Maleficent

Promotional photo of Maleficent. (c) 2014 Disney.

1. Maybe it's just me, but I thought Maleficent didn't have much "conversation". She had plenty of dialogue, of course, after all she's the titular character of the movie. But it seemed to me she said some bleeps here and some bleeps there. This is a shame because Angelina shines through when given enough dialog.
2. As short as the run time was at 1 hour and 40 minutes, the story felt too long starting out with exposition from Maleficent as a child and well into after the proverbial true love's kiss. They crammed too much into 100 minutes. To me it felt like a slideshow where the presenter was in a hurry showing each slide with not so much an explanation but "and this happened". Click. And this happened. Click. And this happened. Click. And this happened.
3. If they wanted to stick to 100 minutes, they and us the moviegoers would have been better served if they just drop Aurora/Sleeping Beauty from the movie and concentrated on Maleficent's formative years ending at the giving of the gift. And then if they really wanted to, another 100 minutes for the Sleeping Beauty story line in the sequel.
4. Look at Wicked: only brief appearance of the Wizard and I don't even remember seeing Dorothy. Would have served them well if they saw Wicked and imitated it.
5. Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning were great. 
6. The one who played Stefan, though, didn't have much chemistry with Maleficent. Probably it was a result of cramming too much in 100 minutes that his character wasn't fully developed. 
7. Several times in the movie (especially in the Moors) I thought it sounded a lot like the 2003 live action adaptation of Peter Pan. Then in the end credits I read, Music by James Newton Howard. I like JNH's take on fairy music in both Maleficent and Peter Pan.
8. I saw it in 3D. Do yourself a favor, skip the 3D and see the Moors in full color instead.