The King's Daughter Review: Brosnan Stars In Joyless, Confusing Fairytale Mess
The King’s Daughteris quite literally a film from another time. Filmed back in 2014 and held from release for a myriad of reasons, the adaptation of the 1997 novel The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre finally gets its day in the sun in 2022. Shelving films is often a drastic and sad move, but this film makes a case for such things can happen. Some films just don’t have it in them to be great, despite the potential being so high and The King's Daughter is certainly one such film.
Kicking off this peculiar fairytale is King Louis XIV’s (Pierce Brosnan) illegitimate daughter, Marie-Josèphe (Kaya Scodelario), who was hidden away in a covenant. The king not only has an aversion for caring for his children, but he is also opposed to aging. To fight mortality, King Louis XIV commissions a search for a mythical mermaid. His efforts are complicated when he invites his daughter to court to become his new music composer and she happens to discover the existence of the creature. Marie-Josèphe is a free-spirited young woman who instantly connects with the CGI mermaid (Fan Bingbing), finding a kindred spirit within the creature. Marie must do what she can to protect the mermaid from the selfish royal, who, unbeknownst to Marie, is her father. The story seems simple enough, but what unfolds for an hour and thirty minutes is a film that is anything but.
Related: Cinderella Review: 2021's Fairytale Adaptation Is Hollow, Bland & Cringe-Worthy
The King’s Daughteris a bit of a convoluted mess. It is annoyingly set in France while the story is inhabited by non-French actors. With the creative liberties the script — by Barry Berman and James Schamus — takes with the novel, the film could have transplanted the story to the U.K and made
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