Disney's "Maleficent" may be a box-office hit, but the film's twist ending has become topic for speculation.
[Warning: major movie spoilers ahead!]
The major plot twist everyone is referring to is when Princess Aurora is awakened by a kiss on the forehead by Maleficent. In the original tale, Prince Phillip was credited for "true love's kiss," not the villain. Jolie recently explained to BuzzFeed why Disney and screenwriter Linda Woolverton decided to rewrite the scene.
"Linda wrote this beautiful story and when I read it, I was so moved," Jolie said. "It's all about the very question of what love is. And even if you don't have children, you still have parents, so you know that this kind of love is the truest form."
"And what also works is that true love's kiss came from the person who really didn't believe she was capable of any kind of goodness or love - that she would in any way be loved or have love is something she'd long ago dismissed from her life. So the thing is not only that she does express it, but it's the shock for her, which I think is so beautiful."
Jolie and Disney wanted to throughout the "knight in shinning armor" aspect of the fairy tale and tell a more modern, feminist story for young audiences. However, that did not mean the production wanted to belittle men in the process.
"We wanted to tell a story about the strength of women and the things they feel between one another," the actress told BuzzFeed. "Our movie has all this strength and all this feminism, but, what I think is so nice is that, sometimes, in order to do that you have to make the man an idiot."
"Instead, we have this very elegant, wonderfully handsome, prince who, in the end, is great," Jolie added. "He doesn't need to be less than to make us more than. We don't have to simplify or cheapen the men, or to detract from one to make the other better. I think that's a mistake that's often made in movies."
