The Hype: Angelina Jolie returns to her first significant leading role in a long time, playing the title character in a revised telling of her life as a misunderstood, tragic hero. It certainly looks like a blast. The Reality: Indeed, the directorial debut of production designer and visual effects artist Robert Stromberg has stylistic bombast to spare, and Jolie is effortlessly brilliant in the title role, but this revisionist take on Sleeping Beauty fails to come up with a compelling script, instead favouring those gorgeous set-pieces above all else. Perhaps more cruelly underserved than Jolie is Elle Fanning, who as Princess Aurora tries hard, yet can't fight the tide of the movie's aggressively boring script. Sharlto Copley meanwhile implodes in yet another hammy villain role, and as three comic relief pixies, Leslie Manville, Imelda Staunton and Juno Temple are fun but don't figure enough in the plot. It does just about enough for the kids, but adults will likely find themselves exhausted and bored by the end of the mercifully snappy 97-minute runtime.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
