Netflix’s Damsel is another princess trope movie for romantic lovers, but it comes with a twist viewers didn’t see coming. In this fantasy film, the princess doesn’t need to be saved. She can slay her dragons and save herself from the clutches of death. Stranger Things Star Millie Bobby Brown plays Princess Elodie, who tries to fulfill her royal duty by marrying a wealthy prince only to be sacrificed to a dragon.
Princess Elodie faces many obstacles in her journey to be free, and while it’s exciting to root for her as she tries to stay alive, certain aspects of her story don’t feel complete. Like that fall after blood, the ceremony could have easily killed anyone, beating the whole point of giving the Dragon a sacrifice. From other loopholes in the lore to inconsistencies in the tone throughout the film, there are plenty of reasons why, as good as Netflix’s Damsel is, it isn’t as great as it could have been given more time to flesh out its characters and story.
Netflix’s Damsel Is a Fun Fantasy Film
One thing that made Netflix’s Damsel unique to watch was the unpredictable nature of the storyline. In most damsel-in-distress tropes, the prince usually comes to save the princess, and they live happily ever after. But in this Netflix flick, while the story starts like every other movie in this genre with the lovable and hardworking princess having to marry a man she doesn’t know to save her people, she ends up in a situation she never thought possible. The prince, who she thought would save her and her people, ends up being the one to throw her to her death. He was trying to marry another girl and sentence her to the same fate if Elodie didn’t stop this villainous family.
Brown is no stranger to being the star of scary and strange projects, so she quickly fits into this role even though she relied only on her wits and smarts this time. Elodie is a great female character; she is strong and badass, and with the directing and intriguing storyline, this movie is enjoyable for audiences. This movie’s survival and slightly horrific tone make it feel like a completely different film in its second half, and it’s great because it’s not the light-hearted, child-friendly tone fans would expect of such a film. The more mature and darker tone is what made adults enjoy watching Damsel. With her father’s death and the near-death moments Elodie finds herself in, fans get to root for her. The supporting cast is also filled with talented stars like Angela Bassett, Nick Robinson, Ray Winstone, and House of Cards’ Robin Wright, making each scene a treat.
Why Damsel Didn’t Live Up to the Hype
At the end of the day, Damsel, Princess Elodie, needed help. If it weren’t for her father coming back to try and help her escape, Elodie would have died in that cave after climbing up so far. Either she would have starved to death, fallen from that opening in the cave, or the dragon would eventually burn her alive like she did all the other girls who were offered as sacrifices.
While Damsel might seem like an excellent show for kids, it sometimes has very gory scenes that will scar younger audiences. For older audiences, however, the story sometimes gets shallow with plenty of loopholes, so it falls flat in certain scenes. While most of the storyline isn’t predictable, there are some instances where you can tell what’s about to happen. It took too long for Elodie to tell the mother dragon that she was being tricked into killing young girls who weren’t of royal blood. Only at the last moment, after she defeated the dragon using her wits, could she tell her what the evil queen and other royals had been doing all this time. The trailer also gave a lot away and made it clear that the handsome prince was the villain; the only question was what their motive was.
The scenes feel too shallow, which could be because of how underdeveloped the characters are. With big names like Bassett starring in this film, there was endless potential to do more with her character instead of appearing in a handful of scenes. If the film had been a TV show, there would have been more time to understand these characters better and trust Bassett’s character when she said something was wrong. It could have also shed some light on their step-daughter relationship, which seems healthier than most depicted in this film.
The ending also leaves a lot to be desired. While the queen and all her evil accomplices are killed, it wasn’t the most satisfactory ending for all the crimes they did. They needed to suffer the same fate and fear they subjected all the other girls to. But they got an easy way out. A series or three-part movie could have given a more thrilling ending that would feel worth it. The film ends with Elodie returning home with her family and the dragon. But what happened to the kingdom it had just burnt? Did the subjects survive, or were they killed as well? While Elodie walking away with the burning castle behind was reminiscent of Daenerys and her finale in Game of Thrones, it left a lot of questions for fans. We may never get all the answers we deserve, but we can get to know the Cast of Netflix’s Damsel a little bit better.
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