One Who Was Both Hero and Villain: Maleficent (2014)

So every year I do a Disney film. So here we go!

…One who was both hero and villain. And her name was Maleficent.

So I never was ever interested in seeing this film. I am the biggest Sleeping Beauty fan and I just felt that this story did not need to be made. After all this film is amazing:

And one of the best parts was the terrifying Maleficent:

And then when she turns into a dragon!!!

AMAZING!!!!!

When I saw the remake, you know me:

I mean why did they have to give her a whole betrayed back story. Why couldn’t she just have been pissed and wanted revenge-fairies aren’t like humans they feel one emotion exponentially.

Or why couldn’t she have just been evil? Wanted to have world domination? Wanted to take down people? If men can be, why not a woman? Like Chernabog.

Anyways, my friend loved the movie. She felt it was the perfect post-betrayed in love film you could watch.

So the film is that Maleficent is this wonderful fairy who protects the forest and one day befriends a human boy, Stephen. They fall in love but are torn apart as he wants money and power and Maleficent wants her home.

The King tries to destroy the creatures on the moors, but are stopped as they are much more powerful. He promises to give anyone ultimate power-daughter’s hand in marriage and be future King if one can destroy them. Stephen sees it as his chance, finds Maleficent and the two reconcile.

Not really as he just did it to get her drunk and kill her.

But he doesn’t kill her, there is a shred of humanity in him, and he instead cuts off her wings.

Nooo

Fastfoward King Stephen and the Queen have a daughter-Aurora. Maleficent does the curse-not nearly as epic as the cartoon and everything progresses as in the film. Except the fairies suck at everything as only focus on themselves-and Maleficent watches over her-becoming a mother to her.

King Stephen has gone crazy and when his daughter and Maleficent come and the curse is played out there is this big fight, blah, blah, blah.

Meh.

I found it so boooooooring.

I actually fell asleep as I just could not stand this character of the film. They acted like it was “new” “never done before” “told in a brand new light”. But it wasn’t. You knew what was going to happen, you knew the ending.

Rather not watch

The only part that was funny was my friend and I were kind of bashing on the betrayal of men, and how Aurora and Maleficent are happy-until a man comes along, Prince Phillip.

Then I saw him, and said “he’s a cute man-but still stay away”-my friend just looked at me and we both started laughing.

I couldn’t help it-he reminds me of a guy I had a crush on ten years ago when I was a teenager.

Very cute

But even without that, I love Prince Phillip-he was always my favorite prince.

Prince Philip

So yeah, I did not care for it-espechially Angelina Jolie. I don’t like her at all as an actress, I don’t think she is good and especially dull in this. Maleficent was powerful, evil, terrifying, the stuff of nightmares. And in this, she was none of that, nowhere near that. Eleanor Audley is the true queen of darkness.

To start Horrorfest VII from the beginning, go to It’s the End of the World: The Birds (1963)

For the previous post, go to Will We Survive the Night?: Rawhide (1951)

For more Sleeping Beauty, go toI Would Go Through Anything for You: Sleeping Beauty (1959)

For more Disney, go toI Can Show You the World: Aladdin (1992)

Night on Bald Mountain: Fantasia (1940)

Musically and dramatically, we have here a picture of the struggle between the profane and the sacred.

I know I have already reviewed an animated film with The Corpse Bride, but did you really think I was going to let Horrorfest go by without reviewing a Disney film or TV episode?

I can’t remember when I first watched Fantasia, but I know I was young because I became very antsy during the watching. In fact I remember trying to leave part way through…

And my mom stopped me and made me finish watching it.

Out of all the scenes, there are three that have remained firmly stuck in my memory. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas, of course, as it starred Mickey Mouse. Who doesn’t love Mickey?

Then the ballerina part with the Hippopotamuses, the Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli.

Reminds me of Degas

And the part with the Devil.

I saw that and had only one reaction:

AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was an amazing short, but so terrifying. He was just so EVIL.

And apparently I wasn’t the only one horrified. To this day Disney receives letters complaining about how terrifying this part is for kids. Because of such massive complaints, Disney actually removed this part from the initial video release, but later restored it.

He is probably the scariest of all Disney villains and animated creations.

I’m getting shivers

So the piece is actually a combination of two musical pieces: Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky and Ave Maria by Franz Schubert.

The Night on Bald Mountain is about witches and demons worshipping their master, the Devil, also known as Chernabog. He comes out of the mountain

And awaken all his supporters. From witches:

To zombies in their graves:

To skeletons and ghosts:

And they all praise and dance around him. His pure evil is terrifying and frightening.

