Evil has a beginning. This is the story of what turns a strong but pure fairy into the most feared Disney villainess of all. Read more about the storyline here… but I don’t want to give anything away.

Maleficent is magnificent!

From the moment it starts with the Disney Films candy castle turning to stone and darkness it not only acknowledges its antecedent but relishes in its history. A history that doesn’t start with the 1959 Disney film Sleeping Beauty but stretches further back to the Tchaikovsky ballet – with the oh-so-resonant Sleeping Beauty Waltz, that was then adapted by Sammy Fain and Jack Lawrence to become Once Upon a Dream, which is sung as a smoky, smoky ballad over the end credits of this film by Lana Del Rey.

Are you keeping up? Jog if you have to! The Tchaikovsky ballet was based on Charles Perrault story La Belle au bois dormant as was the 1959 Sleeping Beauty but this film also acknowledges the Brothers’ Grimm tale Little Briar Rose as another grandparent.

Phew. Glad that is cleared up. Back to this magnificence of Maleficent then. This film is just delicious. It is almost as if Angelina Jolie was born to play this wonderful character and we just had to wait for animation and prosthetics to be developed to the point where she could.

Her horns, her wings and her costumes are to die for.

This the flipside of the fairytale coin and my attention did not waiver for a second (although I may have had to squeeze my daughter’s arm a couple of times and let her know how much I was enjoying myself). Whilst not as black as Tim Burton nor as fantastic as Terry Gilliam, it is dark, it is violent (scary, not bloody – G.O.T. it isn’t), it is passionate and also very, very beautiful.

The animation of ‘the moors’ and its inhabitants is exquisite.

The story is empowering for women and even girls – alone is strong, alone is beautiful, living in harmony with nature is both. And every mum who sees this will understand ‘true love’s kiss’. Sniff.

On the whole stays quite true to the landscape of the tale whilst asking and then answering the central question – if Maleficent is a fairy, what happened to her wings?

One of my favourite scenes has actually been lifted directly from the 1959 film and is faithful in every respect – the way Maleficent’s train oozes up the steps to the throne dais is splendid – and Angelina is visibly enjoying her role as the villain. But this time we know to pain and anguish behind the scene and, well I am having trouble describing how much richer and more poignant the whole story becomes.

The shoot wasn’t all plain sailing though. There are a lot of magical scenes so that meant lots of harness work – most of which Angelina did herself (Lara Croft still lurks in her somewhere) – and green screens. The horn headdress and cheek augmentations were just too frightening for the child actors tested to play little Aurora so Angelina brought one of her own brood along – Vivienne Jolie-Pitt – to play the part and another great scene was created.

The three fairies are great comic relief and Maleficent’s familiar, a crow called Diaval who is changed into several other creatures, including a man (played by Sam Riley) almost steals the show.

The central relationships in the story – Maleficent and Stephan (Sharlto Copely), and Aurora (Elle Fanning) and Maleficent are well portrayed by both these actors and the actors who play the younger versions of the characters. There is depth and candour in the portrayals that make this so much more than just a family film.

It really is the whole package.