Film director: Robert Stromberg
Staing: Angelina Jolie, Ella Purnell, Isobelle Molloy, Elle Fanning, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, Eleanor Worthington Cox, Sharlto Copley, Michael Higgins, Hannah New, Kenneth Cranham, Brenton Thwaites, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville
Review: A powerful fairy named Maleficent lives in the Moors, a magical forest realm bordering a corrupt human kingdom. As a young girl, she befriends and falls in love with a human peasant boy named Stefan, whose affection for Maleficent is overshadowed by his ambition to become king. As the two grow older, they become estranged, and Maleficent becomes protector of the Moors. When King Henry (Kenneth Cranham) tries to conquer the Moors, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) commands primeval forces and makes him retreat. Mortally wounded in battle, he declares that whoever kills Maleficent will be named his successor and will marry Princess Aurora, his only daughter.
Stefan (Sharlto Copley) visits Maleficent in the Moors and drugs her, but cannot bring himself to kill her. Instead, he uses a chain made of iron, which burns fairies, to cut off Maleficent's wings which he then presents to the dying king as proof of her death. Devastated by Stefan's betrayal, a now wingless and hate-filled Maleficent declares herself Queen of the Moors, turning it into a dark and oppressive realm. Diaval (Sam Riley), a raven she has saved and to whom she sometimes gives human or other forms, acts as her wings, spy, and confidant.
After some time, Diaval informs Maleficent that Stefan (who is now king) is hosting a christening for his newborn daughter, Princess Aurora, with his wife, Queen Leila (Hannah New). Bent on revenge, Maleficent crashes the party and curses the infant princess: on her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a "sleep-like death" from which she will never awaken. When Stefan begs for mercy, Maleficent offers an antidote: The curse can be broken by true love's kiss. Stefan, paranoid of Maleficent's curse, sends Aurora to live with the three pixies - Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton), Thistlewit (Juno Temple), and Flittle (Lesley Manville) - until the day after her 16th birthday, while he destroys all the spinning wheels in the kingdom and hides them in the castle dungeon. He sends his soldiers to hunt and kill Maleficent, but she surrounds the Moors with an impenetrable wall of thorns. As the years go by, King Stefan descends into madness in his obsession with killing Maleficent, and even refuses to see his wife, Queen Leila, who is on her deathbed.
Maleficent begins to care for Aurora when the neglectful pixies fail to do so. When Aurora (Elle Fanning) is 15, she encounters Maleficent and calls her "fairy godmother", revealing she was always aware someone watched over her. Realizing she has grown fond of the princess, Maleficent attempts to revoke the curse, but she is unsuccessful since she stated "No power on earth can change it", when she first cast the curse. Aurora later meets a young prince named Phillip (Brenton Thwaites), and the two are instantly enamored with each other. Diaval thinks this must be the key to lift the curse, but Maleficent reveals that this supposed antidote was a mere trick on her part as true love doesn't exist. On the day of Aurora's 16th birthday, Maleficent, hoping to avoid the curse, invites her to live in the Moors. When the pixies inadvertently tell Aurora of her parentage and of Maleficent's true identity, a horrified Aurora runs away to her father's castle.
After a short-lived reunion with Aurora, Stefan locks her away in her room for safety. However, she is drawn by the curse to the dungeon and pricks her finger on the spindle of the spinning wheel and she falls into a deep sleep, completing the curse. Intent on saving her, Maleficent and Diaval manage to get Phillip to her room. Phillip kisses Aurora, but she does not wake up. Alone in Aurora's chamber, Maleficent apologizes to Aurora, swears that no harm will come to her, and kisses her forehead. To her surprise, this breaks the spell, as Maleficent's motherly concern for Aurora counts as true love. Aurora forgives Maleficent and they attempt to leave 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 guards. Stefan beats and taunts Maleficent, but before he can kill her, Aurora frees Maleficent's wings; they fly back to her and reattach themselves. Maleficent overpowers Stefan and carries him to the top of a tower, but she cannot bring herself to kill him. Blinded by hatred, Stefan attempts once more to kill her, but falls off the tower to his death.
Soon after, Aurora is crowned queen of the human and fairy realms by Maleficent, unifying the two kingdoms, with Phillip beside her. Maleficent returns to her role as protector over the kingdoms with Diaval by her