Plot: When goblins attack and capture the king, the young princess escapes with a poor jester, returning to his village. Disguising herself as a peasant to conceal her true identity, she learns how the subjects of her father live. Meanwhile, her stepmother has taken over the throne and she must devise a plan with her new friends to rescue her father and restore peace to the kingdom once again.
Runtime: 1 Hour 12 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Princess Halle and the Jester starts when King Victor (Herlong) is preparing to marry Perscilla (Stacy). His daughter Princess Halle (Duchesneau) doesn’t like Perscilla and when an incident happens, she ends up on the run. Goblins attack the castle, leading to Halle hiding out in Henri’s (Novak) village.
As Halle learns about Henri’s life, she learns of bigger dangers in the world, including giants. However, her new stepmum powers are gaining and her being alive makes her a threat to the throne.
Verdict onPrincess Halle and the Jester
Princess Halle and the Jester is a fantasy adventure following a princess who finds herself amongst common people. She goes into hiding after the kingdom comes under threat but soon learns what she could help in the world.
This movie has a story that could be compared to Snow White. The idea of a princess learning more about the world, while hiding from an evil stepmother. This side of things works well throughout the movie. However, the budget of the movie has held a lot back, as the CGI models look extremely out of place in the movie. If you can overlook the CGI, you can enjoy the fantasy story being told.
Where to Watch
VOD Release 5/21/24
Final Thoughts – Princess Halle and the Jester has a solid fantasy story.
Plot: Lured to a remote farmhouse by a deceitful relative, a young family fall victim to malevolent fairies who need sacrifices to renew their magical life force.
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Evil Fairy Queen starts when Kate (Czartoryski) gets called by an estranged relative Elspeth (Tcherniak). She gets invited to the family home with her family, Tom (Spendlove), Violet (Sudbery) and Adelaide (Leyland). The family gets an invitation to move into the country home, which they take as a chance for a fresh start.
Violet loves the chance to be in the country and meets Melisandria (Harris) who promises her a chance to meet a fairy. However, the fairies have their own desires with Kate and Violet and now they must figure out how to survive the evil appearance of the fairies.
Verdict onThe Evil Fairy Queen
The Evil Fairy Queen is a fantasy horror movie following a family who believe they have moved into a dream home. However, they learn that somebody has been planning for their visit and wants to take advantage of them being there. All in a battle against evil fairies who need more from the humans who visit their world.
This fantasy movie shows a darker side to a world of fairies. It has the same feeling as ‘Unwelcome’ when a family moves into a home which has a set of visitors who want more from them. This uses the evil presence to keep the family needing to overcome something they never believed. There is also the issue of a family dealing with their personal loss, which is often used for the supernatural to get closer. The movie does have low-budget effects, which could turn people off, but if you are used to this style, you should enjoy this movie enough.
Where to Watch
The Evil Fairy Queen (VOD Release 4/16/24)
Final Thoughts – The Evil Fairy Queen is a nice late-night fantasy horror movie.
Plot: A dutiful damsel agrees to marry a handsome prince, only to find the royal family has recruited her as a sacrifice to repay an ancient debt.
Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Damsel starts when Elodie (Brown) and her family are requested by Queen Isabelle (Wright) to marry Prince Henry (Robinson). Lord Bayford (Winstone), Lady Bayford (Bassett), Elodie and younger sister Floria (Carter) visit the kingdom. However, not everything is as it seems, despite Elodie going through with the wedding.
Elodie discovers she has been selected as a sacrifice in an ancient debt. She is tossed into an abyss where a creature waits to be fed. However, she isn’t going to go down without a fight, despite being hunted by the creature.
Verdict on Damsel
Damsel is a fantasy adventure following a young woman who is selected to marry a young prince. However, what seems like a perfect arrangement takes a dramatic turn when she discovers she is to be sacrificed to an ancient creature.
This is a fun little adventure movie, that takes us through a world of sacrifice and dragons. It shows how societies would use sacrifice to have power over the world. We get to see how greed controls the world before we get involved with the dragon battling. Inside the abyss of a cave, we see how Elodie never gives up and always finds a way in battle.
