Das zehnte Königreich

To the pantheon of unusual spins on fairy tales (Into the Woods, Shrek, Enchanted) we can add "The 10th Kingdom". I didn't expect anything profound, and there is a lot of the stuff that we expect in fairy tales, even in twists on fairy tales. Nonetheless, it's a fun miniseries with some neat surprises along the way. It was impressive to see Rutger Hauer in the miniseries, considering that he died a few months ago.

I wanted to mention Ann-Margret's role. To avoid spoilers, I won't tell you which character she plays. What I will say is that I occasionally come up with stories and imagine certain actors and actresses in the roles. One of the stories with which I've come up would presumably feature Ann-Margret playing essentially the same character that she does here (but with a different name, natch).

Anyway, it's a fine eight hours. Maybe the ending was a little cliched, but everyone else more than made up for that. No shortage of enjoyment here.

Hallmark's miniseries "The 10th Kingdom" is not based on any book, and given the staleness of so many fantasy adaptations, that may be a good thing. But it is reminiscent of a range of novels, the kind where modern big-city dwellers find themselves thrust into a preindustrial and typically magical setting. It's a genre that has rarely been done well on screen and is usually the domain of outright camp like "Army of Darkness" (not that there's anything wrong with that). Yet here it is, a straightforward epic fantasy in this tradition, and it doesn't embarrass itself.

About a decade after its original airing, which I missed, I picked up the DVD intrigued but not excited, impressed by the big names in the cast but hardly expecting anything more than a reasonably competent production--at best. I remembered the unhappy experience of Sci-Fi Channel's "Legend of Earthsea," which not even Danny Glover and Isabella Rossellini could save from sheer awfulness. I also remembered Hallmark's solid if unmemorable "Gulliver's Travels" with Ted Danson. I assumed that was the best these sorts of projects usually got. Halfway through "The 10th Kingdom" I was hooked, realizing I had never seen a TV fantasy serial this good before, and savoring every moment.

It begins in the realm of "the nine kingdoms," where an evil queen (Dianne Wiest) plots to take over by transforming the king-to-be (Daniel Lapane) into a golden retriever. The Dog Prince escapes by jumping into a magic mirror, which turns out to be a portal to present-day Manhattan, and crashes into a young waitress (Kimberly Williams) riding her bike through Central Park. At first she thinks it is a stray, until she starts noticing its rather un-canine behavior, such as tracing messages in spilled flour. The queen sends three trolls and a wolfman named Wolf (Scott Cohen) after them. The Wolf sells the waitress's dad (John Laroquette) a magical bean in return for the address of her grandmother's apartment where the girl is headed. If you think you can guess what happens next, you're probably only partly right. Here as in elsewhere, the miniseries follows the fairy-tale conventions only to subvert them.

I was a little uncertain about these early scenes, especially those involving the dim-witted trolls who seemed to have stepped out of a Saturday morning cartoon. They tromp through New York, or what they call "the tenth kingdom," calling each other "you idiot" and puzzling over such sorcerous objects as cars, boomboxes, and elevators. But the series picks up pace when the waitress and her dad, accompanied by the Dog Prince, enter the alternate world, where the classic tales of Grimm exist as historical events from a couple of centuries before. "Happy ever after didn't last as long as we'd hoped," the Dog Prince sullenly observes. The Wolf, appearing at first as a sort of Jim Carrey-esque comical villain, soon makes a hilarious and scarcely believable transformation into a fascinating character who dominates the whole story. Meanwhile, the queen sends a menacing Huntsman (Rutger Hauer) to track the group down, wielding an enchanted crossbow guaranteed to kill a living being every time it is fired.

The miniseries cruises through these events with a confidence in tone that screen fantasies often fail to achieve. It strikes a balance between seriousness and silliness, creating an involving and often funny adventure that grows in complexity as the protagonists traverse the different kingdoms. Some elements are more or less predictable, such as the way the mirror that will lead them home always manages to stay just beyond their reach. But the story has a couple of real surprises along the way, and as the Wolf character becomes the focus of attention, we realize we don't want the girl and her father to return home just yet; what's happening in this realm is more compelling.

Among the funniest scenes are their encounters with a blind, demented woodsman, a singing ring, and a trippy swamp with talking mushrooms swaying to "A Whiter Shade of Pale." We meet a few fairy-tale celebrities including a zaftig Snow White (Camryn Manheim) and a 200-year-old Cinderella (Ann-Margret), but most of the time the miniseries settles for more indirect references, such as a logical question that somehow never crops up in most tellings of "Rapunzel."

