Five years after the first film, Maleficent’s peaceful life in the Moors takes an unexpected turn when Prince Phillip proposes to Aurora and she accepts. Unbeknownst to all, Phillip’s mother, Queen Ingrith of Ulstead, plans to use the wedding to divide humans and fairies forever. With Maleficent and Aurora finding themselves on opposite sides of an impending war, the two question whether they can truly be a family.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a 2019 American fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Joachim Rønning, and written by Linda Woolverton, Micah Fitzerman-Blue, and Noah Harpster. It is a sequel to the 2014 film Maleficent, with Angelina Jolie returning to portray the title role. Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville also return to their previous roles, with Harris Dickinson replacing Brenton Thwaites from the first film and Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ed Skrein and Michelle Pfeiffer joining the cast as new characters.
After the release of the first film in May 2014, Jolie stated a sequel was possible. The project was officially announced the following June, and Jolie signed on in April 2016. Rønning, who co-directed Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) for Disney, was hired to direct the film in October 2017, and the rest of the cast was added or confirmed in May 2018, with filming beginning that month at Pinewood Studios in England, lasting through August.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil was released in the United States on October 18, 2019, and has grossed over $491 million worldwide. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism aimed at the “muddled plot and overly artificial visuals”, but praise for the performances of Jolie, Fanning and Pfeiffer. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the 92nd Academy Awards.
About the Story
In the five years since King Stefan’s death,[N 1] Aurora has reigned as Queen of the Moors, with Maleficent as its guardian and protector. Despite her service, the neighboring kingdom of Ulstead, home to Prince Phillip, deems Maleficent a villain, and while Phillip’s father King John wishes for peace, his mother Queen Ingrith has been secretly preparing for war; in the hidden areas of the castle, workers make weapons and ammunition out of iron, deadly to all fairies. Diaval, Maleficent’s raven and confidante, overhears Phillip proposing to Aurora. When he has relayed this to Maleficent, she advises against the union, but Aurora insists she will be proven wrong.
Phillip’s parents host an intimate dinner, having invited Aurora, Maleficent, and Diaval. Maleficent maintains her composure as Ingrith taunts her throughout the evening by repeating the inaccurate story that has made the humans believe her to be evil: the story of Maleficent’s sleeping curse on Aurora is only half the truth, because nobody has ever been told the whole truth about her loving Aurora and sacrificing herself to lift the curse. Ingrith alludes to Stefan’s death as murder, and openly claims Maleficent killed two human fairy poachers last seen near the Moors. Maleficent responds with equal iciness that humans have been kidnapping fairies, and hints that she believes the order to do it comes from the King or Queen.
When Ingrith dismisses Maleficent’s maternal bond with Aurora and claims that the marriage will make Ingrith her real mother, Maleficent reacts by angrily unleashing a burst of magical energy. John suddenly falls to the floor unconscious, and Ingrith cries out that Maleficent has cursed him. Maleficent denies cursing him, but Aurora disbelieves her. Phillip urges his mother to try and awaken John with a kiss. Ingrith demurs, and her weak attempt fails because she does not love her husband – a fact made obvious by her whispered words in John’s ear: “You wanted peace, now Rest In Peace forever.”
As Maleficent flees the castle, Ingrith’s right-hand, Gerda, shoots Maleficent with an iron bullet. Wounded, Maleficent falls into the ocean, only to be rescued by a mysterious winged creature. She awakens in a cavern where fairies like herself have been in hiding. Among them is Conall, their peaceful leader who saved Maleficent, and Borra, a warlike fairy who favors open conflict with humans, who killed the poachers near the Moors.
Maleficent is among the last creatures known as the Dark Fae, powerful fairies forced into hiding and nearly driven extinct by human oppression. She is also the last descendant from the Phoenix, an ancient and powerful Dark Fae ancestor. She needs to pass through certain stages in order to harbor her full potential. When she brought up a human, she cleared the initial stages and Conall insists on forgiving Aurora in order to gain her final phoenix stage, but Maleficient disagrees. Because Maleficent’s magic is so powerful, Conall and Borra believe she is instrumental in ending the conflict with humans, either by peace or war.
Meanwhile, the magical denizens of the Moors are invited to the royal wedding, but Aurora grows disillusioned with being an Ulstead noblewoman. Later, Conall sacrifices himself to save Maleficent again during a human attack on the Dark Fae, prompting Borra to declare war on the humans. Aurora discovers that Ingrith cursed John using Maleficent’s old cursed spindle, as she hates all Moor fairy folk.
When Ingrith learns that Aurora knows, she reveals that she bitterly resents the Moors’ prosperity during a time when her kingdom suffered, and also blames them for her brother’s death; she plots to eradicate all fairies and woodland beings using the iron weapons as well as a lethal crimson powder developed by Lickspittle, a de-winged pixie. When the Moor folk arrive, they are trapped inside the castle chapel.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)
Directed by: Joachim Rønning
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Imelda Staunton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sam Riley, Ed Skrein, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville, Michelle Pfeiffer, Lesley Manville, Kae Alexander
Screenplay by: Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster
Production Design by: Patrick Tatopoulos
Cinematography by: Henry Braham
Film Editing by: Laura Jennings, Craig Wood
Costume Design by: Ellen Mirojnick
Set Decoration by: Dominic Capon
Music by: Geoff Zanelli
MPAA Rating: PG for intense sequences of fantasy action / violence and brief scary images.
Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: October 18, 2019
Visits: 48
