Cert PG
97 mins
BBFC advice: Contains mild violence, threat, scary scenes
Because she tends to be in the limelight for her charity work nowadays, it is easy to forget what a great actress Angelina Jolie is.
If you are into hard-hitting real-life dramas I recommend watching her in A Mighty Heart and Changeling.
But if you are more of a Lara Croft fan, Maleficent is more likely to be up your street.
Here, Jolie takes the chance to ham it up like the very best of pantomime villains whose hearts aren't quite as black as they seem.
Robert Stromberg's film is a new take on the tale of Sleeping Beauty and comes at it from the perspective of Maleficent (Jolie), who was previously seen as the antagonist.
Here, we see that the curse placed on the baby princess was a reaction to an act of ghastly betrayal.
As said, Jolie excels in the title role dwarfing support from the likes of Elle Fanning as the teenaged princess, Sam Riley as a raven shapeshifter and Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville, who play fairies who bring up the princess from birth.
Disney have pushed out the boat by spending more than $200 million on Maleficent but have already seen that money made in two weeks at the box office.
Aside of Jolie's performance, this will be down to the production values - it's visual effects are absolutely stunning.
There will be a lot of family films released this summer but few manage to appeal to all age groups.
Thus, I think Maleficent achieves where other others will fail.
Laughs: two
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 8/10