Damsel suffers from the same issues that plague movies of this kind, and no, I'm not talking about the "woke agenda" or "muh diversity". I'm talking about bad writing. Too much reverse "show, don't tell" and too many contrived scenes and one-liners.
The CGI is good, the costumes and set designs are good, the overall plot is good, but the writing falters often.
I get that this is a PG-13 movie but teenage viewers aren't this dumb. Give them better writing. Maybe if we treat the younger generation like they have some intelligence, they'll start acting like it.
The end result is a movie that wastes its star power and the effort of all involved.
VAGUE SPOILERS AHEAD:
- I get they were trying to do foreshadowing with the opening scene, but it ruined the "reveal". The birds were a nice thrilling scene that fell flat by us already being shown the antagonist.
- The "V" hallucination was just too silly. Elodie should have found the evidance and had her own organic "Tis a lie!" reaction.
- It would have been nice to see Elodie wield a sword at some point before they left their kingdom, even if it was just her toting one in her introduction scene "for wolves" or some excuse. Take some hints from Brave (2012)'s Merida in the future for crying out loud.
- Sister's reaction to stepmother's concern felt forced.
- Stepmother's cut should have been a stab and she should have been in worse shape when she found Elodie. That scene also needed some work to make it less unbelievable. Like perhaps have Elodie make it back to the ship and find stepmother badly injured. Time skips are a thing that happens, y'know?
- Father's reasons could have been better written. Easily they could've had palace guards shadow him to imply he'd been threatened and then redone his rescue attempt. Why? Because he is never shown to be callous to the needs or feelings of his daughters. Their family being threatened would've made more sense than "well I thought the sacrifice was worth it for the good of 'OUR' people". Why they had him say "my" is anyone's guess.
- Less stoic one-liners and less stoic "No! <*thrusts sword into ground*>" moments. We've seen it numerous times and it's just utterly boring and contrived at this point.