Exercise your inner child with this fabulous fairytale caper. (10th Kingdom, The)

Member Name: millwall23

Product:	10th Kingdom, The
Date:	17/09/02 (551 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun

Disadvantages: Childish!

"You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not'" - George Bernard Shaw

Not just a great philosophy but also the premise for this film.

What if happily ever after was just a con? What if Snow White was a size 18, Red Riding Hood's great grandson was a Wolf and Cinderella was alive and well and over 200 years old? What if ever fairy tale and nursery rhyme character you ever read about were real and living in a world connected to our very own? What if YOU were the myth?

This is the basis of the 10th Kingdom, a world where Jack's Beanstalks grow high and pollute the land, where trolls, dwarfs and fairytale queens live and rule. A screenplay written on the idea that all of this was true and what would happen if a young woman and her father rediscovered this world and their destiny.

The story

In the center of the nine kingdoms is the fourth kingdom ruled by Prince Wendell heir to the throne of the whole of the nine kingdoms. In the dungeon of this the forth kingdom is the evil queen and her pet dog, destined to remain there forever. Hand chosen by the wicked stepmother of Snow White to continue her work she remains in the dungeon until the Troll King (Ed O'Neill) agrees to help her escape in return for half of the forth kingdom.

Casting a spell which transforms Prince Wendell and her pet dog into each others bodies the evil queen sets about her plan to take over the whole of the nine kingdoms forever. But she doesn't foresee the escape of the now canine Prince nor his escape through a forgotten magic mirror into the tenth kingdom - earth or more specifically Central Park, New York!

With the help of the most unlikely father and daughter the Prince must stop the queen and save his coronation before it?s too late. A task that would be hard enough even without being persued by three Troll children, a Huntsman and a
human "Wolf". Their journey takes them through each of the kingdoms and into danger, adventure, love and a shepherdess competition!

The Cast

Kimberley Williams (Father of the Bride) plays our heroine Virginia. More of the girl next door than a sex kitten her performance ranges from enjoyable and capable to really annoying. Kimberley has a whiney voice that becomes frustrating but the character feels real and believable and she makes the best out of a pretty thin character.

Her father Tony is played by John Larroquette. Virginia's father and is a portly, balding janitor whose greed far exceeds everything even his laziness. The character can be equally shallow and obvious as Virginia's but he does have a knack of giving enjoyable facial expressions and body language which saves him. He also serves up some of the best one liners of the film and overall turns out to be one of the better characters even if John Larroquette himself can be a trifle annoying). If he wasn't so obvious given that this film is a 15 certificate (so they're not trying to reach a child audience) it would have been much better.

Ahhhhh the adorable Scott Cohen (Kissing Jessica Stein) who plays Wolf, originally freed from the dungeon by the queen to retrieve the dog (Prince Wendel) Wolf is the most varied and enjoyable character in the film. Scott Cohen is wonderful and convincing as Cinderella's great-grandson a human wolf, a despised and feared race that still has a taste for little girls! Wolf is the romance, the betrayal and the humour of the film and not just a little bit tasty too. Sometimes he can be a little stupid with his howling and scratching but get passed that and you've got the best part of the film, it's clear that most of the effort went into writing the part of Wolf and it's perfectly cast.

Dianne West who I'm particularly fond of as an actress plays the evil queen and she quite obv
iously revels in playing the villain. She almost oozes viciousness but the not
so secret twist to her character is just a little bit cliched and disappointing. Her wardrobe and makeup are superb and Dianne West simply is the queen in all her glory as you might imagine her from your childhood storybooks. The only thing I disliked is her stupid pet dog who of course now is Prince Wendell, there is only so much you can take of a man pretending to be a dog BADLY.

On the trail of our heros are the stupid three trolls played by Dawnn Lewis (Blabberwort), Hugh O'Gorman (Burly) and Jeremiah Birkett (Blue Bell). They feed off each other and add a generous helping of laughs in each of their scenes. Stupid, ugly and everything a troll should be these three BeeGees fans are thoroughly entertaining.

