When the first Maleficent movie was released in 2014, it was touted as something different from Disney’s usual fare.

It was told from the perspective of Maleficent, the villain of Sleeping Beauty, a fairy princess who had lost her benevolence upon being betrayed by mankind. It was a valiant effort with Angelina Jolie putting in a good performance as befitting her talents.

But the script failed to utilise her abilities as much as it should have.

Now, five years down the cinematic road, the sequel is here and one really must ask: did no one learn from the mistakes of the previous film?

There is something to be learnt from George Santayana’s quote that those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

With director Joachim Ronning taking the helm from Robert Stromberg, Maleficent 2: Mistress of Evil has a significantly larger cast when compared to the previous film.

Most notably is the addition of the ever-devilish Michelle Pfeiffer, who is both entertaining and intimidating as the villain Queen Ingrith.

Taking place five years after the events of the first film, Aurora is taken to visit her future in-laws after accepting Prince Phillip’s marriage proposal.

While the King is more than happy to welcome her as his daughter-in-law, tensions mount between Ingrith and Maleficent and quickly boil over into full-blown and bloody conflict.

The film is “pretty” with gorgeous CGI and an evidently well-funded costume and makeup department.

Jolie looks ravishing and powerful as the dark fairy princess, and during a particularly tense scene with Pfeiffer, the two put on an icy display that could freeze hell over.

The two are excellent foils for each other and it is a great shame that there were not more confrontations between them. One climatic fight scene between the two would certainly have been a highlight for this film.

But while the two and Fanning, in her role of Aurora, let their stars shine as brightly as humanly possible, some cast members spectacularly fall short.

Of particular note is Harris Dickinson, who is noticeably wooden at times, doing great injustice to the brave and charming Prince Phillip who he plays.

On the other end of the scale is Jenn Murray, who plays Ingrith’s creepily sadistic henchwoman, who is willing to go to the ends of the earth to fulfil her mistress’ wicked wishes.

There is something darkly hilarious about how, in one scene, she blissfully plays the organ while a massacre is in full swing behind her.

Maleficent on the other hand, despite her name in the title, is a little underused and absent from a chunk of the film as the audience follows the subplots of other lesser characters.

Jolie is barely given much to say and a good number of her lines are quips. While not wrong in themselves, she could have been given the chance to treat her character with more depth and seriousness.

While the film is visually beautiful, it is the script and plot ultimately that prove the biggest disappointments.

How strange that the film is capable of taking a dark turn yet simultaneously staying absolutely tame and safe.

Take this one scene, that evokes Holocaust imagery in which characters are killed in a comical and inefficient fashion. Certainly the villains could have invested in more mundane but practical instruments of death rather than a musical instrument?

Yet minutes after the close of the scene, the characters seem oblivious to the resulting horrors. It makes little sense that those who witnessed such atrocities just moments before, are left untouched in any way by the deaths of their friends.

It is a kid’s movie, as one might argue; but if a film is willing to explore dark themes, it should attempt to address them rather than letting them play out then pretending like nothing happened.

And just as jarring is a particular villain who the heroes warmly welcome despite having just committed all manner of atrocities. That would be like Princess Leia hugging a repentent Grand Moff Tarkin after he blows up her home planet of Alderaan with the Death Star.

Suspension of disbelief tends to be in play even when a story is set in a fictional world, but there is too much that is too bizarre in this film – like holding a wedding right after a masacre in which thousands were brutally slaughtered.

The plot gets even more ridiculous in the final act with these drastic tonal shifts and greatly suffers for it.

If not for the performances of acting veterans Jolie and Pfeiffer, this film would certainly flounder more than it already has.

So, come in expecting a good showing by the duo and enjoy the good costumes and makeup; but expect nothing much except head scratchers afterwards.