Millie Bobby Brown is great in the leading role and dare I say a potential next Lara Croft. We have big names in the supporting roles, and it would have been nice to see them have more to do. In the end, this is an entertaining movie without being jaw-dropping levels of fantasy battles.
Plot: A tale set on death row in a Southern jail, where gentle giant John possesses the mysterious power to heal people’s ailments. When the lead guard, Paul, recognizes John’s gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man’s execution.
Runtime: 3 Hours 9 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Green Mile starts when prison warden Paul Edgecomb (Hanks) gets his latest prisoner, the giant John Coffey (Duncan). His team Brutus (Morse), Dean (Pepper) and Harry (DeMunn) keep the jail calm before they meet their fates. They find themselves conflicted by his kind soft speaking nature.
However, loose cannon Percy Wetmore (Hutchison) makes their jobs difficult. As Paul gets to know John, he starts to learn that he might have a gift and wants to help people before Coffey faces his execution.
Verdict on The Green Mile
The Green Mile is a fantasy drama following a man placed on death row that has an amazing gift that can change people’s lives. It follows the guards as they get to learn and understand his gift, they start to question his guilt. However, the race to learn the truth is not their battle and they learn what they once had was special.
This is one of the greatest movies of all time, it could well be the best Stephen King adaptations of his work. The fact this movie is over 3 hours long and you barely notice because of how well crafted each and every scene is. We get an excellent mix of faith and law showing us how painful life can be for the innocent. Michael Clarke Duncan gives one of the greatest performances of all time, shining even more than Tom Hanks in the leading role. This is one of the most important and brilliant movies of all time.
Final Thoughts –The Green Mile is stunning, brilliant and one of the greatest of all time.
Plot: The thief Gaston escapes the dungeon of medieval Aquila through the latrine. Soldiers are about to kill him when Navarre saves him. Navarre, traveling with his spirited hawk, plans to kill the bishop of Aquila with help from Gaston.
Runtime: 2 Hours 1 Minute
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Ladyhawke starts when Gaston (Broderick) escapes from the medieval dungeon of Aquila. A place known that nobody can ever escape from. Gaston causes a manhunt for him until Navarre (Hauer) saves him. The pair continue on their journey to kill the bishop of Aquila.
However, along the way, Navarre’s hawk gets injured, forcing Gaston to search for help. As he searches for help, he learns more about the truth about the man he is travelling with. This leads him down a path of whether to help change the world for the people.
Verdict on Ladyhawke
Ladyhawke is a fantasy adventure following a young thief that joins forces with a mysterious warrior. He finds himself caught up in a battle to bring down an evil ruler and learn more about the world. This sends him on a path of redemption after years of committing crimes.
The movie ends up feeling like a true 80s fantasy movie. It has a journey that sees a young man thrown into a bigger battle than he could expect. We get the mythical transformations and the battle for love driving a character forward. There is also an evil ruler, but deep down, this one struggles to stand out above the rest in the genre.
Final Thoughts –Ladyhawke is a typical 80s fantasy movie.
15 Years Later: Is Inkheart a Mistimed Fantasy Tale?
On the 23rd of January 2009, Inkheart was released in the USA. Inkheart is an adaptation of Cornelia Funke’s novel and saw one of the most popular action-adventure stars of the time Brendan Fraser take the leading role. Not many people talk about this movie, and today, I am going to look back and see what might have caused the franchise to never have been returned.
15 Years Later: Inkheart
Story
A teenage girl discovers her father has an amazing talent to bring characters out of their books and must try to stop a freed villain from destroying them all, with the help of her father, her aunt, and a storybook’s hero.
Box Office
Inkheart was produced with an estimated budget of $60 Million and only made $63 Million worldwide. But why did it struggle so badly at the Box Office? The staggered release didn’t help, as the UK and other parts of the world received the movie in late 2008. While the biggest audience USA didn’t receive it in January, right in the middle of award season. After years of having a Harry Potter movie released around the Festive period, this seemed like an attempt to plug that hole, as the magical wizard had moved to a summer release.
