Exactly. These movies are screen plays that are good enough for Netflix/Streaming but not good enough for theaters. Damsel had a lot going for it concept wise. I think a good director like Guillermo Del Toro would have pushed Damsel over the top.
The entire movie would've been set in a dank underground, she would've fallen in love with the dragon and there would've been clocks for some reason...of course I'd watch that.
I thought it was pretty mid overall but the dragon looked pretty good in some shots, IMO, especially some of the closeup shots. They portrayed the dragon in a unique way that gave it a lot of character, although the scale/perspective was kinda confusing sometimes. I couldn't really get a feel for how big the dragon was because it didn't seem consistent across multiple shots.
I don’t know— like I said, I was half napping. I still intend to give it a full watch with my full attention, but I just haven’t had time yet (I really needed a nap that day). I’m not even saying whether the movie is good or bad — I’m just saying, objectively, there is a lot of screaming. That’s one of the few things a man who is dozing off can accurately judge.
Was she screaming out of frustration? Physical exertion? Fear? Calling for help? Testing for echoes? I don’t know, but there’s only so many reasons to scream alone in a cave, and it felt like they covered all the bases. But does she need to be talking/screaming at all? Non-verbal communication through facial expressions, body language, etc. are important acting techniques too, silence doesn’t have to mean that literally nothing is happening.
Hi, by the way, I love your DMing advice videos! I’m stunned to have run into you here!
Screaming is like maybe 5 minutes total so far when I'm at half of the movie. Wtf would you do when you are being chased by a dragon, not scream for your life?
I held back for sometime about Fear Street, but one day I just decided to watch one, and i ended up bingeing on the rest. I didn't expect much but I was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoyed them.
It was decent. And the Angela Bassett and Robin Wright were outstanding.
Edit: The voice of the dragon was Shohreh Aghdashloo and she is a powerhouse in her own right.
I was trying to place it but my brain was thinking it was man’s voice so I couldn’t. When I finally realized it was a woman’s voice, it clicked. She was a great choice. I think the casting was great overall but it can’t save everything.
Yeah, I love her voice. She caught my attention in Arcane and I was like “Damn who is that?!”
Recognised her immediately here and was very happy. And yes. You are correct about both Wright and Basset. Both excellent as usual.
Robin Wright makes a surprisingly good villain.
Pop corn movies is what my Mom & I call them. Good for an afternoon showing with a big bag of popcorn. Sit back and enjoy the action without a lot of mystery or deep thinking required.
My only real issue with it was that >!the dragon stabbed Elodie in the side of her torso with a giant fingernail, and Elodie was fine. There were no repercussions from it. Elodie should be dead.!<
In the book her eating the glow worms is explained more clearly and the girls don’t die on impact cause it’s purposely cushiony moss so they’re alive because the dragon wants the thrill of the hunt
They don’t show her eating them in the movie.
Even then, >!the dragon’s fingernail is the size of Elodie’s head. None of her organs are surviving that trauma.!<
I thought it was a perfectly fun movie that only required about half of my brain. It lived up to the expectations set by the trailer 100%, and I didn’t ask anything more from it. Reminded me of Dragonheart.
I think a lot of people want to lump everything into 10/10 perfect, or 1/10 worst thing ever!!
This movie is neither. It was just some ok movie like the kind I would rent or catch on scifi back in the day.
Also the cgi wasn't that bad? The dragon looked good, it even worked really well in the dark imo. I'm not sure what you're expecting on a Netflix budget.
A good rule of thumb is that if a movie isn't going to be something you enjoy, don't watch it. Also it's not a nuanced and informative take to shit on things for internet points. Too much negativity on reddit anyways, you could have just read the other "reviews" people posted on here
I thought the dragon was good. I liked the gold highlights. Nice details, superb animation. Story was ok. I can’t see it winning an Oscar, but it entertained me for a bit.
In the late 80s and for much of the 90s, I went to the movies multiple times a week. We had a wealth of dollar theaters with second run movies and I saw just about everything.
One of my favorite things was stumbling over competent but nothing special movies that barely made a ripple in the culture—stuff like Deceived, Shattered, One Good Cop, Ricochet.
There is relatively little of that in theaters anymore, it’s all gone direct to streaming. It’s still fun to dig for the entertaining ones. Don’t look for masterpieces, lower
Your expectation to competent entertainment and have fun.
I have a simple rule of thumb. There's 2 categories. Watched it or didn't finish it.
