The King’s Daughter is an occasionally lovely movie that I want to like and it wants to be liked. But it’s a mess of story ideas with poor directing or editing.
Set in France in the late 17th century, the film stars Pierce Brosnan as King Louis IV who has an illegitimate daughter stashed away in a convent. He decides to bring her to Versailles where she will be a court musician? Fish out of water? Something? Oh, and he wants to live forever so he sends a sea captain to find Atlantis and kidnap a mermaid that he can sacrifice on a solar eclipse. Got that? Good.
Neither this movie nor I know what it’s about. Is it about the king’s daughter trying to find her place in the world? Finding a man to love only to be told she must marry some weaselly guy? Or is it about a kidnapped mermaid? During the Free Willy ending of the movie, are the king and his guards chasing the princess to bring her back because she’s a beloved daughter or because she needs to get hitched? Or are they just trying to get the mermaid back? Or all three? One? Two?
Yeah, the story is unfocused. It kind of hinges on the mermaid but tends to forget she’s locked up for long stretches while it focuses on the king’s daughter. And then it remembers and decides she and the princess are besties even though they never speak. Or maybe she’s just in love with the sea captain. Or, I dunno… quick Free Willy!
And, yeah, the movie’s editing is a mess. Sometimes flinging wildly from scene to scene with no connective tissue or establishing shots. But, at the same time, sometimes it’s also lyrical and lovely… which it sometimes reaches by inserting anachronistic (but beautiful) pop music (but who’s going to argue accuracy when James Bond is the King of France?).
There’s some merit to this movie… I like the ambition and that it’s not just one thing… but it’s buried under a script that has cut out all that cohesive bits. It tries to make you care about the mermaid but, sir, I’ve seen mermaids and you are no Splash. Hell, you might not even be Aquamarine. But, hey, maybe it’s a perfectly pop-infused YA wish fulfilment of courtly romance? But even that’s plodding at times.
It could be good with even more editing or reshoots… but this movie was meant to be released eight years ago so I’m not sure any amount of slicing and dicing or extra shooting will save it. Just let it swim free and watch it jump to freedom… and die in the mediocrity of January.
Score: 66