Donzela

You get what's promised: a well produced movie centered on the struggle between a princess with a strong sense of honor and the dragon to whom she was to be sacrificed.

The timing and pace of the story is well balanced. A straight forward simple plot, basic dialogue, and surface-level only character development in keeping with the kind of fairy tale stories it is based with a little twist on the old tales in that the princess finds her own strength and makes her own choices.

Locations, sets, costuming and CGI were all well done and everyone delivered solid performances.

It's not "Reign of Fire", more like a "Snow White", so don't overthink it or expect anything groundbreaking and just watch an entertaining movie.

I didn't expect much from this movie, but wow, was I pleasantly surprised. Granted, the sorry is fairly simple and somewhat shallow, but the action is incredible. The cinematography is fantastic and the special effects are phenomenal. Everything is seemless. Director Fresnadillo did a masterful job. I fell in love with both Elodie and the Dragon. (Millie Bobby Brown is much better here than in that lame role as Eleven in Stranger Things!) And if you find yourself rooting for the Dragon, don't give up! Not sure I like the very end, but I can't come up with a better ending myself, so I'm quite satisfied.

I don't recommend watching this with very young children.

Damsel really isn't as subversive as it thinks it is and takes way too long to get going, wasting the first 30 minutes on a twist so obvious the trailer didn't even bother to hide it. Once it actually gets to the central idea of cat and mouse between a Princess and a Dragon it's a lot stronger, powering through on the momentum of the endless chase.

Despite a few big names in the supporting cast, Millie Bobby Brown really carries this. There's some really clunky lines of dialogue here and she delivers them with enough conviction to make them work. Shohreh Aghdashloo voicing the Dragon is inspired casting that really helps it get going after the weak opening.

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's direction does a lot to help this Netflix original come closer to looking like a real movie compared to a lot of what's come before. It essentially spends the entire run time alternating between some solid sets, locations and distractingly low quality CG with some good individual set pieces and ideas which remind you this is the director of 28 Weeks Later.

You know what. I liked it. Was it a masterpiece? Nope not at all. But not every movie needs to be. Some days you just want to be entertained and this movie does the trick. Sure it was corny and predictable, but sometimes you want that in a film.

But it also held my attention for the entire run time - which is kinda impressive considering my short attention span (normally I'd be on my phone after the first 30mins or so).

Plus the dragon was brilliant. I loved everything about it. It's design and animation was cool and Shohreh Aghdashloo's voice was perfect fit for the dragon - Gravelly, but still matronly and feminine.

If you like female heroines kicking butt, dragons, fantasy and pretty special effects and just want some mindless entertainment - give it a try.

Fantasy isn't my favorite genre, but I thought this one was a lot of fun. LOTR or Willow it is not. I highly doubt it will stand the test of time because it lacks the depth and complexity of great fantasy movies. Even so, it was (for me, anyway) a nail-biter and a perfect low-investment, high-velocity movie for a night when you just want pure entertainment. There are a few missteps that made me roll my eyes a bit, such as Brown's overdone makeup, but I wasn't expecting great art. My only regret is that I watched it right before bedtime, because it was so exciting that I had a hard time falling asleep and sleeping deeply.