Disney's Maleficent has a dark side, but it's not too scary for kids

There's something wonderfully wicked about the idea of Maleficent. While we all know Hollywood loves a story about origins - with the births of comic-book heroes such as Batman, Superman and the X-Men having been sketched out by the studios of late - it's usually the villains that miss out.

So all credit to Walt Disney Pictures for thinking outside the box for the live-action reworking of the 1959 classic cartoon, Sleeping Beauty.

The age-old fairy tale about a young princess, a malevolent fairy and a sleep-inducing curse provided the ingredients for one of the studio's most enduring and beloved animations. But for executive producer Don Hahn, it was always the cruel villainess that drove the drama.

"With respect to the original Disney film, Maleficent is the most interesting thing about it. She's beloved by movie-goers and Disney fans, and was a terrific character," he says.

Considered one of Disney's most sinister villains, she dominates the film - from arriving in a puff of smoke to metamorphosing into a giant dragon. "I loved Maleficent when I was a little girl," says Angelina Jolie, the actress given the task to bring her to life. "She was my favourite Disney character. I was afraid of her and I loved her." It's this love-hate duality that makes her such an intriguing character to explore.

Of course, the Sleeping Beauty story predates Disney, with traces of the character as far back as Giambattista Basile's Sun, Moon & Talia (1636) and Charles Perrault's The Beauty Asleep in the Woods (1697), from which the Brothers Grimm borrowed heavily for their 1812 story Little Briar Rose. Not one, however, boasted a character like Maleficent. "It was something that was very original to Disney," says Hahn.