist around whom the whole plot evolves; the story is narrated by the Sleeping Beauty herself, which gives the auctorial authority to a woman.
Stromberg was the production designer of "Avatar", "Alice in Wonderland", which won him two Oscars, and "Oz the Great and Powerful" (James Franco!), a wonderful retelling of the cult classic "The Wizard of Oz". He also worked with the special effect team of the "Game of Thrones". Maleficent's loss of wings could well echo with Angelina Jolie's painful double mastectomy in real life and thus create some interesting paratexts for the film. Sam Riley has a few major roles under his name including a rather convincing portrayal of Kerouac's protagonist in "On the Road" (2012). And of course the prince charming has to be an Australian! The sexy and delicious Brenton Thwaites plays a prince who won't be killing any dragon nor is he able to perform the magic of liberating his sleeping girl, a supporting role in its absolute sense, but nicely done. You can see why Jolie, a fervent feminist, was interested by the script and eventually accepted the role.
Some parts of the story might seem underdeveloped, but it's essentially an anti-myth, anti-fairy tale and a postmodern re-creation requires our knowledge of its intertextual conversations. Luckily, nothing is better known than cheap Disney fairy tales.
Stromberg was the production designer of "Avatar", "Alice in Wonderland", which won him two Oscars, and "Oz the Great and Powerful" (James Franco!), a wonderful retelling of the cult classic "The Wizard of Oz". He also worked with the special effect team of the "Game of Thrones". Maleficent's loss of wings could well echo with Angelina Jolie's painful double mastectomy in real life and thus create some interesting paratexts for the film. Sam Riley has a few major roles under his name including a rather convincing portrayal of Kerouac's protagonist in "On the Road" (2012). And of course the prince charming has to be an Australian! The sexy and delicious Brenton Thwaites plays a prince who won't be killing any dragon nor is he able to perform the magic of liberating his sleeping girl, a supporting role in its absolute sense, but nicely done. You can see why Jolie, a fervent feminist, was interested by the script and eventually accepted the role.
Some parts of the story might seem underdeveloped, but it's essentially an anti-myth, anti-fairy tale and a postmodern re-creation requires our knowledge of its intertextual conversations. Luckily, nothing is better known than cheap Disney fairy tales.