Dantooine Free Press

Disney has released its sequel to its creative twist on the Sleeping Beauty story, Maleficent, on its streaming service, Disney+.  Is the second movie, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil worth your time? The original Disney movie, starring Angelina Jolie in the title role, focused on the story of a young naive faerie, who fell in love with a human.  That human just happens to be the self-centered and ambitious Stefan, who violently betrays Maleficent in order to become king.  Understandably, rage over this betrayal infects everything this magical faerie does, up to and including turning the magical kingdom over which Maleficent rules, the Moors, dark, and cursing Stefan's daughter, Aurora, to die by pricking her finger on a spinning wheel when the girl is to turn sixteen.  Maleficent watches over Aurora, played by Elle Fanning, as she is raised in the woods, eventually comes  to recognize the young girl's innocence, and attempts to undo her curse, but to no avail....

It is an ambitious endeavor.  Season seven of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" takes place simultaneously with the prequel film, "Revenge of the Sith."  It is an attempt to address the plot holes and generally bad writing of the film, and tie it to other entries to the Star Wars genre. For example, this season tries to explain better the descent of Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the Force, and connect that to the universe we see in the movies "Solo" and "Rogue One," the cartoon "Rebels," as well as the Disney+ series "The Mandalorian." One of the keys to the success of this endeavor, is the appearance of Darth Maul. Darth Maul serves as a prime illustration of one of George Lucas' most egregious sins, the under-utilization of a compelling villain.  Reaching back to the time just before "The Phantom Menace" was released, the hype leading up to the film, which was the first Star Wars film in the sixteen years ...

It is seems to be fashionable among current Star Wars fans to trash the final three installments of the Star Wars saga.  Some critics even take joy in proclaiming Disney's efforts to continue the narrative initially created by George Lucas to be a miserable failure.  It may go against what's trending, but I liked the first of Disney's instalments in the final Star Wars trilogy.  I found Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens an entertaining extension to the original storyline, one full of potential for what the tale could be.  Sure, looking back, the last two films failed to live up to that potential.  Moreover, the first of the Disney films had it's flaws and it's plot holes.  It certainly was not the best of the Star Wars movies.  But looking back on them all now, including the two movies dubbed "Star Wars Stories" by Disney, which address tangential plots, I can easily say that The Force Awakens is within the top five of the entir...