'Maleficent': Angelina Jolie fires up her dragon in new trailer

In Disney’s animated Sleeping Beauty, the villainess transforms herself into a fire-breathing dragon to do battle with the prince trying to rescue his slumbering love.

In the latest trailer, we get a first look at what this monster looks like in Maleficent, the live-action take on the folk tale that retells it from the perspective of the wicked fairy.

When footage of the famous “christening curse” was shown last August at Disney’s D23 fan convention, studio production chief Sean Bailey made this promise: “We’ll see the epic battle with of the dragon, but this time, just maybe, we may find ourselves rooting for the other side.”

Much of the footage in this new trailer for the May 30 movie has been shown before, but now we get a closer look at the ways Maleficent (pretends?) to befriend the princess who is in hiding, hoping to avoid the curse that was placed on her as an infant.

It’s clear she has been deceiving the girl (“Are you … Maleficent?”), but to what end? And instead of one knight vs. one dragon, we see all the forces of Maleficent’s shadowy, swamp-like army clashing with the warriors defending the king’s realm.

The king (played by District 9‘s Sharlto Copley) is obviously the villain who has cost Maleficent her wings — in case there was any remaining doubt.

Monday we got a glimpse of those feathery, leathery wings.

Now the question is: Just because we understand Maleficent’s rage, does that make her a hero?

Or, is she the fairy tale version of House of Cards‘ Frank Underwood: The manipulative villain you end up rooting for just because of sheer audacity?

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