Arguably the most horrific of fairy tales gets a full-blown horror treatment in Gretel & Hansel, a visually striking, but otherwise muddled, movie adaptation.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a sequel that came out of nowhere and no one was really asking for. It does feature the powerhouse trio of Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning, though, so we're certainly paying attention now. But is this dark fairy tale a welcome surprise or a wasted opportunity?

First things first: if you’re expecting a faithful animated telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, you are likely to be disappointed. Frozen is an even greater departure from its source material than Tangled (Walt Disney’s last CGI-fairy tale) was from Rapunzel. This said, despite its deviation from a rich original story – and despite not actually being as …