This summer is a great summer for movies in the fantasy genre. The two biggest contenders are in theaters now, “Maleficent” and “How to Train Your Dragon 2”.
“Maleficent” is the latest live action Disney movie. It tells the story of Sleeping Beauty from the evil fairy’s point of view. If you’ve seen the Disney cartoon, you know that Maleficent was quite possibly the most memorable character of the entire film. She had a striking look, a terrifying laugh, a fantastic name, and the ability to turn into a dragon. Of course, in the animated version, Maleficent didn’t have much motivation. She was just evil because-well, she was evil.
“Maleficent” tries to offer some context. She isn’t just evil for no reason. Maleficent started out as the protector of a country called The Moors. Sure, the name is a little generic, but that’s okay, the place names don’t matter as much, considering the neighboring kingdom of humans never does actually get a name. Maleficent meets a human boy and they become friends. Since this is a fairy tale, things have to go sour, which they do.
There are a few changes from “Sleeping Beauty” as we know it as a Disney film (I’m not going to go into all the changes from the actual fairy tale because that would take too long and needs to be its own column someday). One of the first things I noticed was that they changed the name of a couple of the good fairies. The princess Aurora also never gets called Briar Rose, as she did in the animated movie. Some major events in the rescuing of the princess also go much differently than they did in the earlier film.
The casting in the movie is excellent. Sharlto Copley plays Stefan with an accent that’s difficult to place but fits right into the borderland between the human and fairy realms where the movie takes place. He certainly doesn’t sound the same as he did in “District 9” or “Elysium”. Stefan is a man crazed with the need to protect his family, despite being the root cause of their problems. He sees only an enemy that needs vanquished and weaknesses he knows how to exploit. He becomes single-minded to the detriment of everything else. In “Sleeping Beauty” Stefan was jovial and caring, in “Maleficent” he’s ambitious and persistent in his goals.
Angelina Jolie does a beautiful job portraying Maleficent. She seems otherworldly and gracefully deceitful. The maniacal grin that she gives at Aurora’s christening is sheer perfection for the role. Maleficent was kind once and her kindness cost her dearly. She seems unstoppable, a brutal force of nature led to her savagery by betrayal. There’s a feralness to her that’s well-suited to a fairy who lived in The Moors and who was raised by the creatures living there.
Elle Fanning is Aurora. She is sweetness and innocence personified in her role. Even though the good fairies who raised her in hiding (and without using their magic) are almost completely incompetent, they love her and Aurora recognizes that. She is curious about the world around her and she tries to learn everything she can about it.
Along with good casting, the character design for the strange creatures that inhabit the Moors was striking. The fairy creatures are both beautiful and grotesque. They have a few familiar features here and there that are likely roughly equivalent to the same features in the human world, but they are not exactly like the animals or people a human would be used to. I especially liked the creatures that seemed to swim through the air with elaborate fins. They moved a bit like lion fish would through water.
“Maleficent” is rated PG and I think that’s for pretty good reason. There are very intense battle scenes and the explanation of how Maleficent lost her wings is shown on film. It’s heartbreaking. Also, there are some scary-looking creatures living in the Moors. The forest sentries who serve as Maleficent’s guards owe more to the Baelrog in “Lord of the Rings” than they do to any Green Man I’ve ever seen. Still, it’s a very good story and, I think, well worth watching.
The other big movie to see in theaters is “How to Train Your Dragon 2”. It’s a title that’s far less inspired than the movie it’s attached to. The idea of sequels as a lesser companion to a good movie has been struck down by movies like “Despicable Me 2”, which is a good thing. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with franchise movies, so long as the people making the movies that continue the franchise remember why people wanted more in the first place.
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” finds Berk now very accustomed to the idea of living with dragons. Everyone has dragons. They work with them, they live with them, they even hold dragon races. Hiccup is growing up, he’s now twenty, and his father is pushing him into becoming the leader of Berk. Hiccup is, naturally, reluctant. He is exploring the neighboring islands along with Toothless and is steadily naming and mapping them as he finds them.
An old enemy of Stoick’s has resurfaced and is threatening Berk and all its dragons. Hiccup firmly believes that peace can be negotiated, while Stoick insists that the people of Berk and their dragons must go to war. Hiccup sets out to prove his father wrong and meets a mysterious dragon rider . In the process, he discovers an island with hundreds of wild dragons.
In several ways, “How To Train Your Dragon 2” tries to be a more grown-up movie than “How to Train Your Dragon.” Hiccup is trying to assert his independence and find his own way in life. He’s resisting the idea of being destined to perform a set role in his life. He’s an older character and while he’s showing some maturity, he’s also still young. He has his own goals for his life and they don’t necessarily agree with what everyone else thinks he should do. Hiccup doesn’t always go about expressing himself in the most rational and adult manner, but he’s trying, sometimes in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” isn’t entirely grown-up, though. Unlike the first movie, where the real enemy was prejudice against dragons and the slaughtering of dragons because of that misconception, “How to Train Your Dragon 2” delivers a concrete bad guy in the form of Drago. The people of Berk work with their dragons, earning the dragon’s trust and loyalty. Drago breaks the dragons to his will. He controls them, ruling them with absolute demands and fear. The dragons have no free will of their own and are forced to do whatever Drago wants them to.
The look of “How to Train Your Dragon 2” is very consistent with the animation of the first movie. The dragon designs show distinct species and each type of dragon has its own particular talents, as any fan of the movies already knows. If you can, it pays to watch the dragons in the backgrounds, especially in the first third of the movie. They’re hilarious and well-drawn. The people are distinguished by difference in hair color, eye color, and build and they all look different enough to be easy to tell apart.
The voice actors for the movie were well-chosen. Jay Baruchel makes Hiccup sound young without making him sound like a little kid. Hiccup isn’t a bellowing Viking, elbowing his way through the world, he’s a negotiator and a talker. Gerard Butler’s Stoick is a little bit mush-mouthed, but then, Stoick is a busy man with things to do and those things don’t include studying diction. Gobber who is voiced by Craig Ferguson provides quite a bit of the comic relief when that comic relief comes in dialog form. In the world of “How to Train Your Dragon 2”, there’s no need to contemplate how a Viking with a Scottish accent exists. Instead, he’s accepted without explanation and set on his story arc.
Last but not least, Cate Blanchett is the voice of Valka, the mysterious dragon rider who lives on the island with all of the dragons. Her voice is gentle but confident and when it needs to be, she’s capable of convincing force.
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” was also rated PG. Like Maleficent, it features some intense battle scenes. Favorite characters do get deeply affected by the events in this movie. There are even some moments that I thought were shocking, just because I didn’t expect them to happen. It built on the story from the first movie and allows a logical place for a third movie without seeming too open-ended.
I did like “How to Train Your Dragon 2”. I liked the story and loved the dragon character designs. Story wise, I’d have to say I preferred “Maleficent”, but visually, I’d say I preferred “How to Train Your Dragon 2” because the look of it was so consistent. They were both movies that I enjoyed watching and they’re both movies that I want to watch again.