Review: The Proud Princess spins a good-enough fairy tale
There's a tweet format that goes around once in a while: "We need a Disney princess who ________." People finish the sentence with their funniest or most unhinged (or, I guess sometimes, earnest) suggestions. It's a good time. The Proud Princess, a Czech animation that is currently playing in limited release, and will be released digitally next month, feels like the movie adaptation of a tweet I imagine someone has formulated at some point: "We need a Disney princess who's an asshole."
The film starts by introducing us to the dashing and mischievous King Benjamin, who prefers to spend his time in the castle gardens rather than on the throne. He would rather pick apples than tend to his royal duties, much to his advisor's chagrin. But, he does finally show up to see the portrait of Princess Carolina, a potential bride for the young ruler. It's love at first sight, an extreme version of it. How crazy is it to fall head-over-heels for someone you're only seeing a painting of? I guess that's the royal life for you.
The movie is divided pretty neatly into two halves: the wooing and the fleeing. As you might imagine, Benjamin does eventually win Carolina over, and they decide to flee to the neighboring kingdom (where Benjamin rules, still unbeknownst to his love). The film then becomes a series of encounters with Maximus and his goons, eager to recapture the princess so they can wed her off to some other rich royal. Being based on an old fairy tale, it's perhaps not surprising that there isn't much narrative steam here. It's pretty repetitive, with the heroes getting away only to be overtaken again and again, often thwarted because Maximus throws a ball to distract Bijou, which in turn reveals a hiding spot.
Based on a 19th-century Czech fairy tale, this story has been adapted to the screen before, most notably in a 1952 film by director BoĊivoj Zeman. This new version feels feels like it owes a debt to classics like Shrek and Hoodwinked, delivering sass and comedy as it spins its take.
The film starts by introducing us to the dashing and mischievous King Benjamin, who prefers to spend his time in the castle gardens rather than on the throne. He would rather pick apples than tend to his royal duties, much to his advisor's chagrin. But, he does finally show up to see the portrait of Princess Carolina, a potential bride for the young ruler. It's love at first sight, an extreme version of it. How crazy is it to fall head-over-heels for someone you're only seeing a painting of? I guess that's the royal life for you.
However, when Carolina sees Benjamin's portrait, she doesn't feel the same. Here's the thing about Carolina: she's a petulant brat. Her first scene is her being a total jerk to her servant as she gets dressed for the day, moving like a whirlwind through her room, leaving it looking like a disaster zone. The only one she's kind to is her dog Bijou, but honestly, she's not even a good dog owner! She regularly leaves Bijou in dangerous situations.
Carolina's character is a sticking point for me in this movie, even though her character is also like...the point of the movie. It's the titular role! This is a movie about a nasty person being reminded of her inherent goodness, being nurtured back to kindness, which is very fertile fairy tale ground, but it does make it a little hard to buy into the proceedings a bit.
Because the main narrative thrust of the movie is that Benjamin disguises himself as a gardener and starts working at Carolina's castle, trying to woo her while the evil advisor Maximus and his cronies (including an extremely observant weasel) do everything they can to keep things under their control. All they care about is hoarding money under the king's nose, and marrying Carolina off to the royal who will bring in the most gold.
It seems wild to me that Benjamin decides to stick to his scheme after meeting Carolina, because I'm telling you, this woman has no apparent redeeming qualities. She's so mean and nasty and rude. The only thing we have to go on to believe she can be better is the word of her former nanny, who recalls the princess being kind and lovely in her childhood, before her mother died and Maximus showed up. Personally, that would not be enough for me to go through with a scheme like Benjamin, but I guess that's true love? Who can say.
The movie is divided pretty neatly into two halves: the wooing and the fleeing. As you might imagine, Benjamin does eventually win Carolina over, and they decide to flee to the neighboring kingdom (where Benjamin rules, still unbeknownst to his love). The film then becomes a series of encounters with Maximus and his goons, eager to recapture the princess so they can wed her off to some other rich royal. Being based on an old fairy tale, it's perhaps not surprising that there isn't much narrative steam here. It's pretty repetitive, with the heroes getting away only to be overtaken again and again, often thwarted because Maximus throws a ball to distract Bijou, which in turn reveals a hiding spot.
But, the credits roll after like 75 minutes, so it's not much of a sin that this doesn't have particular narrative depth or thematic resonance. It's ultimately a fairly simple fairy tale retelling with fine animation and some enjoyable humor. The Proud Princess isn't anything we haven't seen before, but it's a good-enough take on classic fairy tale tropes that I liked checking out.
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