Adapting classic fairy tales for the big screen and modernising them/making them darker, is the new fad filmmakers seem to have latched on to. It’s just a shame then that hardly any of them have been worth watching. Mirror Mirror was rubbish, Snow White and The Huntsman would have been good had it not starred Kristen Stewart, and Hansel and Gretal was mind numbingly silly.

This however, Disney’s darker take on the much loved fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, looks amazing if its earlier clips/trailers are anything to go by.

Angelina Jolie plays the titular role in the film which flips the fairy tale on its head, and recounts the story from the wicked fairy’s viewpoint, explaining the series of events that eventually turned her heart into stone.

Official Synopsis

From Disney comes Maleficent— the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty. A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal—an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king’s successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom—and perhaps to Maleficent’s true happiness as well.

The film stars Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville, is produced by Joe Roth and directed by Robert Stromberg. It opens in theatres on 30 May, 2014.

Are you looking forward to Maleficent? Let us know below!

Trailer: Maleficent

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