Damsel starring Millie Bobbie Brown

Well, we have the first poster for the Netflix movie Damsel starring Millie Bobbie Brown. Their Twitter says we can expect a trailer on Saturday. Here’s the synopsis from Wikipedia:

Oh, that sounds loosely based on the Prince Lindwyrm fairytale. Cursed prince that was turned into a dragon at birth demands brides that he keeps eating, one cunning sacrifice figures out how to survive and cure him with some help from a friendly witch. Neat.

This definitely sounds like a movie that I could enjoy! ^_^

Trailer should be today. Got a draft for the work page ready to go. Fingers crossed they give a release window.

Update: There isn’t a window… fine. Here’s the sandbox for the draft page. Please feel free to contribute.

The trailer:

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Nov 11th 2023 at 4:34:34 AM

This looks cool. Also can say I like Millie Bobby Brown and like seeing her in more things.

Certainly a promising trailer, to my eye! The approach and perspective seem unusual, the plot seems interesting, the location seems cool, and, well, it has a fire-breathing dragon. ^_^

If there is one thing I know it's that everybody likes dragons. I have not met one person who does not like a dragon.

..... Except fairies. Fairies don't like dragons.

Trailer only further convinces me that this is an adaptation of Prince Lindworm, which I've noted on the sandbox above

For those curious and wanting a more indepth TL;DR than the one I gave above:

Looks like they're doing a Darker and Edgier Grimmified take on it where the brides are unambiguous sacrifices, this has been going on for a very long time, and the Damsel may well need to slay the Dragon rather than save it. The King and Queen are also almost definitely going to get some Adaptational Villainy.

EDIT OF MY PREVIOUS EDIT: Never mind. I thought I'd found a much shittier trailer they'd put together months ago that used AI voiceover due to the Hollywood strike, but it wasn't real; I was misled by some chatter on social media

Edited by Dirtyblue929 on Nov 15th 2023 at 8:58:10 AM

We have a new poster with a release date:

I went ahead, took the sandbox page, and turned it into an official page. Sandbox is on the cut list.

Bumping with the latest trailer:

The plot kinda reminds me of My Little Sister Stole My Fiance where a Duke's daughter named Eliana gets sacrifice to a dragon after her engagement to the crown prince gets cancelled after her sister stole her fiance. Except meeting the dragon was the best thing for her since the dragon named Greed not only can transform into a human and treats her like an actual person and not a pawn, but when her new fiance takes over a ruined nearby kingdom and Eliana goes to her homé country as an ambassador, the royal family along with her family try to frame her for witchcraft and try to execute her, Greed kills and tortures the preparators and takes over Eliana's country.

The movie sounds like a good idea while I am a little tired of Millie Bobby Brown but I could give the film a chance to see if the ideas it want to express are working.

Damsel just came out today and I just finished watching it. Without spoiling it, it was pretty good. I'll let you guys decide what you think.

Of all the things I thought I'd see in this movie, Princess Buttercup herself as a downright terrifying archvillain wasn't one of them.

Watched this today and enjoyed it! Without spoiling anything, I'd only seen one trailer before watching, and while I'd say the plot was fairly simple (which I don't consider an issue, myself), it didn't go how I thought it would.

Watched this myself. Millie Bobby Brown is a definite contender for the title of Scream Queen.

Edited by SilentHunterUK on Mar 13th 2024 at 10:40:11 AM

Sounds like the movie is performing real well on Netflix. Been at #1 for the last week.

I am not sure how good a measurement being top on Netflix is right now. It got 35 million views in the first three days, unclear if that is US or worldwide. Of course, just starting it counts as a view, so we don't know how many finished it. It does indicate that the pictures Netflix used interested people.

It does seem to have divided audiences though. With some finding it horrible and others finding it good. It does seem to be more a horror than a fantasy or fairy tale movie.

The maiden being sacrificed goes back to St. George and the dragon, and other similar stories. Although, the tendency is to treat Disney's Sleeping Beauty as the typical fairy tale.

Edited by ry4n on Mar 17th 2024 at 1:34:29 AM

There's definitely some audience members who found it a horrible "girlboss" kind of movie. There being less than 10 replies in this thread I thought there was some validity to that.

That said Disparu and Critical Drinker were the first two that came up when I did a search for Damsel reviews, and they hate everything so I was thinking it might not be so bad.

• It sounds like a unique concept (as interesting as stereotypical female role subversions are these days; hold on wait what, the PRINCESS is gonna fight the dragon!? That's so wacky!) with a fun premise (Eleven has to save herself from a dragon without telekinetic powers and the prince charming is a jerk)
• but that kind of plot can be great for the first act (setup) and the second (all that alone time with the character putting up with their insecurities and weaknesses only to grow stronger in order to face the literal dragon in this case
• Then the third act is going to come and the people who put her in that situation are painted as ridiculously mustache-twirling evil where two endings can happen
  • she ends them Red Wedding-style in some incredibly ironic reversal of misfortune (I Spit On Your Grave, basically every rape and revenge film out there)
    • she ended up calling the dragon to murder the oppressors and walked away with plans to aid her people
  • or there's a Sequel Hook with a check that can't possibly be cashed where she goes after the real villains elsewhere, but the sequel's premise can't live up to the original's intensity (Riddick, Taken, Hostel)
    • maybe the dragon is gonna do this and the next movie will be called Dragon instead of Damsel?

I'd put this above Madame Web - the actor and studio cared. It's just not a movie I found interesting. I like my fantasy subversions darker and more morbid (Alice Madness Returns, Slay The Princess, Braid). The gimmick is taking that old fairy tale and going "but what if the princess and the dragon fought back and the rest of the cast were the villains except for Elodie's stepmother?

Like right there, compared to traditional fairy tales

I feel like this film was more for Millie Bobby Brown to break out of her typecasting than anything else. There's beauty to these passionate, action-dramas though. Warrior's Way, In Time, Fight Club, Taxi Driver, Sucker Punch, etc.

Edited by FOFD on Mar 17th 2024 at 10:45:47 AM

I don't think the concept is that unique. Inversions of fairy tales are more popular than playing them straight. Especially, the rescue the princess from a dragon story is rare compared to how much it is referenced in parodies and inversions. I think Sleeping Beauty is the only Disney film in which the prince fights a dragon, for example. Also, while the prince rescues the Princess in older Disney films, it usually isn't the main plot. Passive princesses are also rare now.

I read that the ending was changed, with the original ending as less of a twist.

The director makes mainly horror, which was probably a good choice for a princess saves herself movie. A big portion of horror fans are women, as well as most fans of feminist fantasy.

If you don't like the search results you get, try searching elsewhere. I like Rotten Tomatoes for getting an idea of what reviewers are thinking. (A lot of them are thinking it is derivative)

So we've had this, Sea Beast, and Nimona now with the twist that, while they did do some bad things, the "horrible monster" was largely the victim of a smear campaign. Wonder if that's a new trend for fantasy.

That is on trend with villains but The dragon in Damsel wanted to kill the princesses to punish them for what their ancestor did. That is a bit more than an eye for an eye. Also, if you are going to eat someone, you have the responsibility to do due diligence.

This movie was much better than the reviews led me to believe. The crap that Elodie goes through kind of reminded me of Lara Croft's trials in the reboot trilogy.

Just saw this movie and I liked it! The plot sort of reminded me a bit of Ready or Not (2019) where the main character marries into a family that ultimately wants to kill her by feeding her to the dragon. I do think that the twist at the end of the movie was okay and it was nice seeing a movie about dragons again.

Edited by Rabbitearsblog on Apr 2nd 2024 at 11:41:33 AM