Maleficent (/mlfsnt/ or /mlfsnt/) is a 2014 American dark fantasy film directed by Robert

Stromberg from a screenplay byLinda Woolverton. Starring Angelina Jolie as the eponymous Disney
villainess character, the film is a live-action re-imagining of Walt Disney's 1959 animated
film Sleeping Beauty, and portrays the story from the perspective of the antagonist, Maleficent.[3]
Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, principal photography took place between June and October
2012. Maleficent premiered at theEl Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on May 28, 2014, and was
released in the United Kingdom that same day. The film was released in the U.S. on May 30, 2014 in
the Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats, as well as in conventional theaters. The film
was met with mixed reviews from critics, but was a commercial success, having grossed over $757
million worldwide and is the third highest-grossing film of 2014.
Maleficent

Theatrical release poster

Directed by

Robert Stromberg

Produced by

Joe Roth

Screenplay by

Linda Woolverton

Based on

Disney's Sleeping Beauty

La Belle au bois dormantby Charles

Perrault
Starring

Angelina Jolie
Sharlto Copley
Elle Fanning
Sam Riley
Imelda Staunton
Juno Temple
Lesley Manville

Narrated by

Janet McTeer

Music by

James Newton Howard

Cinematography

Dean Semler

Edited by

Chris Lebenzon
Richard Pearson

Production
company

Walt Disney Pictures

Roth Films

Distributed by

Walt Disney Studios

Motion Pictures

Plot[edit]
An elderly narrator tells the story of Maleficent, a strong and powerful faerie living in the Moors, a
magical realm bordering a human kingdom. As a young girl, she falls in love with a human peasant
boy named Stefan, but his affection for Maleficent is overshadowed by his ambition to become king.
As they grow older, Stefan stops seeing Maleficent. After Maleficent defeats the current king in battle
when he attempts to invade the Moors, he offers to name whoever kills her, his successor. Stefan
overhears this, goes to see Maleficent and deceives her into thinking that he has come to warn her
of the king's plot. He drugs her and attempts to kill her, but cannot bring himself to do it, so he cuts
off her wings with iron (iron burns faeries) and presents them to the king as proof of her death.
Maleficent rescues a raven named Diaval to serve as her informant and he reports to her that Stefan
has been crowned king. The realization that Stefan betrayed her to gain the throne devastates
Maleficent and in retaliation, declares herself queen of the Moors, forming a dark oppressive
kingdom with Diaval as her one companion.
Some time later, Diaval informs Maleficent that King Stefan is hosting a christening for his newborn
daughter, Aurora. Bent on revenge, Maleficent arrives uninvited and curses the newborn princess:
on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, which will
cause her to fall into a death like sleep. After Stefan is forced by Maleficent to beg for his daughter,
she offers a caveat: the curse can be broken by true love's kiss. Terrified of Maleficent's vengeance,
Stefan sends Aurora to live with three pixies (Knotgrass, Flittle and Thistlewit) until the day after her
sixteenth birthday, while he destroys and burns all the spinning wheels in the kingdom and hides

them in the deepest dungeon in the castle. He sends out his armies to find and kill Maleficent, but
she surrounds the Moors with an impenetrable wall of thorns.
Despite her initial dislike for Princess Aurora, Maleficent begins to care about the girl when the
careless pixies fall short in watching over her. After a brief meeting with the young Aurora, Maleficent
watches over her from afar. When Aurora is 15, she meets Maleficent for the first time and calls her
her "faerie godmother", as she recalled being watched over by her all her life. Realizing she has
grown fond of the princess, Maleficent attempts to revoke the curse, but cannot as she herself had
declared that "no power on Earth can change it". Aurora later meets Prince Phillip, and the two are
smitten with each other, but have little opportunity to build a relationship. On the day before Aurora's
16th birthday, Maleficent, hoping to avoid the curse, allows the girl to move to the Moors, far away
from any spindles. The pixies, however, inadvertently tell Aurora of her parentage and of Maleficent's
true identity, and a furious Aurora runs away to her father.
Stefan locks Aurora away in her room for safety. However, she is suddenly drawn by the curse itself
to the dungeon, where it assembles a spinning wheel. Aurora pricks her finger and falls asleep.
Intent on saving her, Maleficent abducts Phillip and infiltrates Stefan's castle to have him kiss Aurora
and break the curse. However, Phillip's romantic kiss has no effect, as the two are not yet truly in
love. Maleficent apologizes to Aurora and swears no harm will come to her, kissing her forehead.
This breaks the curse and Aurora awakens, Maleficent's motherly concern for Aurora constitutes
"true love." Aurora forgives her and they attempt to flee the castle, but Maleficent is trapped in an
iron net and attacked by Stefan and his guards. Maleficent transforms Diaval into a dragon and he
lifts the net off her, but is driven back by the soldiers. Stefan beats Maleficent and taunts her, but
before he can kill her, her wings, freed from his chamber by Aurora, fly back to her and reattach
themselves. With her wings back, Maleficent overpowers Stefan and carries him onto a tower, but
cannot bring herself to kill him, instead declaring their feud over. Stefan attempts once more to kill
her, but plummets off the tower to his death.
Soon after, Aurora is crowned queen of the human and faerie realms by Maleficent, forever unifying
the two kingdoms, with Phillip at her side. The narrator then reveals her own identity as an older
Princess Aurora.

Cast[edit]

Angelina Jolie (left), Sharlto Copley (center) and Sam Riley (right)

Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, the queen fairy of the Moors who casts a sleep curse on Princess
Aurora[4]
Ella Purnell and Isobelle Molloy as young Maleficent[5][6][7]

Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora, King Stefan and Queen Leila's daughter and princess of the
human kingdom[4]
Vivienne Jolie-Pitt[8] and Eleanor Worthington Cox[9] as young Princess Aurora
Janet McTeer as elderly Aurora (the film's narrator)[10]

Sharlto Copley as King Stefan, ruler of the human kingdom and Aurora's father[4]
Michael Higgins as young Stefan[11]

Sam Riley as Diaval, a raven shapeshifter and Maleficent's confidant.[4]

Imelda Staunton as Knotgrass, a pink pixie charged with raising Aurora in secret until her 16th
birthday.[4]

Juno Temple as Thistlewit, a green pixie charged with raising Aurora in secret until her 16th
birthday.[12]

Lesley Manville as Flittle, a blue pixie charged with raising Aurora in secret until her 16th
birthday.[4]

Brenton Thwaites as Prince Phillip, a young prince who falls in love with Aurora while traveling
through the forest.[13]

Kenneth Cranham as King Henry, a monarch determined to conquer the forest realm.[4][14]

Hannah New as Queen Leila, King Henry's daughter who marries Stefan, and Aurora's mother.