“Stranger Things” heroine Milly Bobby Brown emerges as a pretty pugnacious warrior princess in “28 Weeks Later” director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s above-average medieval fantasy “Damsel.” Although she spends almost every minute in distress, she never requires the services of a man to deliver her from adversity. Our beautiful heroine finds herself in a position that foreshadows wealth, affluence, and love until the dark truth reveals itself. Indeed, she is poised to die an ignominious death in a sizzling wreath of flames from jaws of a vengeful dragon! Initially, “Damsel” unfolds like a predictable fairy tale. She is a beautiful young thing poised to become the wife of a handsome young prince. She hopes he will be kind. Not surprisingly, “Wrath of the Titans” scenarist Dan Mazeau appropriates all the time cliches of the genre but stands them on their collective heads. Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone of “Beowulf”) has negotiated a marriage of convenience for his adorable, Elodie (Milly Bobby Brown), to a sovereign. Prince Henry (Nick Robinson of “Silk Road”) will wed her in his distant kingdom under the icy eyes of his mother Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright of “Forrest Gump”) who is Janus-faced. Basically, the twin ravages of starvation and ecological ruin have virtually destroyed Bayford’s kingdom. His decision to give his daughter’s hand to a stranger prince so his subjects will flourish is not in Elodie’s best interests. No sooner has our heroine exchanged vows than the Prince ushers her up a winding path into a mountain cave.
After a brief ceremony concludes, Prince Henry gathers an unsuspecting Elodie gracefully in his arms and then without warning throws her off a bridge into a shadowy abyss. What poor Elodie doesn’t realize is a humongous dragon with a ravenous appetite awaits her when she lands with a thud. This ferocious flying reptile is herself a scorned mother, and Queen Isabelle has served her human sacrifices as part of a debt because her army slew the dragon’s three offspring in the nest. The King and his army skewered the demons with their swords, and the dragon swept in and roasted in a blaze of fury. Afterward, this talkative dragon toys with Elodie. Thus ends the first half of this tolerable 110-minute fantasy. One of the features that solidifies “Damsel” as a fantasy is its loquacious dragon. Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo of “Star Trek Beyond” provides the voice and gives the CGI dragon a faintly menacing personality. Elodie and the Dragon start out as antagonists but once their minds meet they become sisters.
The first half of the action chronicles the hopes and dreams of our fair heroine as Lord Bayford and Elodie’s stepmom, Bayford’s Queen Lady Bayford (Angela Bassett of “Black Panther”) inform her of her impending nuptials. They set sail in a wooden ship for a distant kingdom. Elodie dreads her future. Nevertheless, dutiful daughter that she is, she accommodates her Lord despite her apparent misgivings. Imagine her surprise when she finds herself flung into a gloomy cavern to face a smoldering female dragon with the power of speech. Elodie survives a variety trials and tribulations in her efforts to elude death. While she wanders desperately through an inhospitable maze of caves, she encounters some exotic creatures. After her first brush with the dragon, Elodie discovers that some glow worms, slightly similar to maggots, are useful in restoring charred flesh. Eventually, her father and several men enter the cave to save her but they struggle to survive themselves. The incensed reptile dragon sets them ablaze and crushes Lord Bayford under its claw before it resumes her hunt for Elodie.
However, Elodie improvises and turns the tables on her enemy. Although she out-smarts the evil dragon, Elodie takes pity on it. She understands how the bereaved creature has been mistreated and told lies. In a reversal of fortune, Elodie saves the dragon’s life, using those glow worm maggots to restore the dragon’s health. Indeed, the fiendish flying flamethrower had cornered Elodie, but our heroine survived by her wits. Cleverly, she stood with her back to a huge curved rock structure. Nimbly, she sidestepped the burst of the dragon’s sulfurous breath so the flames blew back onto the beast, singing it into submission! Meanwhile, since Elodie has managed to survive thus far, the evil Queen abducts Elodie’s younger sister, Floria (newcomer Brooke Carter ), as a substitute. The act of treachery cements Isabelle’s villainy.
Meantime, once Elodie befriends the dragon. She explains the circumstances of her predicament and wins the sympathy of the hideous creature. Together, they team up and take on the evil Queen. Perhaps the Queen’s impending comeuppance is a little too obvious, but it is entirely satisfying. The computer-generated scenery of a fanciful kingdom looks spectacular enough, even though it is obviously synthetic. The detail in the depths of the cave during Elodie’s journey of hardship looks good. The CGI of the dragon stands up to scrutiny for the purposes of this revisionist fantasy. Sadly, despite its twists and turns, nothing about the shallow characters makes them remotely memorable. Indeed, characterization is kept to a minimum. Despite the horrendous obstacle course over which our heroine triumph, we know in the end she will win out. As a Young Adult fantasy, “Damsel” qualifies as worth watching once.
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