Critical Response
Inkheart has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 38%. The consensus is that it is a bit clumsy and basic in how everything is presented. This is seen across the positive and negative reviews, which give a middling series of ratings.
The Fresh Ratings
Kim Newman’s Empire Magazine review quotes ‘Magical, if messy – this gets by on a good heart, high adventure and an unashamed love for books.’
Peter Bradshaw’s Guardian review quotes ‘CGI fantasy adventures in the post-Potter, young-adult, old-child mode are not quite my taste, but this one is likably boisterous, and Iain Softley directs with flair.’
The Rotten Ratings
Roger Ebert’s Chicago Sun-Times review quotes ‘No child seeing Inkheart will ever want to be read to again.’
Sara Michelle Fetters’ MovieFreak.com review quotes ‘Instead, much like a forgotten piece of pulp fiction, this film evaporates instantly from memory, the book closing on this one’s chances of success long before they even have a chance to begin.’
Cornelia Funke
Cornelia Maria Funke is a German author who wrote a host of fantasy novels. In 1993 the first of her ‘Wild Chicks’ series was released along with the ‘Ghosthunters’ series. Followed closer by the ‘Dragon Rider’ series.
In 2003, the Inkheart trilogy started, with follow-ups ‘Inkspell’ and ‘Inkdeath.’ As we know, we never got to see the sequels turned into movies, but there was potential there. Elsewhere, ‘MirrorWorld’ series has been released. Nearly all of her work as been adapted over the years, with Inkheart being the biggest worldwide appeal.
Fantasy Fatigue
We mentioned Harry Potter before, the juggernaut which dominated box office charts through the 2000s. ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ came out later in 2009. After previously being pencilled in for a 2008 release. Elsewhere, in the fantasy world ‘Twilight’ had just kicked started another novel series of movies taking the world by storm. ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ has released a third movie.
You must remember that in the early-2000s we saw the beginning of Harry Potter. The ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy stormed the Box Office and Awards shows. Studios jumped at the opportunity to greenlight any fantasy novel which had a global audience. By the time Inkheart was released, we had already seen some of the biggest attempts fail at the Box Office.
‘The Golden Compass‘ was the previous biggest failure. It couldn’t bring to life Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’. Which has become a popular television series in its own right in recent years. Outside of pure fantasy, The Marvel Cinematic Universe was about to start, taking away much of the similar fantasy love in the most recent years.
Cast
Brendan Fraser
Brendan Fraser had been on top of the world after his appearance in ‘The Mummy’. Unfortunately, his career didn’t take on the way others had in the past. He appeared in a string of movies that didn’t find real success. ‘Dudley Do-Right’, ‘The Quiet American’ and ‘Looney Tunes: Back in Action’. Brendan did appear in the Oscar-winning ‘Crash’, but we all know how popular that movie is now.
In 2008, Brendan starred in ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ and the third mummy movie, ‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’. With two fantasy films already completed, Inkheart made it three.
After Inkheart, Brendan fell off the map for major releases, turning to television for a return. In more recent years it emerged he was unfairly blacklisted for reporting sexual misconduct by a higher-up in Hollywood. 2023 saw Brendan making his triumphant return to Hollywood, winning the Best Actor Oscar for ‘The Whale’. He also appeared in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’. Hollywood has welcomed Brendan back with open arms and we can’t wait to see what he does next.
Eliza Bennett
Eliza Bennett is the youngest member of the cast, playing the daughter of Mo. She previously appeared in ‘Nanny McPhee’ before guest starring in a host of television shows. Her biggest movie role since is ‘Do Revenge’ the teen comedy available to watch on Netflix now.
Other Cast Members
Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, Jennifer Connelly, Sienna Guillory, Stephen Graham and Jamie Foreman filled the supporting cast. Just like many fantasy adventures, we get a massive cast of stars. Everyone involved understood their roles and has continued to have successful careers in Hollywood.
Could It Return?
