Everyone grab your leather horned helmets and file your cheekbones to finely hewn edge! A new trailer for “
This time around there’s no question about the inspiration behind the upcoming film. Intercut with footage from the 1959 Disney classic “Sleeping Beauty,” this trailer shows how familiar scenes will go down when “Maleficent” hits theaters this summer. In the trailer: the procession of the kingdom’s citizens into the palace for the baby princess’s christening; the prince (Brenton Thwaites) approaching a bed where the enchanted Aurora (Elle Fanning) lies sleeping; the giving of birthday gifts by three petite fairies; and of course the part in which a peeved Maleficent exacts revenge for her lack of party invitation by cursing the newborn with death-by-spindle. The high point of this new peek at the film is Angelina Jolie. Thanks to her, we predict that blood-red lips and pointy prosthetic cheekbones will be this year’s hottest trends. But while the new trailer gives us a longed-for glimpse of our villainess and finally offers an answer to the all-consuming question about the nature of her horns — yes, they are part of her actual skull and not merely a cool accessory — it also has us scratching our heads, due to the inclusion of a completely unexpected dialogue between Maleficent and the teenage Aurora. “There is an evil in this world,” the dark fairy declares. “And I cannot keep you from it.” …Wait, what? Up until now, “Maleficent” had been teased as a dark, thrilling take on the classic fairytale, one in which the most fabulous bad girl of the Disney universe would have her day in the sun. But this second peek at the movie suggests a different sort of story entirely: one in which the horned villainess is somehow out to protect the little blonde princess from evil, instead of, y’know, being the self-proclaimed mistress thereof. Could this famous baddie be getting recast as a tragic, misunderstood heroine? Say it isn’t so. “Maleficent” will be released on May 30.
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