Which Disney film features the villain Maleficent?

Which Disney film features the villain Maleficent? The answer is Sleeping Beauty.

Maleficent first appeared in Disney’s animated feature Sleeping Beauty, released in 1959. She is an evil fairy who calls herself the “Mistress of All Evil.” Angry at not being invited to Princess Aurora’s christening, she curses the baby to prick her finger on a spinning-wheel spindle and die before sunset on her sixteenth birthday.

The film adapts elements from Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale and the Brothers Grimm version commonly known as “Little Briar Rose.” Disney’s version made Maleficent far more visually imposing than a traditional fairy-tale antagonist: animator Marc Davis designed her angular silhouette, black-and-purple costume, horns, and green magical fire. Eleanor Audley supplied her distinctive voice.

A common mix-up comes from the 2014 live-action film Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie. That movie reimagines the character as a misunderstood protector and serves as a revisionist prequel to Sleeping Beauty, but the classic animated villain belongs to Disney’s 1959 film.