Princesses Disney Article: Sleeping Beauty & Maleficent: 1959 vs 2014

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Sleeping Beauty & Maleficent: 1959 vs 2014

posted by deedragongirl

I wish she was like this in the film!!!!

Hi guys, while I had written about both versions of Disney's Cinderella. I thought that I write about both Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent, unlike Cinderella, both stories are based on different perspectives from 2 different characters. I thought that this article would be somewhat a bit different. Also, in this article I'll also be telling what I like & dislike about both films like what I did with Cinderella. If toi guys disagree, I don't mind at all.

The Prologue

Okay, I felt that the prologue itself was actually base on Maleficent's childhood and it was when I started thinking "since when did Maleficent has wings?". I also thought that it was a backstory of how she became a vengeful person!
However, in the original 1959 version, she doesn't have wings during her introduction and she just appear in front of the family and their subjects during Aurora's baptism. I always thought she has magical powers since her childhood days. (1959 version)

Maleficent's Personality & Appearance

One of the things I was very disappointed about was that, after she put the curse on Princess Aurora. The filmmakers sorta like tone down her character very much like what they did with Elsa in Disney's Frozen! However, unlike Elsa. Maleficent was a villain from the very start.
As I mentioned in the prologue, I always thought that she was retaliating against King Stefan par putting the curse on his daughter.
Speaking of appearance, why is Maleficent all white?When in the original, she's all green and has yellow eyes. Her speaking voice doesn't capture the same quality as Eleanor Audley with that British accent she voiced the evil fairy. (1959 version)

King Stefan

Another major disappointed moment for me, was that they turn him from a good guy into another Hans wannabe. ou I shall I say that, it IS Hans jouer la comédie as King Stefan! He was a good ally of Maleficent until he became a baddie! ou worse, a psychopath as time goes by. He doesn't even care about his wife dying from an unspecified illness, he just let her suffered and died.
In the original 1959, he was just a minor character who cares about his wife & daughter. He was also pretty harmless and would never kill Maleficent personally! (1959 version)

Princess Aurora

I was very happy that she gets plus screen-time than her animated counterpart, her personality is plus bouncy and cheerful like her namesake animated counterpart. (tied)

The 3 Fairies

They are the worse batch EVER!!!! They suddenly become way to goofy and comical fuse into one. They are NOT as wiseful as they are portray in the original 1959 version.
Secondly, what's up with their new names? Is it because the filmmakers wanted us to get confuse with their new names ou something??? I seriously don't believe it. (1959 version)

Conclusion

Unlike Cinderella, the winner of this article goes to the original 1959 version. Although I do give Elle Fanning plus credit for her portrayal of Aurora, Maleficent is considered my least favourite Disney live-action reboot ever!

Wow! He does look like Hans!!!

Watcha looking at Aurora??

Hello there, what's your name again???

akatsuki48, lililc and 1 other like this

Sparklefairy375 Great article! I also disappointed that they decrease Aurora's protagonist role and replaced with Maleficent instead. I still don't get it why they made Aurora's father being evil (I thought it was because Maleficent was being portrayed as good turn into evil?) and the wise three fairies being so annoying in this remake. The good things about the remake: Maleficent's reason to be evil is more make a sense (she was betrayed by Stefan), unlike the fairytale and 1959 version that she cursed Aurora because she was not invited into the party. That makes no sense for me. Plus, Aurora have more screen-time than the 1959 version. About the remake Maleficent was appear with white faces, I think she was made like that to not make the kids felt scary. Green face make-up seems not really suitable to be used in real life people. I agreed with you, the 1959 version is more better. Generally the remake's plot is sometimes kinda forced in my mind.

disneymagic93 I hated the Maleficent movie! It was so bad I almost wanted to leave the theater but I was with my friends so that would have been rude. I find it funny how people think it's more feminist than the 1959 version but really it isn't more feminist because the fairies couldn't do much in Maleficent whereas in Sleeping Beauty they were very capable. Also Maleficent made the men look bad. That is not feminism. Yeah Aurora had more screen time in Maleficent but I still don't think Maleficent is more feminist. Maleficent in the 1959 film was stronger than she was in the 2014 film. Maleficent ruined pretty much all of the Sleeping Beauty characters. Some person at my school said it's okay to put men down because they were portrayed as the superior sex for so long. That is not feminism. Feminism isn't about putting men down, it's about the equality between the 2 sexes. Sorry for this long post, I have a lot to say about my hatred for Maleficent.

deedragongirl ^^ Maleficent is a sexist movie.

audreybrooke ^ I totally agree! I also agree with most of your article (I just don't like Elle Fanning). Well done!

anukriti2409 i love Maleficent and don't why people keep comparing it with Sleeping Beauty where it has been an altogether different take on the original tale from Maleficent's perspective. 3 fairies have always been dumb in the eyes of Maleficent. King stefan was always rude for not inviting her to the ball. I like the back story of how Maleficent became a vengeful person. It's a plausible story. I also liked the twist that while she began with a vengeful purpose, she forgot herself the first part of the spell "She (Aurora) will be loved by all those who meet her" and eventually falls in love with her over the course of time. It was mentioned by Fauna in Sleeping Beauty - "I think Maleficent is very sad. She is never happy." All movies are also an adaptation of original fairy tales. They are not the same as the written stories. So, i completely fail to understand how the original movie is justified for changing the characters and plotline while another adapt isn't.

audreybrooke ^ It's because they weren't deriving the story from the authentic "Sleeping Beauty" fairy tale; they were taking it from [i]Sleeping Beauty[/i] (1959), their own movie. Maleficent and King Stefan are not named characters in the fairy tale. Every major detail about [i]Maleficent[/i] is taken from [i]Sleeping Beauty[/i] the movie. If they were just reinterpreting the fairy tale, that would have been fine with me. Instead, they decided to tear apart their own beloved movie for no reason.

anukriti2409 ^ well yes, there i agree that they should have taken a call on going for an adapt from original tale rather than their own movie. Saying that would have made more sense of the movie. Well i saw it that way, so i love it. :)

wavesurf I like both movies for different reasons. I find Maleficent a bland, stilted character in the 1959 version, who is hell bent on killing a baby because she wasn't invited to a christening. Overdoing it much????? The Maleficent in 1959 is stupid. I find the Maleficent from 2014 a nuanced, tragic character, who is overcoming her desire for revenge. The plot made more sense from that point of view.