Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Overall, I have to say that I really liked this movie! It was good to see the actors return to their roles, the cinematography was amazing, and the plot did intrigue me.
There is one, problem, however...
It’s obvious that this movie went a whole lot dark, or at least poignant, with the racism message. In the first movie it’s clear that there’s a problem, but the fact that Maleficent is able to keep the humans away, keeping that mostly out of focus, and that Stefan’s attack was motivated by a personal vendetta, it kind of lets them get away with it.
This movie, though?
One of the villain’s weapons is spreading false propaganda about Maleficent. She’s stealing fairy-folk to experiment on (something that reminded me of eugenics, tbh), poisoning an entire locked up room of fae (again, reminiscent of concentration camps), and then waging an entire war against another race.
Whilst it’s not inherently bad that Disney tried to convey this and say, hey, that’s bad, the ending kind of ruins it.
Not only does Ingrid kill all these magical creatures and torture them, but it’s also made clear than the Dark Fae were driven away by the humans (once again, resembles the genocide of indigenous people) - these are all very horrible actions, yet they all somehow get solved by... a wedding.
Literally that same day, Aurora and Phillip get married. Not a week later, or a month, or even a year later, that same day. And they try to play it off like nobody minds - the fairies and humans don’t fight, they help each other get up, and they all clap at the ceremony.
The whole genocide that literally just happened is swept under the rug! It’s not acknowledged, it’s played as it solved all the problems, and everyone acts like it never existed in the first place!
And sure, I get that it’s a Disney movie and they need a happy ending - but if they’re not willing to commit to this dark and very serious theme they set up, they shouldn’t be messing with it in the first place.
It’s just so unrealistic to expect the fae to gladly forgive the humans that were, hours ago, willing to kill their entire race happily. And Ingrid isn’t even punished - she’s turned into a goat, with the full possibility of being turned back to human.
Either the king should have thrown her off a cliff or something, to show that he truly was committed to peace between the lands, or they should have waited before transitioning to the wedding, maybe have a “one year later” end card or something.
Like, it’s good that Disney wants to send out a harmonious message, but doing that badly could just cause more harm than help...
Come on, Disney.