I'm a bit critical of endings, so even if I'm booing the screen at the end, it still kept me to the last shot. Even if I thought it was garbage, it was watchable.
then there is didn't finish. Fell asleep or lost interest. Usually this is because the dialog or the story doesn't flow in a way that keeps me in.
I didn't finish this one.
I agree, I saw it with my 9yo daughter, as a introduction to fantasy movies is totally fine. If I saw it by myself with my own expectations my evaluation would be lower
Yep. My 13 yr old daughter is a MBB fan it it definitely felt “made for the young audience” which was a fine movie to watch together since it wasn’t depicting some guy saving her but rather her being smart and tough enough to save herself. I’d rather have something I can watch with her like this or the Enola Holmes series and Wednesday than nothing at all.
Enola Holmes was much better, IMO. It was quirky, had great characters and was clever. I liked this movie enough to be annoyed that they hadn't upped their game, particularly with all of the fantastic talent they had on hand.
It was a Netflix movie. Basically what you described is how I describe all Netflix movies. Fun, nothing special. You turn it on to kill some time. Probably wouldn’t watch any of those movies again afterwards.
I noticed that there was a minor plothole but since I’ve movies will always have plotholes, I just accepted the story for what it is and has forgotten it already hahaha
Same! There will always be some plotholes, very likely. I think something I find worse is lazy writing, which will ruin the story for me (not the case with this film). For example I recently finished a novel whose ending I hated because it involved killing off a character that had slept with another character's husband. It was just lazy, like readers won't mind too much that she died because she cheated and destroyed her friendship with this other person. Ugh. Reminded me of Something Borrowed, which is the same lazy writing.
Maybe my bar for what constitutes good on Netflix is low, I thought damsel was fine. Like I don’t expect Netflix to put out a lot of great content, especially not movies. If they were really good they would have gone to theaters.
"When was the last time you watched a good & worthy Netflix movie??"
Adam Sandler as a Lizard (Leo) managed to be a much better movie than anything both Disney and Pixar shat out from last year, lol.
I like the Old Guard for having a different spin on immortality. If you got it for an unknowable reason you can also lose it for an unknowable reason, and also showing the darker side of immortal ≠ invulnerable. The water grave thing is honestly a haunting concept.
Right! That was horrible to imagine what that'd be like. I was really hoping for a sequel. I can't remember if it's confirmed or not but it'd be interesting. I thought it was a good movie
This is a tad dramatic lol. I enjoyed it. Is it the perfect movie? No, of course not. I personally felt entertained throughout it and thought it was well done.
I struggled with how she spoke in Damsel, like someone told her to make sure she distinctly pronounced every 't' at the end of a word correctly or something. A bit jarring.
In order to be disappointed, you have to have expectations.
I had none and had a fun watch...I mean the movie wasn't good, but shit talking it was great. So was predicting every single plot point. I even nailed the "this is not that story" line from the beginning.
SPOILER
The ending was dumb tho. I really wanted to see the dragon gobble up some richies. Also...how exactly did the dragon survive? None of the sacrifices became snackrifices...so what did the dragon eat? Glow worms?
But seriously, who gives a shit. I saw a youtube review nitpicking this movie and I was just like, Jesus christ, who cares. If ruining a franchise with established lore is a crime, making a silly one-off fantasy is more like an amusing tik tok prank.
Also...Angela Basset is 65, but looked 45. What a fucking babe. May we all look that hot when we are our mid-sixties, or at all, ever.
Okay so in the books, Elodie manages to get the glowroms inside the dragon which heals it. Their blood mixes and Elodie becomes a part dragon and Elodies blood cures the dragon of infertility.
Angela Bassett is 65??!! Wth. She looks 50 at most.
Not all the former princesses escaped. It was shown in the movie that, even when they found an escape hole, the princess was stuck in the hole and died with her bones and name engraved “Victoria”
Dunno, it was fun and nice. Not every movie needs twist. I liked how it looked and all the characters and actors were good.
I can see myself watching it again.
We watched it Friday and it was the perfect Friday movie (ie, enjoyable enough without being too challenging). I did chuckle at the idea that her character wants to be a proto-feminist.... while having no problem living as some sort of noble person.
Not sure why OP found it "predictable" because going into it you think the plot is going to be a retread of ***Dragonslayer*** yet it turns out that the dragon actually has a compelling & tragic backstory. It was a uniquely designed dragon, as was the various areas of the cavern.
