The Princess & The Frog by Nobbie Scratcher

The pro-immigrant, multiculturalist bent also serves the plot as it explains the Princess’ martial arts skills.Īs Linh, Ngo makes quite an impression. The political messages begin in the exposition: The good king’s sin in the eyes of the bad guys is his inclusiveness.

That isn’t to say it’s nothing but laffs and slashes. “The Princess” never reaches the “Suck it, Sir Isaac Newton” levels of “Fast and Furious” absurdity, but it does enjoy the bloody, bone-crunching action that lights up “Wick” fans. It’s produced by Neal Moritz of “Fast and Furious” fame and, natch, Derek Kolstad of the “John Wick” franchise. So how does a medieval damsel-in-distress story come to look less like “Rapunzel” than “The Raid” or “ John Wick”? It’s directed by Le-Van Kiet, a Vietnamese filmmaker trained at UCLA, whose martial arts actioner “Furie” (2019) became his country’s highest-ever grosser. She gains considerable help from friend and combat trainer Linh ( Veronica Ngo), leading to the ultimate confrontation with wedding-bent Julius and his most murderous minion, Moira ( Olga Kurylenko). Once she escapes her cell, the film takes on the shape of the martial arts classic “ The Raid,” with the protagonist having to fight all the way down the tower, through level after level of varied opponents.

When the Princess rejects her ill-fitting suitor, Julius seizes her (hence the two brutes) and takes her family’s castle. It couldn’t be more timely, and it’s a good time too. “The Princess” is an unabashedly feminist action-adventure in which the central character rises from her dormancy to slash the patriarchy. When the Princess says a planned life of submission to a cruel, unworthy husband is “like something out of a fairy tale,” it’s clear she’s not talking about a happy ending. Dad loves her but needs to marry her off to secure the future of the kingdom. The Princess has been promised in marriage to odious Lord Julius ( Dominic Cooper) by her very traditional king dad (Ed Stoppard). And by the way, King acts her way through the combat: The Princess can wield a sword and spin and kick like a martial artist, but she’s slight and smaller than her enemies, and King roots the moments in a consistent reality. A game King springs into action and shows off entertaining fighting skills that are anything but period, but who cares? The film has fun earning its R rating. Two brutish guards learn the hard way this princess isn’t waiting for a Prince Charming. But the ruse is quickly over, and the film shows its true colors with violent and exciting badassery. It gets cringier as we fly through a tower window to find the titular Princess ( Joey King) prone in bed, Sleeping Beauty-style. “ The Princess” starts bumpily, hitting branches on the cliché tree with medieval-y flutes and mediocre CG castle environs.

The Princess & The Frog by Nobbie Scratcher