I adore the first one. And I say that as someone whom grew up with the Disney animated original as one of his all time favorite Disney films, which is a rarity in my household. I love old musicals from the classic era, but we weren't really a Disney household. We skewed towards Bugs Bunny and his crew let's say.
Still I always loved the original Disney Sleeping Beauty. So you would think I would hate MALEFICENT but... I loved it. I have the original SB if I want to see it anytime. While I get wanting to see material adapted faithfully after a while it's nice to get a curve. They don't all have to be as slavish to the source material as LotR or Game Of Thrones. I mean, as big of a hit as it was, the live action BEAUTY AND THE BEAST has it's fair share of detractors for being a blah remake that didn't add anything to what was already done.
With MALEFICENT, they took the story and turned it on it's ear in a way I found very engaging and entertaining. Jolie was perfect in the role and the other things one judges a film on, production values etc. were top notch in my book. Also, like a good fairy tale it's message was cloaked in the surface narrative but they managed to have commentary about choice, about the vileness of violating another, about how there can be more to love than just romantic/sexual interest. All in all I really enjoyed it for what it was, a retelling that turned everything upside down.
Now... Do I need a follow up film in the least?
I have zero interest in it. ZERO.
