Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is entertaining enough and dazzling to look at

THOUGH entertaining enough and dazzling to look at, this is a film that answers a question no one was asking.

Angelina Jolie returns as the evil queen who is actually just a bit misunderstood, now facing her goddaughter’s impending marriage and the resulting union between rival kingdoms.

Livid about the wedding and battling empty-nest syndrome, she finds the prospect of smiling sweetly at King John (Robert Lindsay) and Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer) too much to bear.

At an 11th-hour peacekeeping dinner, things unsurprisingly go south.

Maleficent finds herself exiled and relying on her ancestors from the moors for support.

Led by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ed Skrein, they declare war.

Caught up in the middle of all this is Elle Fanning’s Aurora, who just wants to get hitched but stumbles across a shocking conspiracy.

Honestly, though, I’ve made this sound more dramatic than it really is.

Despite all the bells and whistles, the digitised characters and stunning fairytale vistas, it feels like we’ve been here before.

Now we know Maleficent is not so evil after all, Jolie has little to do except ham it up looking like a body modification obsessive in Camden Town.

As the action descends into something like Flash Gordon in Thor’s Asgard, I was left wishing for more in the way of character development.

Michelle Pfeiffer channelling her contemptuous Catwoman from Batman Returns is proper good, though.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (PG) 119mins

★★★☆☆

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