THE DAUGHTER OF THE KING

 

The pros and cons of delaying a movie's theatrical release might vary. In particular, if the film itself is deemed to be adequate or mediocre, the hype and anticipation that have been building for the release of the feature could either continue to fuel the necessary excitement for the film's inevitable future release or you could cause a significant influence on its premiere. Whatever the situation, there are a number of factors that could cause a film to be delayed. One example is a recent studio merger or acquisition of another, such as when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox and forced Fox to postpone and/or reorganise a number of important projects.

. Another possibility is something more global, like how the COVID-19 pandemic's ongoing impacts have caused major film studios to rearrange their release schedules by moving and delaying movies left and right, some of which have been put off for more than a year. A third scenario might be that a movie lacks a financial studio sponsor for its theatrical distribution. This could happen if there are multiple movies that are already edited, set up, and ready to go, but lack the funding necessary for them to be released. Tonight, Gravitas Ventures and director Sean McNamara present The King's Speech, the most recent movie with a protracted theatrical release day.

King Louis XIV (Pierce Brosnan), often known as the "Sun King," is the current head of state of France. He discovers that he has a number of opponents who are stalking him, with one missing an assassination attempt, which leads him to redefine his properties at his palace of Versailles. In search of solutions from Doctor Labarthe (Pablo Schreiber), who reveals a scheme to gather a legendary mermaid out of the water and remove her mystical essence during an oncoming solar eclipse, giving the monarch the immortal life, Louis is joined by his dependable man of God, Pere (William Hurt). Louis accepts Labarthe's suggestion and seeks out Yves since he is interested in such a deal (Benjamin Walker). The appearance of Mary-Joesphe sparks rumours in court as Louis's plans start to take shape. The young woman is mystified by the trapped mermaid and develops a close bond with her while learning about the evil plan the King is hatching.

THE BAD AND THE GOOD

A movie production may receive a theatrical release date for a variety of reasons, as I previously stated. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic is the subject of the most popular movie today (as a result of the current international situation), which has caused many major film studios to rearrange their respective motion pictures, particularly with movie theatre cinemas closing for several months and some endeavours being sold off to streaming services be released.

Naturally, I'm mostly referring to the Disney/Fox merger, which resulted in a number of films, including X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Free Man, New Mutants, The Last Duel, and a few others, spending many years in a state of "limbo" before receiving a scheduled release date at a later period. Other factors could also cause a delay, but you get the picture.

 And I haven't even touched on whether the delayed movie would be good or terrible. It's difficult to explain, but the answer ultimately depends on the film in question. The delayed release is still "worth the wait" if the product is reliable and everything is in favour of the feature. If the film is poor, on the other hand, the opposite may be true.This naturally brings us back to The King's Daughter, the most recent movie to have a protracted delay. It is a fantasy adventure set in the year 2022. To be quite honest, I didn't hear much about this movie because I only learned about it when I saw a clip for The King's Daughter in the "coming attractions" reel while watching West Side Story in December 2021. Although though it appeared to be reasonably nice in the trailer and included several well-known actors, such as Brosnan, Scodelario, and Hurt, I couldn't help but have a strange feeling about it. As a result, I shouldn't have felt anxious, especially considering the approaching assignment.The King's Daughter waited impatiently for studio assistance in order to receive a distribution release at some point soon. 

Thus, being one of my first 2022 theatrical release films, I took a gamble and went to see the movie on its opening week. It took me some time to get to this review because I had to wrap up a few reviews of movies from 2021 that were still outstanding before I could proceed, which leads me to the present. 

I'm now prepared to share my thoughts on my first review of a 2022 film. How did I feel about it? It's not good, I guess. The King's Daughter, despite having a few redeeming features, is a disorganised and disjointed project that lacks direction It's not absolutely awful, but it's still a disappointing and flat release. Perhaps a VOD release would have been preferable to a theatrical release.

Sean McNamara, whose previous films include Bring It On: Battle to the End, Bratz, and Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite!, is the director of The King's Daughter, which is based on Vonda N. McIntyre's 1997 novel "The Moon and the Sun." Given his experience directing episodes of various Disney Channel original TV shows, including Kickin' It, That's So Raven, and Even Stevens, McNamara does seem like the obvious choice to head this production. He found The King's Daughter to be right up his alley.