Don't forget to look out for Jimmy Nail and of course Rutger Hauer who is superb as the queens Huntsman.

TASTY OR TAT?

To me? Tasty.
To my husband? Tat.

It's a film of taste, it has its good points and its bad but the very short version is if you like fairy stories and adventure films you'll probably love this. Think average acting, obvious story, daft jokes and bags of fun for those of us who never grew up! It's not an Oscar nomination but it offers a lot to anyone with a lust for fantasy and indulging in dream worlds. This is a chance to go back to your childhood for a few hours and enjoy the stories you used to love again. Have you ever read a book as an adult you loved as a child? If you did, didn't you find it had lost the mystery and failed to give you the enjoyment you found way back then? If so then this film is a chance to get back that innocent daft thrill of escaping into make belief!

Their license to do what ever they liked with the old fables and fairytales makes for some very nice irony and black humour. It probably takes several views to fully take in each and every li
ttle hidden joke and reference to the famous stories though but if you enjoy this film you'll want to watch it over and over anyway.

Far from being polished it could have done with a bit more effort in places, it occasionally feels as if they didn't read the script before shooting it or just plainly got bored. However overall it's simply a bit of fun, not one for discussion or thought provoking and luckily although it does have the obvious happy ending they managed to leave out all the little "lessons" that you quite often find in these movies. Directors David Carson and Herbert Wise a pretty good job convincing you that there really is a fairy tale world. It's fast and interesting enough considering they had to pack in seven hours of viewing and for the most part the direction delivers well.


Locations

As they pass through each of the 9 kingdoms they visit some beautiful locations that were shot here in our very own England, Austria and France. Another great thing about the film is the sets, the attention to detail needed to capture your imagination and draw you in has been done and although they're not extravagant they are realistic and believable. And the morphing scene at the start of the film is very good even if it only lasts a minute or two. Special effects aren't spellbindingly good but you won't find yourself rolling your eyes in dismay and some are reasonably clever, with a $40 budget you'd expect something pretty good.

Musically apart from "A Whiter Shade of Pale" the soundtrack isn't one you're going to want to go and buy and their attempt to turn Queen into a nursery rhyme needs some desperate attention but it's a giggle and helps move the movie along nicely.

Overall the film doesn't take itself seriously and I simply love the scene with the two doors - one leading to safety the other to a death, a real giggle!

Facts and fi
gures

A 15 certificate means that although it's a fantasy based on childhood stories the content is often not suitable for children at all. Overall I wouldn't worry about letting a younger viewer watch it but there are some scenes that I would so if you're going to let someone under the age of 15 watch it then make sure you do first. There are some sexual scenes and moderate violence in places but nothing I would say is too bad.

Time wise this is not a film for one sitting unless you plan to get up watch the film and go back to bed. At a whopping great 7 hours you'd be better to watch it in two or three sittings. Originally it was broken up into six episodes and shown on Sky One as a mini series, which worked quite well.

DVD EXTRAS

The DVD is available as a two disk or three disk version. Extras take less than an hour and aren't overly impressive.

There is the documentary 'The Making of The 10th Kingdom' which is hosted by John Larroguette and was apparently made for the American audience to promote the mini series before it's release. With some shots on production, some information about the story, the characters and interviews from some of the cast it's pretty interesting but one viewing will be probably all you'll get out of it. It's approximately 22 mins long in total but has some annoying pauses where the advertisement breaks would have been where it was shown.

The other features are just basic, there is a map of the 9 Kingdoms and as you click on each one it tells you very quickly who rules it and a little facts about it. It character list and cast and crew information are simple pages of facts with very little information - a quick browse maybe.

And of course the usual scene access and production notes.

RATING

If you grew up and stopped liking these sort of mind numbing playful fantasy films then don't even bother looking it
up. You'll hate it, however if you're into all that make belief fun then if you find the time to watch it you'll enjoy ever ounce of it providing you don't expect too much in terms of acting and storyline. A big old 7/10 for quality and 9/10 for pure enjoyment.

The extras are poor though so just a whimpering 4/10 and that's being nice.

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