0 "Maleficent" Clip: Fairy Godmother

Sun Princess

Beautiful, a faery’s child;

Her hair was long,

her foot was light,

And her eyes were wild.

~John Keats

Oh Aurora, bless your little heart... I do hope we get to see that Maleficent encouraged your "wild side" just a bit.  

Such naivety does not become a ruler-to-be.

Did you see Maleficent's face at the end? Perfect.It's how I often feel when I see fairy tales brought to life too...

Detail: "Maleficent" Clip: Fairy Godmother

0 "Maleficent" New Clip: Queen of the Moors & Spenser's "The Faerie Queene"

This seems to be from directly after Maleficent's wings were taken from her, aka beginning the transition to the dark side. We get to see a lot of little (and big) forest creatures too.

This appears to tie in with what the IMDB "leak" was saying, that part of the inspiration for fleshing out Maleficent's character comes from Spenser's The Faerie Queene (as well as the ancient Welsh tale of Culhwch and Olwen).

Because this seems the perfect time to post these,are some pictures of Walter Crane's magnificently illustrated pages from the volumes (note: the Folio Society reproduced these as a special limited edition, sadly way out of my price range). There's a free ebook available HERE. In case you're wondering, the Faerie Queene's name in the poem is Gloriana or Tanaquill (her name before she was queen).

Andis one of my favorite artist's rendition of Acrasia, a character from Spenser's The Faerie Queene.

Acrasia by John Melhuish Strudwick
from Spenser's The Faerie Queene

While you're here, have some extra screen caps from today's Maleficent clip (click to view larger). :)

I just adore these forest creatures. C'mon Disney, my office, ahem, I mean my son could use some toys of these guys! (Whom I kidding, he'd take them to bed with him he loves these little guys so much already.)

Detail: "Maleficent" New Clip: Queen of the Moors & Spenser's "The Faerie Queene"

0 "Maleficent" - Light & Dark Featurette (lovely), A Sneak Preview Scene of Aurora Pricking Her Finger... (interesting) & Amazing Tribute Posters (!)

Simon Delart

While this is a professionally done poster, it's not officially Disney. It's a tribute by Paris based illustrator, Simon Delart, of Poster Posse designs. This is his homage to the movie and iconic-looking Maleficent posters Disney has released. What makes these even more amazing is that they're constructed entirely of triangles (full count - 2857!):

Click to see larger
& 'count' the triangles..

“I have to admit that I have never seen “Sleeping Beauty”, but when I saw Angelina Jolie and her suit in Maleficent I was really surprised. I found it very graphic and fascinating. The lively red contrast of her lips and her black suit reminded me of René Gruau’s illustration, very minimalist.I looked for what could symbolize Maleficent, and the branches of bramble surrounding its castle are in her effigy, disturbing and dangerous.  Brambles compose her suit giving a minimalist aspect to the poster, but when we look at it closer, it reveals all its complexity.

Triangles - that makes for an interesting representation of the movie approach as well... Apart from the gray, there are three different colored backgrounds you can find HERE as well ("...variants on the four elements: earth, air, fire and water as they intertwine with the “thorniness” of evil..."). 

And now that you've been delightfully awed and distracted by these (amazing!!) posters, here's what you actually came to see: the clips.

First is a new featurette (#4), titled Light & Dark. Its quite lovely! (And of course, there are glimpses of additional scenes in there too.)

And I can't let you leave without teasing a scene from the movie: when Aurora pricks her finger on the spindle. The approach has a lot of similarities to the Disney classic but departs from it in key ways as well. 

WARNING: Clip contains what may be considered spoilers (even if you are very familiar with various Sleeping Beauty's and the Disney classic.

If I was uncertain about it being a family movie before, I know it is now, and that's a good thing. We need some good live action family fairy tale films. I'm more excited than ever to be taking my son now.

To quote Angelina Jolie from the conference (this was included in the clip I posted a few days ago HERE):

"I think all kids are curious. They're drawn to things that are dark. It's not just simply a desire to be wicked. I think there are things that frighten us in life, and especially children, they want to understand so they can take it on, or they want to understand so it frightens them less."

The G.K. Chesterton paraphrase of my favorite fairy tale quote* equals awesome.

*  Click for larger image & to read the quote. 

Sources: HERE, HERE & HERE

Detail: "Maleficent" - Light & Dark Featurette (lovely), A Sneak Preview Scene of Aurora Pricking Her Finger... (interesting) & Amazing Tribute Posters (!)