20 best film witches of all time
Maleficent
Maleficent has become such a beloved and fascinating pop culture character that she has two films to her name. What’s even better (from an intellectual standpoint, anyway) is that these two movies have dramatically different views of this witch. In one, she’s little more than a villain. In the other, she’s a hero.
Maleficent first appeared in Disney’s 1959 film, Sleeping Beauty. She’s the witch who shows up at the baby Aurora’s celebration, upset that she was not invited to the sumptuous royal affair. All the other fairies were invited, after all. Certainly, no one in attendance at the party is willing to tell Maleficent — who is very tall, clad all in black, has green skin, and may or may not be hiding horns underneath that headdress — that she’s just too creepy.
Though being upset at a missing invitation is understandable, Maleficent’s reaction is not Miss Manners-approved. She curses the baby Aurora, saying that she will touch a spinning wheel’s spindle on her sixteenth birthday and die. Maleficent delivers a standard Disney-villain laugh and disappears. One of the remaining fairies is able to soften the curse, making it so that Aurora will fall into a deep sleep instead.
Maleficent spends the rest of the movie doing standard villain things. You know, everyday stuff like stalking around a remote castle, yelling at monstrous lackeys and chaining up local princes. She turns into a very cool dragon in order to defeat that same prince but is unfortunately defeated. Yeah, she was evil, but we’re sad to see that headgear go.
In the live-action Maleficent (2014), Angelina Jolie takes on the title role in a far more sympathetic story. This time around, Maleficent was originally a good fairy who was wronged by Aurora’s father, Stefan. She vows revenge and curses the baby Aurora, but later comes to regret her decision.
She even goes so far as to watch over the growing Aurora and protect her, given that the three fairies tasked with Aurora’s care are criminally incompetent. Maleficent develops such a maternal affection for the girl that it’s the witch’s kiss that wakes Aurora from her slumber.