How and why do villains go bad? Were they born evil or did some horrific tragedy occur to make them vengeful? The new Disney film Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie as the titular character attempts to answer those questions.

The movie is said to be extremely CGI-heavy. Andrew O’Hehir from salon.com described the look of the film, “As a visual combination of Walt Disney, James Cameron, Arthur Rackham and Sir John Tenniel, Maleficent is one of the most remarkable spectacles of the CGI age, and one of the few recent 3-D movies where it’s probably worth paying extra for those damn glasses.”

Here’s the full synopsis:

A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces a battle with the invading king’s successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom – and perhaps to Maleficent’s true happiness as well.

The premise for the origins film is a sound one, however, movie critics have not been too kind to Maleficent, which opened today in theaters nationwide. The film is currently averaging a 49 percent rating on RottenTomatoes.com.

The general buzz regarding Jolie has been mostly positive. It never hurts to have one of the biggest movie stars in the world playing such an iconic Disney role. The film also features Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora.

Despite tepid reviews, Box Office Mojo is predicting that the film will have a very strong opening weekend, even though it has some tough competition. Also opening today is Seth McFarlane’s farce A Million Ways to Die in the West and it’s only the second weekend in release for X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Do you plan to see Maleficent this weekend?

Image via Maleficent, Twitter