*This is a spoiler-free review so feel free to read on!*

“This story always ends the same…”

Damsel is a dark fantasy action film that premiered on March 8th 2024 on Netflix. It stars Millie Bobby Brown, Robin Wright, Nick Robinson, and Angela Bassett. It runs for an hour and forty-nine minutes.

A young woman marries a prince, only to discover that his family actually plans to sacrifice her to a dragon.

Here is the trailer:

Damsel follows in the footsteps of The Princess, presenting us with a capable and intelligent female lead who needs to rely on herself to save the day. Is it worthy of your next watch? Let’s find out…

The Pros:

Visually impressive.

This film was gorgeous to look at. It really felt like I was seeing an actual fairy-tale kingdom right off the page. The colors and costumes were aesthetically pleasing and I was impressed with the scenes involving the dragon.

Millie Bobby Brown gives it her all!

I really liked her in this and thought she stepped away from her character from Stranger Things in a bad-ass way, proving that she is more than capable of commanding the screen in different types of films. I’d like to see her do more than Netflix films because I think she has a lot of raw talent that is being stifled in a way, but I was rooting for her the entire time in this one.

I also wanted her character to give us some sarcasm or humor to lighten things up a little bit, but she delivered with what she was given.

The cat-and-mouse scenes were well done.

I loved the way the dragon toyed with her and I really enjoyed some of the earlier scenes in the cave where we got to see Elodie unlock her true potential with intelligence and courage. There were also some darker elements of horror in this one that I absolutely loved.

The Cons:

Nothing new here…

Look, I love modern day fairy-tales and I will continue to indulge in them. That being said, I’ve seen this movie before. I personally liked The Princess better, which had a better balance of bad-ass moments and humor to keep me fully engaged. I’m all for a strong female lead not requiring the prince to save the day, but this film needed some more edge to fully deliver.

It had some sprinkles of Ready or Not thrown in and if it had lightened up just a touch and found some twisted humor, it would have been a little bit more satisfying by the time I got to the end.

So am I in or out?

I’m in about 75 percent…

Millie Bobby Brown reminds us that she’s here to stay as a strong female lead in this bad-ass (but mostly predictable) fantasy-action flick.

A lot felt very by the numbers here, but if you enjoy twists on fairy-tales and anything with dragons, there’s enough here to appreciate for a decent enough movie of the week.

I hope you enjoyed the review and feel free to post your own thoughts on Damsel in the comments section below. Thanks so much for reading and happy viewing!

Best,

Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl

DON’T TAKE THE JOB…

It was only supposed to be temporary…but when Olivia Crewe accepts a new position that seems too good to be true, she soon discovers that twelve other girls previously had the same job as her. Only none of them lasted for more than thirty days. No notice. Nothing…right before they mysteriously disappeared without a trace.

My supernatural thriller Girl Number Thirteen is out now! I hope you enjoy!

Girl Number Thirteen is available here!

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