Although the outcome is undoubtedly a mixed bag, I believe McNamara hit the proper tone for the film, with a young adult vibe permeating every area of it, from the fantasy adventure aspect to the period piece youthful love swoons. The movie has that vibe of an older adolescent or teenager yearning for some sort of escape, and I think McNamara nails it. For the sake of making the best of a bad situation, the movie is pretty untidy throughout (more on that below), but it does have a light hearted vibe thanks to its brief 90-minute running length. This enables the film to flow in and out really quietly without becoming bloated with or outstaying its welcome.

The King's Daughter is one of the feature's more redeeming qualities in terms of presentation quality, and it's actually quite nice. Naturally, I wouldn't anticipate the visual presentation of this movie to receive any nominations during the upcoming award season, but I have to admit that it looks fairly decent overall, especially for a movie that was shot around eight years prior to its release. Clearly, one of the advantages of the movie's setting is the Palace of Versailles, which served as the main location for several days of filming before being moved to a studio for several images that were duplicated.

With the great scale of the famous palace and all the baroque / gilded workings of the sumptuous chateau's interior / exterior shots, I think that the backdrop setting (both shot at Versailles and in studio) are terrific and really add to the feature's flavour. Also, I really like all the different clothes and wardrobe items that were shown during the movie, some of which were lavish and gorgeous as befitted a period of luxury at His Majesty's court in Versailles. I must therefore applaud the movie's "behind the scenes" team, which included Lizzy Gardiner (costume designs), Bill Booth, and Fiona Donovan (art direction), Vanessa Cerne, and Lise Peault, for their efforts in creating some strong visual aesthetics and background.Also, I would say that the film's score, which was created by John Coda, Grant Kirkhope, and Joseph Metacalfe, is good and appropriate for the medium. While some are wonderful and create a sense of fantasy mystique and spirited adventure, other times it's fairly basic and uninteresting. For me, it's really a coin toss; neither good nor terrible. 

The King's Daughter, regrettably, falls short of the high calibre movie it aspires to be and becomes more troublesome as the plot develops. Why do I say that? It could be because the movie itself seems to be a mash-up of various movie plots that is attempting to figure out what it wants to be.

The King's Daughter is tastelessly bland. This is primarily evident in the narrative for the movie, which was written by Barry Berman and James Shamus and weaves together a variety of different plot lines. Again, I'm aware that McIntyre's story serves as the model for the film, but everything feels superficial and has a shiny bare-bones vibe throughout. A little touch of romance with Mary Joesphe and Yves, a little bit of period piece drama with political court intrigue, a little bit of fantasy mystique with the mermaid catching (and its healing powers), and a few other ones as well. All of these are acceptable, but only to a point and with proper management.

The story may have been better (more concentrated), in my opinion, if Mary Joseph's time in Versailles as the king's illegitimate daughter and having conflict with a love interest and her father's royal ambition had been left out entirely. I believe it would have had more impact.

It's unfortunate to state that the entire film (from beginning to end) smacks of shoddy character development and is merely a wildly unfocused storyline. 

The script's character banter is also fairly cringeworthy and poorly written, which doesn't sit well with the audience and gives the movie a B-level vibe. Even the brief attempts at comedy in the script representation. 

As there isn't enough time to properly balance the various competing plot lines and the film's brief running time, many of the characters feel flat and poorly developed. The King's Daughter never gets a chance to "breathe" because McNamara spends so much time focusing on the badly managed storyline threads in the film.

Plot is also prioritised over people, which is absurd given how quickly plot points and beats are introduced. The King's Daughter becomes joyless, disjointed, and devoid of memorable moments as a result of this, which also gives the movie a hurried and rushed feeling. Although I did praise the movie for its short running time and straightforward approach, this only furthers the problem with the plot's development and substance.

