Critic Reviews for Maleficent on Moviebuff.com

Jolie's at her best when she's curling her claws and elongating her vowels like a black-sabbath Tallulah Bankhead

Keith Staskiewicz, Entertainment Weekly

Maleficent is anchored by Jolie’s tour-de-force theatrics

Yorkshire Evening Post Source, Yorkshire Evening Post

espite the wall-to-wall effects work, the only truly striking images in the film are shadowy close-ups of Maleficent’s face; they owe most of their effectiveness to Jolie’s performance

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club

'Maleficent' is one of the weakest live-action endeavours from Disney and Co in recent memory

Philip Croyle, Kittanning Paper

'Maleficent' marks the directorial debut of Robert Stromberg, renowned visual effects maestro for such innovative films as 'Avatar' and 'Alice in Wonderland'

Reel People, The Friday Flyer

If you go into ‘Maleficent’ expecting Jolie to be the badass of ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ you are going to get burned

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out

'Maleficent' is another overproduced summer spectacular, released into a world that has too many

Matt Zoller Seitz, Roger Ebert

'Maleficent', her varying, nature-inspired collars and headpieces encasing a milky, flawless face marked by scarlet lips and glowing irises

R Kurt Osenlund, Slant Magazine

'Maleficent', with her glamorous evil grins and sultry cackles that play so well in the trailers, then for the rest of the film, she is either stone-faced or screaming

Kristy Puchko, Cinema Blend

'Maleficent' - a drop dead gorgeous movie in which every frame of film is an artwork

Mike Scott, New Orleans Los Angeles News

'Maleficent' tells a new kind of story about how we live now, not once upon another time

Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

The big draw is, of course, Angelina Jolie, and while it’s bizarre to think that she’s found the role of her life as the evil fairy who curses Sleeping Beauty

Jayne Nelson, SFX

'Maleficent' is very much a cautionary tale for modern times

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

Angelina Jolie's live-action Maleficent needs a snappier script

Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly

'Maleficent' is a wavering tone that solidifies it more as visual treat than fully satisfying movie

Eric Walkuski, JoBlo.com

With a dynamic blend of live action and effects, this is a dark, dazzling and psychologically nuanced fairy-tale reinvention

Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

'Maleficent' is nothing more than a diorama disguised as a movie, a flimsy cardboard thingie that feels untouched by human hands

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Maleficent is an enchanting twist on an old favourite

Andy Lea, The Daily Star

Enchanting and absolutely beautiful, the film is delicious to watch

Jindy Garfias, Morgan Hill Times

Jolie gives a real performance of nuance and subtly, but the film around her flounders

Scott Mendelson, Forbes

An iconic performance by Angelina Jolie, gorgeous visual effects and a nifty twist in storytelling overcome some quibbles to make 'Maleficent' a new bit of Disney magic

Michael Smith, Tulsa World

'Maleficent' manages to be improbably entertaining to watch, due solely to its title character

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

This film is a one-woman show that could have been a little less brooding

Paloma Sharma, Rediff

The scenery was fantastic, Jolie delivers as Malificent, and I think viewers will be satisfied with this film

Chris Vetter, Leader-Telegram

Jolie provides the scariest special effects just by manipulating her much-photographed mouth into a maniacal smile or a fearsome laugh

Sean P Means, The Salt Lake Tribune

Disney’s drastic reinterpretation of Sleepy Beauty is the best rape-and-revenge movie in years

William Bibbiani, CraveOnline

Go and watch the magnificent Maleficent on the big screen

Rohit Khilnani, India Today

'Maleficent' does not intend to replace the Sleeping Beauty classic, it exists as a true story in a universe where the roles of women and their kinship can be the focus

Sabina Ibarra, ScreenCrave

'Maleficent' is a perfect fit for this movie not because she is a good character for a redemption story, but because she can conjure CGI animation

Matt Goldberg, Collider

Jolie's glamour and star power are undiminished

Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent

Jolie is perfectly cast in the lead, and does excellent work despite substantial physical constraints

Kirsten Acuna, Business Insider India

Angelina Jolie is the best special effect of all in this re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty

Rene Rodriguez, Miami.com

Maleficent is fun for its appealing, visuals especially in the forest and for watching Jolie

Jocelyn Noveck, Yahoo News

Angelina Jolie adds vinegar to salty Sleeping Beauty spin-off

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Magical but modern, family-friendly but feisty and a feast for the eyes

Jane Crowther, Total Film

Maleficent is nowhere near beneficent and occasionally downright magnificent.

Bill Wine, CBS Local

Oozing class, Jolie flourishes in the sinfully evil title role that must have had her salivating over the breakfast table

Scott J Davis, Flickering Myth

Jolie is riveting every time she’s on screen, bringing humor where needed, and cold hard glassy stares to convey rage

Rajeev Masand, BookMyShow

'Maleficent' emerges as a fundamentally misguided interpretation of the title character, one that seems to misunderstand what drew people to her in the first place

Adam Lubitow, Rochester City Newspaper

Maleficent is lumpy in parts but ultimately delivers thanks to Jolie and Elle Fanning

Georgia Simmonds, Elle

'Maleficent' will lure you in with Sleeping Beauty nostalgia, but what’s inside is even more twisted than the titular villain

Louie Schuth, Hypable

This is a visually stunning if narratively predictable debut feature

Matthew Kassel, The New York Observer

Disney missed a golden opportunity to tell a bewitching story and instead gives audiences a muddled revisionist tale with stunning visuals

Claudia Puig, USA Today

The best thing about Maleficent is the actress playing the titular character

Roth Cornet, IGN

The visuals and special effects are darkly gorgeous, taking on a more gothic feel as Maleficent's wrath casts a shadow across the land

Ashley Bergner Pauls, The Kansan

'Maleficent' Stromberg's film seems inadequate and done out of allegiance to the norms of cinematic discourse

Clayton Dillard, Slant Magazine

She also happens to be named Maleficent, which however sweet natured she may be at heart is bound to give people the wrong idea

Jonathan Romney, The Guardian

The aggressively unpleasant visuals certainly detract from the overall film

Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

The 3D effects look atrocious during the first third too

Ben Rawson-Jones, Digital Spy

'Maleficent' is the one that hews closest to its source material, and its not always clear whether this helps or hinders

Andrew Barker, Variety

With more actual grrrl power, Maleficent would be a bold redo

Amy Nicholson, LA Weekly

This Disney reimagining of Sleeping Beauty lacks true enchantment, but Angelina Jolie saves the day

Robbie Collin, The Telegraph

The movie is gorgeously rendered throughout, and lots of flying justifies the 3D upcharge

Bruce C Steele, The Citizen Times