Damsel
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Writer: Dan Mazeau
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett, Brooke Carter, Nick Robinson, Robin Wright, Milo Twomey, Nicole Joseph, Shohreh Aghdashloo
Seen on: 22/23.2.2025

Plot:
When Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown) receives an offer of marriage with Prince Henry (Nick Robinson) from Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright), she is surprised. But duty demands that she accepts the offer, as her father Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone) reminds her. Their people are poor and a connection to the prosperous kingdom of Aurea could change everything. Elodie is willing to accept the marriage proposal, despite her stepmother’s (Angela Bassett) concerns, especially when it turns out that Henry is very charming indeed and the two take a liking to each other. But there is a darker reason for the marriage proposal as Elodie is soon to find out.

Damsel is a nice adventure film that is not great, but entertaining enough with a nice twist on familiar fairy tale tropes. You could definitely do worse than watch it.

I am a sucke for fairy tale retellings and reinterpretations, especially when they have a feminist agenda, and Damsel certainly sets out to do that, although one has to admit that its reinterpretation is not all that revolutionary anymore. Nevertheless, it is fun and it has some nice touches in the details that keep it from feeling stale.

For one, I really appreciated the relationship between Elodie and her stepmother that avoids the pitfalls oft he evil stepmother trope without going straight into „she’s a second mom“ territory. I also loved how Elodie’s wedding gown becomes a tool to her, instead of entrapping her. And Elodie’s little sister Floria (Brooke Carter) and how the two of them relate to each other is also awesome.

The cast is pretty great – Millie Bobby Brown on a mission is fun to watch indeed, and Angela Bassett and Robin Wright are formidable queens. As is Shohreh Aghdashloo, who voices the dragon with much gusto and enough emotions to make the character work.

The action scenes did grow a little long for me, and I really don’t like any kind of plot that relies on the factual existence of „royal blood“ as if royalty is something physical and not something social. These were the major drawbacks for me, together with a couple of plotholes. But it is still a fun film that does what it sets out to do very well.

Summarizing: nice.