Reeling on Maleficent - How to throw the baby out with the bathwater

There were once two neighboring villages - one where normal people lived, ruled by a greedy King Henry (Kenneth Cranham, "Hot Fuzz"), the other a place of magical creatures protected by a fairy with enormous wings.  That fairy fell in love with a human, one whose ambition in later years would turn the delightful creature into the vengeful "Maleficent."

The directorial debut of "Life of Pi's" visual effects artist Robert Stromberg is chockablock with sumptuous imagery, not the least of which is a glamorously chiseled Angelina Jolie, but in revamping the fairy tale, screenwriter Linda Woolverton ("The Lion King," "Alice in Wonderland") has thrown the baby out with the bathwater.  Falling into the same trap as "Oz the Great and Powerful," Woolverton's revisionist take uses the spurned love of a supernatural female as the catalyst for an evil makeover and makes a muddle of the original Sleeping Beauty tale in the process.

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