Damsel: Film Review
Young girls have got themselves a feisty new role model with Millie Bobby Brown‘s Elodie in Damsel.
Elodie is a young princess who agrees to marry Prince Henry (Nick Robinson) to help her people. However, the marriage is a sham and she is only brought into the family to become a sacrifice. As soon as she says I do, she is thrown into a cave with a talking fire-breathing dragon (voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo) to repay her new family’s ancient debt. She must rely on her wit, quick-thinking and multilayered wedding garb to escape the cave alive.
What a concept! I’m impressed it managed to sustain a feature-length film but it did so easily without running out of steam. I didn’t love the scenes outside of the cave because the acting often felt forced and unrealistic, but thankfully, the majority of the film is spent inside the cave with Brown on her own.
Brown carries the vast portion of the film entirely by herself and is utterly compelling. She is in a green screen studio acting against nothing so it’s incredible that she made it all feel so believable. Elodie really gets put through the wringer – she falls, gets burned and is covered in cuts and bruises but she has to keep going. Thankfully, she has help from the women who came before her via maps and warnings. She is no damsel in distress – she is a resourceful, fearless fighter and an excellent role model for Brown’s young fanbase.
In the supporting cast, Robin Wright plays Henry’s icy mother Queen Isabelle, Ray Winstone stars as her father Lord Bayford and Angela Bassett plays her caring stepmother Lady Bayford. They aren’t on-screen that much though because this is Brown’s show. She probably has the most interactions with Aghdashloo, whose deep and low vocals fit perfectly with the dragon.
However, there are a few little niggles. All of the characters are underdeveloped, even Elodie, and there are some obvious green screen moments among the otherwise decent CGI. Plus, this is not the first film to follow a young woman as she fends for herself. But these issues are minor in the grand scheme of things and I didn’t let them stop me from enjoying this entertaining fantasy adventure.
Damsel may have a simple premise but it is executed well. What a pleasant surprise.
On Netflix from Friday 8th March