But "The 10th Kingdom" is not a "Shrek"-style parody. For one thing, while it isn't anywhere near as dark a subversion of fairy tales as "Pan's Labyrinth" or Terry Gilliam's "The Brothers Grimm," much of it seems aimed at adults, despite its being labeled in many places (including the DVD cover) as a family film. (That may be one reason for its poor ratings: people were unsure who the intended audience was.) For another, it takes the fantasy part seriously. It vividly imagines the nine kingdoms with their own history and rules, and although many of the elements will be familiar to those well-versed in the fantasy genre, they frequently come with a twist. (Even something as obvious as the werewolf legend is handled in an interesting manner, emphasizing the psychological over the physical.) As usual, the magic never works quite as well as it is advertised: it's unreliable, or unpredictable, or dangerously addictive.

With high production values and a supporting cast full of British character actors, "The 10th Kingdom" has the mark of quality. But it wouldn't have amounted to much if the story weren't compelling. There are several things that make it work: a warm, natural chemistry between Laroquette, Williams, and Cohen, as the father, the daughter, and the enigmatic Wolf; two juicy villain performances by Wiest and Hauer; and a continual inventiveness on the part of the filmmakers, who seem to have put much thought into the subject of fairy tales, but who didn't let their hard work stop them from taking many risks with the material, making the story a lot more fun than it had to be.

When I was first approached to watch this film, I noticed the length and was completely turned away. Ten hours. Who could endure this many interactions with children's storybook characters? Luckily, my wife sat me down and we began this lengthy process. To say the least, I was impressed. Directors David Carson and Herbert Wise did a spectacular job of bringing the magic and detail of fairy tales to the small screen. Through the voyages of our three main heroes, we see so many of our childhood escapes. Places where only our imagination took us before, we are guided through the images of modern television.

Imagination is only part of this miraculous tale. This film keeps with the modern idea of fairy tales with some very dark thematic elements. The scenes with the Trolls and with Snow White were spellbinding. You could literally get lost in this film and never want to escape. John Larroquette and Kimberly Williams are decent in their roles (about average for television), but it is Scott Cohen as the Wolf that literally steals every scene. He plays his part to the fullest extent. Ed O'Neill and Rutger Hauer also contribute well to this story.

Overall, this was a beautiful (if long) story that continually pushed the boundaries of a television mini-series. I never knew where it was going to take me next or which fairy tale it would dive right into. There was never a dull moment and it is a story that can be watched over and over again. This is a treat for anyone with a passion for children's literature!

Grade: ***** out of *****

I think I'm going to have to disagree with the critics on this one- I thought it was pretty good. When 'The 10th Kingdom' opened to universally negative reviews and plummeting ratings back in February, I wasn't even sure I was going to take the time to watch it. I remember, about two months before it opened, reading a newspaper article on the miniseries, and laughing at it. The article wasn't very flattering, and I was looking forward to seeing it fail. As the next two months passed I saw it advertised heavily on NBC, and I thought it looked pretty good. I did some looking around on the internet, and I became intrigued by it. I was still convinced it would fail, but I found myself counting down the days until it began.

After the first installment, I was hooked. Despite being downright silly much of the time, the scenery was absolutely extraordinary, ditto for the special effects. I ended up watching all five two hour installments, and I can't think of anything better that I could have spent it on.

Granted, the series still has several problems. The one thing I was disappointed most by was the lack of screen time of many of the *name* actors. Ann-Margret had only a few minutes, and Camryn Manheim appeared in only one installment. Also, Rutger Hauer had only about twenty minutes on screen spread over several installments. While still good, John Larroquette and Kimberley Williams didn't quite have either the talent or drawing power to hold the series.

Still, it was surprisingly engaging, and very well photographed. If you have the time, watch the series, I doubt you'll be disappointed

7/10

I was telling my brother the other day that this mini-series is for everyone who ever loved fairy tales when they were kids, and I'm telling the same thing to my fellow IMDb users now. The opening title sequence is one of the most beautiful things you will ever see on TV. The performances are all top-notch, especially Scott Cohen as Wolf, Ed O'Neill as Relish the Troll King and Rutger Hauer as the Huntsman. The guest stars get to hog the limelight as well. John Shrapnel is truly menacing as the Governor of Snow White Memorial Prison, a guy you would love to hate. Two of my favourite dwarfs, Warwick Davis and Mike Edmonds get in on the fun as well. Ann-Margret doesn't really do much with her appearance as Queen Cinderella, though. The really great thing is the story. It reminds us how not all fairy tales are fluffy and sentimental (The Grimm fairy tales weren't just named after their authors, you know), and great new worlds are presented before us (Kissing Town is a highlight.). The romance between Virginia and Wolf is truly touching as well. Humour is also provided by the bungling Trolls Burly, Blabberwort and Bluebell and by Daniel Lapaine as the Dog in the Prince's body ('Prince Wendell loves biscuits!'). There are a couple of hairy moments (the trial in Little Lamb Village) but overall, you will love this. I recommend that you also read the novelisation of this series as it clears up a few plot points.