DVD Review: THE KING'S DAUGHTER

THE KING'S DAUGHTER is a movie that was made back in 2014 and originally supposed to be released by Paramount Pictures back in 2015. It ended up in distributor limbo for about five years before securing a theatrical release that got pushed to 2021. It is a movie that was made 20 years or so too late. It didn't make a much at the box office and it was gone without much fanfare and poor reviews. It is a movie that would have been better made if it was produced 20 to 30 years ago where it feels like a made for cable or Netflix movie. Sometimes the special effects are subpar while the French palace looks exquisite.

Pierce Brosnan plays King Louis XIV who wants to be immortal so he can rule France justly for a longer time after a brush with mortality (from a failed assassination attempt). He believes the claims of a scientist about capturing a female mermaid from the lost city of Atlantis so they can sacrifice her at the heart of the upcoming eclipse and transfer her immortality to the king. Father La Cahise (William Hurt) is the only one that raises objections to this plan. A big celebration is also planned at the same time and King Louis XIV decides to invite his illegitimate daughter Marie-Josephe (Kaya Scodelario) to the palace so she can compose music for the festivities. His daughter is unaware of who her father is as she has been kept at a convent for all her life and continues to be rebellious against the strict rules of the nuns. Marie-Josephe hears the mermaid's call one night at the palace and she strikes up a friendship with the mermaid and her first musical composition is based on the melancholy in the mermaid's song. She also becomes attracted to Captain Yves De La Croix (who was responsible for capturing the mermaid).

SPECIAL FEATURES:
The deleted scene is a Dance Dance Revolution like dance scene with King Louis XIV and I wish it stayed in the movie

CAST REFLECTIONS ON THE KING'S DAUGHTER is standard promotion fare as the cast talk about the movie.

Rounding out the extras are previews for other Universal Pictures releases that play before the main menu.

FINAL ANALYSIS: THE KING'S DAUGHTER is a movie that was made twenty years too late. It is entertaining enough for a rainy day rental or something to discover whenever it lands on a streaming service.

This DVD review is (c)5-1-2022 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission