DVD
REVIEW: PRINCESS
10/05/09
SYNOPSIS: The 32-year-old clergyman August returns home from years of missionary work abroad because of the death of his sister Christina, who – after going from greatness to the gutter as the famous porno star ”The Princess” - has finally died of drug abuse. She has left her five-year-old daughter Mia with Karen, a prostitute. August pays them a visit to bring Mia home with him and become her guardian.
Burdened by sorrow and guilt, he decides to avenge Christina’s death and brings Mia along on a crusade to clear his sister’s name of pornographic connotations. The mission escalates into a brutal and violent rout as August attempts desperately to protect the only thing he holds dear – namely Mia – forcing him to make a fateful decision.
REVIEW: Princesses movies are always so charming, classy, romantic, and magical. Well at least that is what Disney and many animators from the east and the west have portrayed so far. With the upcoming movie Princess and the Frog and The diamond Re mastered once again released of Disney ‘s all time classic “Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs” I was feeling in a princes sly mood to see another magic tale. As I took a look to my new DVDs I could not help to notice Morgent Haler’s animated movie: Princess. Just by looking at the title I could not help to think that this was going to be another predictable “fairy- happy ending tale,” type of movie. But when I saw the cover and the first 5 minutes of the movie I was glad of two thing: first, to have picked this movie over any other of my Disney Collection, and Second that I was not watching it with any of my younger relatives.
First the positives: I loved this movie’s story. It is original and appealing to adults, it is not the typical fighting, or revenge animation with a “perfect” hero, on the contrary it is August’s traumas, and Mia’s though passed what make them some appealing. , also I liked the style the director took in mixing the cartoons with real life characters and objects. The director knew exactly how to combine the animation with the reality without make the audience feel awkward and uneasy. Each animated scene is well depicted and they would not have looked and impart the same feeling to the audience any other way, either by its graphical as well as magical approach, and each real life scene brings the story to a more believable concept. And there is no doubt that the director was not intimidated in showing what he wanted to depict, specially in Mia‘s character. Character wise the main characters are excellent, August double personality, and Mia’s experiences and innocence combine produces an awesome combination for just good times.
Now the negatives: although the main characters are well portrayed from the beginning of the movie, the secondary characters and specially Charlie and the princess have little or none character development, little is known about them during the movie and what we see of them leave us with more uncertainties. Also for hard core animation fans this could be a major let down. Personally I found it a perfect fit for the movie, the characters are not as detailed as manga or regular animated character instead many of them look ordinary, and since there is more dialogue than action it might feel for animation fans that this movie could have done well just if it was completely acted, however, in my opinion, the animation managed to show the emotion and f the action when it is required. And although is not a top of the line it gets its point across.
I think that Princess have more qualities than defects, it is one of those movies that hypnotize the audience the entire 90 minutes with astonishing visuals, well develop story, and an ending unlike any princess story. I recommend this movie to people who enjoy action, foreign and animation movies, and are willing to read subtitles, as the DVD only comes in Danish. It has parts that it looks just a mixture of Miyazaki’s early work with Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange. It is magical, exciting and weird.
Review
By Milo
milo@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
Widescreen Version 2.35:1
AUDIO:
Danish Dolby Digital 5.1, and Dolby Digital stereo 2.0
English Subtitles
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The DVD unfortunately does not have any special features, but its theatrical trailer. It would have been cool for it to have at least a short interview with the director or the writers to learn more about the idea behind the story. However in my opinion I rather have a DVD without any Special features than one full of just waste material.
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