The 10th Kingdom

The 10th Kingdom

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DVD Reviews of The 10th Kingdom

DVD Review: A good wolf romance tale
Summary: 4 Stars

This movie will appeal to those who read lots of fairy tales when young. It was fun to find the fairy tale stories in this movie. Knowing the original fairy tales made the spoofs of them comical. If you've never read fairy tales or don't enjoy them, you likely will think this movie is very stupid, pointless, and not worth the time. If you don't like the Wolf right away, don't bother watching the rest of the movie. If you don't like his romance with Virginia, you won't like anything else about the movie, since it will be 7.5 hours trolls and a manic murderer chasing Virginia and the dog (a prince transformed by a spell). Additional plots develop near the end of the movie to help explain the evil queen's true self (Virginia's mother), leaving nearly the whole movie for you to wonder where she came from.

If you have kids that like to watch a certain movie over and over and over and over and... Well, try this one. For the price, it's cheap entertainment. At least you won't have to watch a 70-minute movie over and over (ever watched the Pokemon movie over and over days on end? UGH!), you can break up the monotony by stretching it out to almost 7.5 hours.

CAUTION: This movie is NOT recommended for children under about 6-8. Almost every scene involving the trolls contains quite a bit of serious violence that is probably rated R. The scary trolls may even give young viewers nightmares, since their only goal during the whole movie is to find the dog and later Virginia and kill everything that gets in their way. Throughout the movie the Huntsman coldly pursues Virginia, the dog, and any one getting in his way. He's like a methodical, calculating serial killer with all the charm of a serial killer. Not nice. Eventually after chasing Virginia and the dog for hours and finding no success, the Huntsman convinces the trolls to join him. Great, 3 bumbling dangerous trolls and a serial killer teamed up to serve the evil queen for even more violence. Toward the end of the movie, the theme of Virginia's mother (the evil queen) trying to kill her when she was 7 by drowning her in a bathtub, played over and over and over, ought to bring shocking chills that is more graphic than Trolls committing their own violent acts. The queen attempts to justify the attempted murder by telling Virginia that she was nothing more than a mistake when conceived. I'm sure every child likes to hear that. (Everyone knows trolls are scary and dangerous, but to graphically demonstrate a mother attempting to murder her own child might be a bit much for little ones.)

The Wolf really DOES steal the show. I found myself only mildly amused by the overall plot of the movie and kept watching. However, I found the plot of romance between Virginia and the Wolf to be the theme worthy of waiting to see what happens next. This could have been a story in itself and been a wonderful movie. What lady could resist a cuddly cute guy that's a little quirky, yet strong enough to get in touch with his weaker side (in order to tone down his violent wolf nature through self-help books)to gain Virginia's attention. His persistence eventually pays off with a wild romp in the woods, wolf style. You know that part of the story ends well, since Wolfie insists that wolves mate forever and he's found his love. Virginia's father never actually acknowledges his acceptance of Wolfie pursuing his daughter (doesn't every father like to see his precious daughter pursued by a wolf right before his very eyes?). He seems to suspect the desire of Wolf's pursuits, and later, eventually after seeing how well Wolfie takes care of Virginia (who's often bratty and snotty to her father because she's stuck in a fairy tale), convinces Virginia that maybe she likes Wolfie more than she wants to admit. Virginia thinks about it, and seems to agree, from then on she surrenders herself to Wolf. Wolf leaves just enough wondering to keep you guessing until the end if he is the good guy or the bad guy, since he's really working for the evil queen and has an agenda to capture the dog and Virginia and bring them back to her.

I rated this a little bit less than perfect because of the unnecessary violence in the plot. The troll scenes are just plain annoying. Also, each world Virginia and her father pass through is essentially to introduce as many fairy tales as possible and none of the fairy worlds is more than a passing spoof. (If you desire a well-developed fairy story, LOTR series is better at placing the roles in the plot.)

Hope you find my additional comments useful.

Description of The 10th Kingdom