Nothing can stop him except for one thing. The church bells ring and a choir sings Ave Maria by Franz Schubert. It’s message of hope, Mary, and Christ destroys the power of the devil and sends him back into the Earth.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

The music is fantastic, the animation exquisite, and an all around great experience; check it out.

To start Horrorfest V, from the beginning, go to Who You Gonna Call?: Ghostbusters (1984)

For the previous post, go to Have You Checked the Children: When a Stranger Calls (1979)

For more Disney, go to Fan-do or Fan-don’t. There is No Fan-try

For more animated films, go to He’s Married to a Corpse. He Has A Corpse Bride!: Corpse Bride (2005)

For more Classic Disney, go to For She Filled Their Lives With Sunshine

For more Disney villains, go to There’s No One Like Gaston

The Little Moreland

So you all are aware I’m a Disney fan right? I mean after my 30 Days of Disney I think it’s pretty obvious.

So being female, I loved the Disney princesses, my favorite being Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Belle from The Beauty and the Beast.

Now in the past I have compared myself to Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle; but I never thought I would compare myself to Ariel.

Although now that I’m a redhead, I can see it.

In fact, I once took a quiz that said I was her, and I thought yeah right, that’s not me.

Go here to see which you belong in/are

But the other day I was full on The Little Mermaid. Although, truth be told it wasn’t really the Disney version, but the hardcore Hans Christian Anderson one.

You see in the original story The Little Mermaid was the youngest of six sisters. On her 15th birthday she is able to go up to the surface where she sees the prince and saves his life during a storm.

She visits him everyday at his palace at the seashore and falls in love.

So romantic!

She soons becomes heartbroken as she can’t be with him. Nothing makes her happy, all she wants is to be human.

The other mermaids tell her to be happy, she can live for over 300 years. But she won’t have it. She travels to the sea-witch who lives in a horrible area and is an awful crazy person. The sea-witch turns her into a human, for her voice. However, their are strong consequences. One, she can never, ever be a mermaid again. Two, every step will be agonizing pain. Three, if the prince marries another, the next morning she will die with no soul but turn into foam. The Little Mermaid agrees and her tongue is cut out.

She washes up on shore and the prince takes her into his house. He clothes her and cares for her, as if she was his little sister. He tells her of the girl that saved his life and that she will be the only one he will ever love.

Yay!

Well time comes when the prince has to marry. And the girl chosen is so beautiful he agrees. In fact, he asks the Little Mermaid to be in the ceremony.

She is in so much heartbreak as she is doomed to die while the man she loves is to be married to another.

Her five sisters come to see her. They have cut off all their hair and given it to the sea-witch. They give her a knife and tell her that if she kills the prince and sprinkles his blood on her feet then she will be a mermaid again. But she must do it before the sunrise. She goes into the room to kill him…but she can’t do it. She loves him too much.

So she dies.

Noooooooooo!!!!!!!

Yes she dies. But she doesn’t turn to foam. She instead is given an eternal soul because she sacrificed herself for another.

I always knew the books we read as kids strongly affect us.

But I didn’t know how much until now.

So you are probably wondering what this has to do with me? How am I like The Little Mermaid? Book or film, I’m pretty sure all of you are wanting me to get to the point.

Well for Halloween this year I decided to be Poison Ivy. She is my favorite villainess, as I think she is just amazing. I did a post on her that includes pics of the costume.

So anyways, this past summer I mentioned I was in Wyoming, and that is the land of meat + potatoes. Fruit and veggies are few and far between. So since that summer, I’ve been feeling large.

Yes I do, but I noticed I have put more weight on in the butt/thigh area, or at least that’s what it feels like. So I decided that it was time to get into shape. I started doing squats and did about 100.  I was feeling pretty good about it too.

The next day I was a bit sore, but still feeling good.

The next day that was radically different. I drove to an interview, wearing my two inch boots, preparing to change into my four-inch heels when I got there. When I reached the site, I had to park a bit away. After I parked I changed into my heels.

Now I love heels. If you remember from a previous post, I’m short. I’m only 5’3, so heels are great as they finally make me closer to my dream height. They make me feel powerful and awesome. The higher the better.

So walking in 3-5 inch heels is not unusual for me. However, this time was much different. It WAS SO PAINFUL.

No no no no no

I felt just like The Little Mermaid.

“It will feel like a sword were passing through your body…each step you take will feel like sharp knives piercing your feet. “

That’s how it felt with me. Each step was utter agony as my muscles just burned and were so inexplicably sore.

I had to take so many breaks. As soon as I could I went to my car and changed my shoes. I’ve decided to rest from squats. And heels. I’ll just have to accept my bod for what it is.

