The King's Daughter

 Once upon a time, there was - and still is - a movie studio called Paramount Pictures. They started production in 2014 on a fantasy adventure called The Moon and The Sun, based on Vonda N. McIntyre's novel of the same name. It seemed like a fantasy classic in the making. But Paramount suddenly decided to sit on it like a golden goose egg rather than let the public see the fruits of their labor. It found its way to Gravitas Pictures, who rebranded it as The King's Daughter, and they only recently released said fruits of labor.

How is it? 

One word: "Meh."

Our heroine is Marie-Josephe (Kaya Scodelario), an illegitimate daughter of King Louis XIV of France (Pierce Brosnan). She's spent her life living in a convent driving the nuns mad (side note: Julie Andrews is the narrator. Let the casting gag sink in.). Anyway, the "Sun King" summons her to Versailles for reasons. She likes it there until she finds someone ...

It turns out King Louis is keeping a mermaid in a cave. He wants to sacrifice her (Fan Bingbing) during an eclipse so his sun can never set. Marie-Josephe is the only one who can communicate with her. She discovers the mermaid's healing abilities firsthand. She's naturally horrified when she finds out Louis's intentions. She's also betrothed to a boring duke named Lintillac (Ben Lloyd-Hughes). Her heart is really with Yves De La Croix (Benjamin Walker), the man who fished out the mermaid. The two of them decide to free her. 

I must say that this is a dull cliche storm. There's literally nothing surprising with the plot and characters. Sure, Marie-Josephe reacts with shock once she learns of her parentage and betrothal. But you'll feel nothing for her.  Her betrothal seems like an afterthought for King Louis. A bunch of dialogue is a mountain of exposition. A good chunk of the prologue is spent with The King and not His Daughter.  It's not a good way to start.

The biggest problem is the mermaid. There's nothing wrong with her personality and her visual effects are adequate. But there's nothing about her. She's mute with some barely discernable telepathic dialogue. Marie-Josephe has to relay her thoughts and feelings. What could've been an interesting deuteroganist (I've read a summary of the novel, and she is so) is a plot device instead. Marie-Josephe and de La Croix's relationship is no adequate substitute. 

What else can I note? The only memorable bit of music is when De La Croix fishes out the mermaid. The violin theme so obviously like those in Pirates of the Caribbean. The mermaid's cave looks straight out of the Disneyland ride. Its overall visual effects aren't spectacular, but they aren't awful. There's also some decent location shooting at the actual Versailles. William Hurt is also on hand as the only interesting character, Pere La Chaise, the King's advisor who ends up helping Marie-Josephe free the mermaid.

Almost a decade of micromanagement hasn't been kind. Or maybe it wasn't good to begin with? The King's Daughter is a boring but short movie. A book about its making, as well as the actual source novel, sounds more interesting. Its story beats have been done better in other films. See those other films (like ET, Free Wily) instead. If you want a recent family film with a strong female protagonist, then you have to see Belle. You'll feel a lot more for its main character than anyone in this film.