The movie's visual effects are also a little stale. Even while the CGI effect shots aren't absolutely awful, they are a glaring indication of the film's production date because of their shaky renderings, especially when the mermaid is involved. As a result, the visual effects barely improve the feature. In keeping with what I previously said, I continue to think that the fantastical aspect of the movie should have been completely removed. Just my viewpoint. Last but not least, the movie's conclusion seems a little disjointed since McNamara and the script weren't sure how to wrap things up. Although it delivers a type of "storybook" finish, there seems to be something lacking, making the conclusion somewhat pointless and unsatisfying.

Scodelario, renowned for her appearances in The Maze Runner, Crawl, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, does alright in the role of Mary-Joesphe. The character is a bit typical as the wide-eyed/naive young girl who gradually gains self-confidence and understanding of her circumstance. 

Her character is undoubtedly a "run-of-the-mill" female heroine, which is OK but occasionally feels quite random. The majority of her plot advancement and involvement in the movie's runtime are quite out of sync because, once more, the story threads are only partially developed and weak. As a result, Scodelario feels like a flat character throughout the entire film.

Actor Pierce Brosna, who plays King Louis XIV of France, would follow her as the movie's next big-ticket star. Brosna, who is well-known for his work in Goldeneye, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Mamma Mia!, is a skilled actor who has demonstrated time and again that he is able to carry a role—whether it be a lead or a supporting one—on the strength of his charismatic on-screen presence. But with The King's Daughter, it's a little murky. Bronson is undoubtedly up to the effort of playing such a character and undoubtedly has the physical appearance of a regal monarchy, but the character is ambiguous as to how he should be depicted.

Is he decent? Is he bad? Is he just being misinterpreted? It's difficult to say because the character resembles all of those characteristics, which makes them uninteresting and overused. This further complicates Brosna's portrayal, making the character—even one as well-known as Louis XIV—painfully unmemorable and lightly sketched, like Scodelario. and hearing that is disappointing.

Is he decent? Is he bad? Is he just being misinterpreted? It's difficult to say because the character resembles all of those characteristics, which makes them uninteresting and overused. This further complicates Brosnan's portrayal, making the character—even one as well-known as Louis XIV—painfully unmemorable and lightly sketched, like Scodelario. and hearing that is disappointing.

For better or worse, this means that Walker's Yves is more of a "cookie cutter" dashing swashbuckler with a phoney love connection that doesn't truly progress. In spite of being the focal point of the most of the film, the mermaid character, played by actress Fan Binging (The Empress of China and X-Men: Days of Future Past),

Actor Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Divergent, Great Expectations) plays the young, affluent nobleman Jean-Michel Lintillac, while Crystal Clarke (Black Mirror, Sanditon), Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Hacksaw Ridge), and Paul Ireland (Pawno, Christ the Lord), play Magali, Mary-friend Josphe's in court, and Benoit, respectively. Although they do a decent job acting, the most of these characters are just plain underdeveloped in their supporting roles, making their involvement either bland, hurried, or just plain boring. The bulk of these characters are minor participants in the movie. Last but not least, the narration for the movie is provided by renowned veteran actress Julia Andrews (Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music), which lends the whole thing a "once upon a time" storybook atmosphere.

LAST THOUGHTS

In the movie The King's Daughter, King Louis XIV, seeking to extend his mortal life, captures a mythical mermaid and saps the aquatic creature of its life essence while his daughter-by-another-marriage arrives at Versailles and quickly becomes enmeshed in His Majesty's scheme for immortality. The latest movie from director Sean McNamara treads similar ground in its plot, conjuring up a YA-style narrative yarn with a costumed period piece drama and a dash of fantastical adventure.

A large portion of the feature is ruined by blandness, especially the film's direction, a hodgepodge of story ideas, a disjointed feeling throughout, wonky decisions, bad writing, and poor surface-level characters, despite the production quality being strong and the acting being relatively decent enough to be somewhat adequate.

I thought this movie was dreadfully bad. Certainly, there were several elements that I liked, particularly the level of manufacturing. Having said that, the film is simply a jumbled heated mess of concepts that aren't properly placed together nicely; producing an overall half-baked production. As a result, I give the film a negative "skip it" rating because there is little to no justification for seeing this particular work. If you're searching for a grand historical period piece or a fantasy drama, you should probably look elsewhere (and you'll thank me for it). Finally made public, The King's Daughter is ultimately a let down due to its old, uninteresting, and disorganised overall composition.