Inkheart could return in some shape or form. I feel it would struggle as a movie, but there is no reason why we couldn’t do a television series. The streaming services are always after their latest big cornerstone project. However, this could be a lot smaller project that gathers steam. Any fantasy adventure could work in the modern era of entertainment. To add to this, we have seen the previously mentioned ‘His Dark Materials’ Disney has brought the ‘Percy Jackson’ series back and Amazon has been making the ‘Wheel of Time’ series.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, Inkheart came out too late into the fantasy boom, leaving it in the shadows of larger franchises. Harry Potter, Twilight and Lord of the Rings became the biggest and a lot like many others, Inkheart got lost in the shuffle. It has nothing about the lack of source material or performances. Unfortunately, it never captured an audience previous fantasy movies had.
Plot: An orphaned girl seeks revenge on the creature that destroyed her home, but discovers more in its lair than she bargained for.
Runtime: 10 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict on Villain
Villain is a short fantasy drama following Georgia (Ramsey) who sees her home destroyed by a dragon. She sets on a revenge journey to the dragon’s lair. However, she finds something even more surprising in the cave.
This is a short story, but it gets an amazing story of pure emotion, rage and desperation for revenge. The effects are brilliant with the dragon creation for such a short movie. However, it would be something that would be interesting to see learn even more. This is such a promising concept, with a great set of effects. We could easily see so much more from the director in the future, if their storytelling can continue to be kept so simply told.
Final Thoughts – Villain has excellent effects and an emotional story.
Plot: Follows 17-year-old Tim Walker as he travels from London to the Austrian Alps to attend the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a centuries-old forgotten passageway into the fantastic world of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”
Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Magic Flute starts when Tim Walker (Wolfe) looks to follow in his late father’s footsteps by heading to the Mozart Boarding School. Once there, he learns about the different groups in the school before discovering a forgotten passageway. It takes him to a mythical world where he faces new dangers and works with Papageno (Rheon) and others on a new dangerous quest.
As Tim finds himself adapting to his new school, he also spends time in the other world. He must learn to adapt to the two worlds as he faces different threats to make an impact in the worlds.
Verdict on The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is a fantasy drama following a schoolboy who discovers a secret passageway in his new school. It takes him to a fantasy world where he must help in a battle against an evil presence. Elsewhere, he must adapt to the new school life too.
This is a movie that feels like it is a cross between Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia. It creates a nice mood between the students, even if certain parts are dated tropes. The fantasy world is where things become most interesting, as we see a battle going on. This brings the music to life from some of Mozart’s most famous creations. In the end, this has all the parts you would expect to see take off, but it lacks the sparkly to make it do that.
Where to Watch: Signature Entertainment presents The Magic Flute on Digital Platforms on November 6th.
Final Thoughts – The Magic Flute lacks that sparkly to make it great.
Plot: When the harmony in a village is threatened by outside elements, two sisters must fight to save their people and restore the glory of a mermaid goddess to the land.
Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Mami Wata starts as we head to a harmonious village that remains away from the outside world, despite having the same everyday equipment. A young woman Zinwe (Aniunoh) doesn’t have the same beliefs as her mother who believes her daughter was a gift from their Goddess.
However, when more outsiders arrive in the village, the villagers start to notice changes around. Elsewhere, Prisca (Juhen) tries to receive help from professionals, the elders refuse outsiders help. This leads to a change in the villager’s mentality as they can’t cope with the changes coming their way.
Verdict on Mami Wata
Mami Wata is a fantasy thriller following the residents of a small village who see their lives turned upside down. They have lived a strict life following their beliefs, but outsiders start to see changes in everything they stood for.
This is a surreal experience of how easily a village can see everything they believed in ripped away from them. It follows the idea that generations have followed a belief and everything agreed it was right. However, an outside influence challenges the normal and that world changes. It highlights how cultures can change with the smallest influence and old beliefs can be forgotten quickly. Shot in black and white so parallel the lines drawn by the two sides proving there isn’t a middle ground in this battle.
Where to Watch: Sundance darling MAMI WATA arrives in U.S. cinemas Sept. 29th
Final Thoughts – Mami Wata is a surreal journey into changing beliefs.
