Princess Ka'iulani

This movie was off-putting for me for more than one reason. To be completely honest, I might actually have enjoyed it had it not been for the casting of the main character. I could not understand this casting, for more than one reason. I could possibly have dealt with the more obvious reason if the actor had been ethically true to the character. But this is not the case, and as such I really was not able to understand what the casting director was thinking. Evidently, the character (the princess) was of mixed race, partly European. As such, the actor chosen to play the role should have had similar ethnicity. The actor is evidently of mixed race, but this in and of itself does not make the actor ethnically correct for the role. Even if the actor, like the character, was 1/2 European. The other half of the actor's ethnicity is that of a particular group indigenous to Peru and some of the countries that neighbor Peru, mostly to the south. This ethnicity is a branch of the indigenous people of America, who entered America from Siberia a little more than 10,000 years ago. This ethnicity has very little in common with the Polynesian people who populated Hawaii, i.e., the indigenous people of the Hawaiian islands. As I tried to watch this movie, I couldn't get past the fact that the main character looked absolutely _nothing_ like what she should have looked like. This _ruined_ the movie, and would have no matter how good the movie might have been in most other respects. Why would the casting director have done this? All too often, movies that cost a lot to make are ruined by inexplicably bad choices made by casting directors.

The film isn't that great of a film, but the topic is certainly important and rarely seen. The period costumes are good and the tone is equally good, but it's a bit dull.

Not every princess meets a prince and lives happily ever after in his castle. This is a good alternative story. It's based on fact but just "based on". As an accurate representation of all the historical details and the Hawaiian culture, others have criticized it. My "8" is an assessment of the the movie as a decently told and entertaining story. If it inspires viewers to think more about the way the US acquired Hawaii as a territory, that's certainly a bonus. The actors are good, especially the young woman playing Kaiulani. The sets and scenery are gorgeous. The Victorian costumes are very -- Victorian! I can't imagine wearing those sumptuous, heavy clothes in the Hawaiian heat, but it appears they really did. Overall, well worth a viewing.

I went in this movie looking forward to see Q'Orianka Kilcher's performance after having the pleasure of watching her acting in The New World (2005). Unfortunately for me, this movie failed to live up to my expectations. Before I talk about the negative aspects of this movie, I should talk about the few good things: the cinematography and costumes are breathtakingly beautiful, but they can't make up for the blandly delivered dialogue, the emotionless, awkward romance, and some atrocious pieces of acting. Now, the actors themselves have proved they can act in other movies; thus I find fault with the director and the script. I wasn't connected at all to the love story and I found myself not believing anything they said or felt for each other. Except for some sensual kissing scenes, the romance was poorly done. Aside from that, the movie is full of historical inaccuracies, although I've come to expect that when watching a period drama film. My verdict is to skip this movie and go read or watch a documentary if you want to know more about the real Princess Kaiulani.

While this film is very well done stylistically, the scrip took far to many liberties with the history of the truly tragic story of how the peaceful kingdom was literally stolen by American businessmen with the aid of the US government. The romantic elements were pure fiction.