Or focus on a different exercise!

For more on The Little Mermaid, go to I’m Not Gonna Lose Her Again

For more on Hans Christian Anderson, go to Disney Lesson

For more on my fashion style, go to Fashionably Postworthy

For more on Disney, go to Who’s Afraid of Cory Wolf?

For more fairy tales, go to Happily Ever Aftermath

For more book-y posts, go to Conan the Librarian

For more of my favorite quotes, go to Part XI: A Movie Line List ‘s Excellent Adventure

For She Filled Their Lives With Sunshine

Day 30) Your Favorite Character of All-Time

So as I have mentioned in past posts, I love the film Sleeping Beauty. I loved the characters, (I wanted my own Prince Phillip); the music, the artistic style, the story;  everything.

In fact my very favorite character of all time was Aurora. I just loved her character so much. Now I know a lot of people don’t like her and think she is lame, but you know what she was actually pretty cool.

1) First of all she was separated from her parents and had to grow up with people who didn’t really know how to do normal things.

I joked that Merryweather probably made everything, but now that I think about it, Aurora was probably the one who had to do a lot of cooking. This means she was very level-headed, modest, and had a frugal mindset. She also was going to be an awesome ruler as she actually know what it is like to be a peasant and can help those in her kingdom.

2)She is very smart. When she meets Prince Phillip, he’s trying to hang out with her and she is like, “No, I don’t know you.” In fact what she does is very smart, she invites him to her house to meet her “aunts” right away. This way she won’t be off alone with him.

3) She accepts her reality pretty quickly. When she finds out that she is actually a princess and has to get married and rule the kingdom, she deals with the news pretty well. I mean she does cry, but she handles it much better than me. I mean she could’ve totslly pulled a Princess Mia and take off, but instead dutifully accepts her crown and role in life.

4) Plus I just love the story of her and Prince Phillip. Here she has been dreaming about a type of guy for-ever and it actually comes true. She meets the man of her dreams and the two dance the time away in the forest.

Yep, I just love how sweet the two are. 🙂

Plus:

In fact it was the last fairy tale produced by the studio until The Little Mermaid (1989). It took over ten years to get everything done and was the second-biggest grossing film of 1959, just behind Ben-Hur(1959).

Well, that’s it. This is the end of our 30 Days of Disney. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did and that it reawakened your love for Disney.

Go here to read all the posts from the beginning

For more on Princess Aurora, go to Once Upon a Dream

For more on Sleeping Beauty, go to You’re Just So Pretty to Look At

For more on Prince Phillip, go to Prince of a Man

For more on Merryweather, go to That Would Make Me Happy

For more Disney princesses, go to I Could Kiss You

For more on Walt Disney, go to And Away We Go

For more on Disney animated films, go to Second Star to the Right

For more on Disney, go to Redone Done Right

For more on dreamy men, go to My New BF

Once Upon a Dream

 Day 28) Your Favorite Scene from Your Favorite Disney Movie

Once Upon a Dream from Sleeping Beauty

So as I have mentioned in past posts, I love the film Sleeping Beauty. I loved the characters, (I wanted my own Prince Phillip); the music, the artistic style, the story;  everything.

So one of my favorite scenes from this movie is when they sing and dance to Once Upon a Dream. I remember I used to act this scene out by myself and with my barbie dolls. It was the first song I have ever memorized extremely quickly.  I used to sing this song ALL THE TIME. Just couldn’t stop.

The thing I love about this song is that here is this girl who is just daydreaming about the type of guy she hopes to meet one day (you know how we all do). While she is just joking around he appears! The guy she is dreaming of actually comes into her life.

And she’s not some dummy, at first she is unsure about him, but then deems him okay and dances around with him.

I just love the scene; the art, the lyrics, the music, etc. 🙂

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam Yet I know it’s true that visions are seldom all they seem But if I know you, I know what you’ll do You’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream

But if I know you, I know what you do You love me at once The way you did once upon a dream

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam And I know it’s true that visions are seldom all they seem But if I know you, I know what you’ll do You’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream 

For more on Sleeping Beauty, go to And Away We Go

For more on Prince Phillip, go to Prince of a Man

For more on Disney love songs, go to Diamond in the Rough

For more on Disney animated films, go to Second Star to the Right

For more on Disney, go to Friday Night Fun

For more on Disney princesses, go to I Could Kiss You

For more on Disney princes, go to Oh Oh De Lally

For more on art, go to You’re Just So Pretty to Look At

For more of my favorite songs, go to The Boys Are Back in Town