Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Is At Its Best When It's Weird and Original

Another live-action Disney remake, cool! We haven't gotten any of those this year. Despite being like the umpteenth slice of chocolate cake eaten at an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil actually stands out as narrowly the best of these movies we've gotten in 2019. Though still just average as a movie itself, it's got more energy to it than Dumbo or The Lion King and both its production design and costume design stand out as genuinely enjoyable. It's a pity the script is a mess by, among a number of critical faults, failing to deliver on elements general family audiences would want to see if they're shelling out cold hard cash to see a Maleficent movie.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Brings The Weird And Also Plenty of Entertainment

In the first decade of the 21st century, there was a trend (one not exclusive to just this era of filmmaking) wherein a number of pieces of popular literature got adapted into American feature films that basically just took the title and core concept of their source material (if even that) and tried to create a film that could emulate the financial success of other popular films. The Golden Compass, for instance, became a Lord of the Rings knock-off, and The Lightning Thief got turned into a watered-down Harry Potter clone. A feature film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was released in the middle of this era and you'd think this adaptation of the famous Douglas Adams novel would be another example of Hollywood taking distinct source material and creating a forgettable feature film adaptation out of it.