3/5 stars
Fairy tales in a post-Game of Thrones wonderland need to wield significantly more bite if they are to be taken seriously, and Millie Bobby Brown presents her young fans with a thoroughly modern take on the damsel-in-distress in the action-packed fantasy Damsel.
After headlining Netflix’s runaway smash hit Stranger Things, the 20-year-old actress cemented her relationship with the streaming giant by producing and starring in a brace of successful Enola Holmes adventures.
Damsel sees Brown take an executive producer credit in addition to playing Princess Elodie, a plucky young princess who agrees to an arranged marriage – only to discover she is to be sacrificed to a giant, fire-breathing dragon.
Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, best known for helming horror sequel 28 Weeks Later, Damsel looks to subvert a number of long-standing fairy tale clichés – but in recent years, even Disney has copped to this strategy.
We are now at a point where watching a capable young woman eschew tradition and take her fate into her own hands is no longer a surprise, but rather the new normal.
This timeless tale begins innocently enough. Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone) is in desperate need of funds to support his destitute citizens, so readily accepts a proposal for his dutiful daughter’s hand.
Eager to see the world, Elodie agrees and the family journeys to the wealthy southern kingdom of Aurea, ruled by the instantly suspicious Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright). No sooner have vows been exchanged and her family returned home than Elodie is escorted up a mountain and tossed into a deep chasm.
It transpires that Aurea has been suffering under a curse for centuries, and every generation must sacrifice a royal virgin to appease the wrath of the mountain’s fearsome dragon.
Now trapped within a labyrinth of tunnels and catacombs, Elodie finds herself in a life-or-death battle of wits with the beast if she is to avoid the same fate that has befallen dozens of young women before her.
The role of Elodie is perfectly tailored for Brown, who evolves seamlessly from prim and proper princess to resourceful action heroine – as her wedding dress undergoes a similar transformation.
Shohreh Aghdashloo lends her distinctive gravelly timbre to the dragon, transforming a potentially primitive beast into a tenacious and worthy adversary.
Beyond this central stand-off, however, the rest of the cast is reduced to shallow, insignificant stereotypes, while the stilted dialogue and stiff regal accents prevent this occasionally inventive and entertaining fantasy achieving the postmodern feminist stature to which it so clearly aspires.
Damsel is streaming on Netflix.