Maleficent/Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day

When is a villain not a villain? Disney’s 2014 remake “Maleficent” answers that question very successfully, turning the protagonist, the memorably evil villain of the beloved classic “Sleeping Beauty,” into a tormented character who has a single moment of weakness. Like a lot of many modern movies, “Maleficent” spends a lot of its runtime to a very detailed origin story, putting in details that don’t need to be there and giving a specific motivation to match all of the protagonist’s reasons later in the movie.

In Maleficent’s situation, those motivations come from being rejected by Stefan (Sharlto Copley), who eventually becomes king of his kingdom to his disloyalty of the fairy Maleficent (Angelina Jolie). She afterward curses his daughter Aurora (Elle Fanning) with the familiar reason (on her 16^th birthday she will fall into a deep sleep that can only be broken by true love’s kiss), but then regrets what she did and becomes somewhat of a surrogate mother for Aurora (who is raised by a trio of clumsy fairies playing her aunts (Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville)).

Josh Bell said in his review, “The result is that Maleficent is barely ever scary or evil, and Jolie spends most of her performance looking vaguely pained, albeit with really cool prosthetic cheekbones and fabulous flowing outfits. With its emphasis on overexplanation, Maleficent takes nearly half the movie just to get to the actual story of Sleeping Beauty, and then rushes through its most well-known plot points. Instead of replicating classic Disney magic, Maleficent feels more like one of the CGI-cluttered fairy tale retellings of recent years, not much different from Mirror, Mirror or Snow White and the Huntsman or Jack the Giant Slayer or Red Riding Hood.”

Jolie seems to enjoy the role of the tricky plotter, and when it really gets to plot sneakily, she’s fun to watch. Since Maleficent is no long the movie’s villain, which now goes to Copley as King Stefan, but his reasons are as dark as Maleficent’s are vulgar. Bell noted, “And Fanning, playing the ostensible main character of the original story, does little more than smile beatifically. Any meaningful new approach to the story is abandoned for a rote action climax, which is once again drowned in garish CGI. Completely freed from her reputation as a villain, Maleficent gets a perfect Disney happy ending.” However, I don’t think anyone watching this will be as satisfied.

Now let’s change it up and talk about another Disney adaptation on a children’s book. A lot of family-friendly movies have a tough time being entertaining for both children and adults. Disney normally could do that in the past, and nails it now with the children’s book-to-film adaptation. “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day,” a nice 2014 family comedy starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, and is funny, cute and entertaining for all the right reasons.

Alexander Cooper, played by Ed Oxenbould, always seems to go through bad days. He’s always down on his luck, the girl he has a crush on (Sidney Fullmer) ignores him, and his 12^th birthday party will be here soon but is going to be overlooked by another classmate’s (Lincoln Melcher) fog-machine, energy drink bar, and trampoline birthday party. The icing on this cake is that Alexander gets really aggravated with his family, who don’t really understand the level of his bad days since they’re apparently, according to his brother, “#blessed.”

The night before Alexander’s 12^th birthday, and on a day that’s originally going to bring good news for his family, he makes a wish that just once, his family would understand what it’s like to have a bad day like him. The next day, everything possible goes wrong for his family (who include Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey). There is a lot of running around, fire, a driving test gone horribly wrong, a book reading failure, and an intoxication on cold medicine singing of Peter Pan. In some way, the Coopers have to come together in time for Alexander’s birthday.

Mae Abdulbaki said in her review, “While the title is a bit of a mouthful, the film is family-friendly fun at its best. It's even sure to please those without families, because the movie at its most basic is genuinely funny and cute.” The film’s duration is only 81 minutes; the film sticks to the plot, but doesn’t feel rushed. The story is easy and there’s enough insanity all around, which is thankfully not in any way forced or arranged just for laughs.

Ed Oxenbould is great as Alexander. The way he talks and acts makes you understand his problems with his ongoing days of bad luck. Abdulbaki said, “Steve Carell is the silly funnyman whose streak of positivism holds up the family, and Jennifer Garner's got the "mom smile" but really shines when she's aggravated and gets frustratingly aggressive, which is hilarious. Dylan Minnette and Kerris Dorsey are great supports and flaunt a personality of their own without slinking quietly into the background.” Dick van Dyke and Jennifer Coolidge make great cameos and really make the movie really enjoyable.

It would be surprise to not enjoy this film. Abdulbaki said, “It's energetic, filled with silly, genuine fun, and has humorous beats that will make you smile and possibly laugh out loud. Its long title gets a shout out not once, but twice in the film, which is a major accomplishment given the fact that it's easy to jumble up the words.” “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” is really funny and does have a moral to its tale, while being a great, funny time for everyone watching it.

Look out tomorrow for two very beloved Christmas movies that I have saved up from a franchise that I have been reviewing films for throughout the year (which you might know which ones I’m referring to) in “Disney Live-Action Month.”