Maleficent

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.

Let me just go on record as saying that the casting of Angelina Jolie as Maleficent is easily on the list of Top 10 casting calls ever.  That being said - I didn't really know what to expect from this movie.  It didn't really seem like a fluffy kid movie.  But it was from Disney so I didn't think it would be too dark of a tale.  It ended up being pretty much right down the middle.  Angelina Jolie was awesome.  Whether her viciousness, her softer side or her sarcastic delivery of one liners she was totally firing on all cylinders.  The action scenes were great and the forest effects were good too.  The best part of the movie was that it really didn't waste any time.  It was very well paced, didn't drag and had a perfect 90 minute running time.

I was very pleasantly surprised with this movie.  I didn't really have high expectations but I enjoyed this movie and thought it was a good story in a well paced feature length.