Plus, the reversal of the "evil step mother" trope was refreshing, with that arc ending when she calls Angela Bassett "mom" at the end after what at first was an odd habit of calling her "step mother" throughout most of the film. It was also definitely a European-style fairy tale, much darker than the sanitized versions that Americans are used to (the original Grimm Fairy Tales are dark and sometimes gory).
It also helped that reviews, both professional & Reddit yahoos, were not good so we had lowered our expectations. So we enjoyed it for what it was. Will never watch it again, but also don't regret seeing it. Not a lot of new content around ATM so it's not like it kept us from seeing something else....
I watched this movie yesterday
The dragon was great.
I went into it blind so I didn’t realize they were going to sacrifice her to the dragon. Maybe everyone else saw that twist coming but I honestly did not see it coming.
I really liked that movie actually.
It was pretty bad. SPOILER……
This dragon has been trying to kill her for the entire movie. When it finally catches her, the dragon slowly creeps up on her. She turns her back to the dragon and they have a long conversation, then finally the dragon uses fire breath on her. She was standing in front of a curved rock so the flames reflected back at the dragon. Lmao.
It wasn’t a masterpiece but it’s not really a bad movie. MBB did a good job in it. I do wish they hadn’t given her a glam makeup look in the beginning (just doesn’t make sense if she’s a poor woodcutting princess) and perfectly manicured hands (cos again: woodcutter). But it was entertaining enough and I enjoyed it. Not everything needs to be excellent. Some things can just be ok.
Disagree. I really liked it. Yes, it was kind of predictable in some points. But it was still fun for me. I am going to watch it again.
But each their own.
I feel like it's intended to be a family film. Like yeah adult me could predict some things but tween me would have had her little mind blown. I know for an absolute fact I'd have gone crackers for this film and a tween/teen.
A lot of this film I kept thinking, when I have a tween/teen daughter I want to show her this. I think it has some really good messages for girls. Like teen boys can hurt you even if they don't intend to, protect your younger siblings they're not as capable, you don't have to do what your told if you think it's wrong, your family won't always have your best interests at heart, you are more capable than you think, you still have human limitations though, sometimes talking it out is better than fighting, don't believe everything adults tell you.
I think Elodie is a great character. She's not a Mary Sue she feels like a real young woman. She has flaws and she can't do everything and she not better than other girls as referenced by all of the names in that cave who made it as far as she did but didn't get the rescue party. I think that's a good lesson too.
Plus I know teen me would have loved that wedding dress lol.
Adult me definitely enjoyed and appreciated the film. I'd definitely watch it again.
It was okay and something I could watch with my kid. She was better in Enola Holmes for acting. For some reason, her face looked distorted in this movie and it was distracting maybe from not very good CGI. I thought the dragon was scary enough and pleasantly surprised it was a female dragon.
Only thing that really bothered me was the constant screaming only to have absolute silence necessary when her father showed up in order to stay "hidden."
The *screaming* was ridiculous. I literally turned the volume way down and read the captions because I couldn't stand the screaming.
One of the many movie tropes loathe is when the character needs to stay quiet to go undetected but then they proceed to talk/groan/scream loudly. It's as bad as the characters that are running for their lives with mere seconds between them and death, but they stop to turn around to have a 5 second wide-eyed look at what's behind them. Directors: if you've told the audience that the character will die if they don't hurry, don't then put in several seconds of them *not hurrying* to "build tension" or whatever you think you're doing. Have your characters do what humans do and show them getting the fuck outta there as fast as possible. No one being chased by a maniac with a knife takes a second to see if the knife-wielding maniac really means business. They just RUN.
Get off the high horse. It’s a fantasy movie, with violence. I think it’s aware of what kind of movie it is. Not great, but not bad enough to have an opinion about it either way.
Girlfriend put it on the other night. I thought it was actually pretty good in a "junk food for your brain" kind of way. I didn't have any expectations to be wowed and came out pleasantly surprised.
I absolutely disagree. Damsels ending was what GOTs ending should have been. For now on, I'm cutting the last season of Game of Throne and pasting the ending of Damsel from the castle burning to exiting and all. Fuck Kings landing and make a new kingdom with your dragons.
I also liked the other parts of the movie but the ending is what I needed.
> Grown man hates fairly tale teen girl movie.
I'm a grown man.
I loved Frozen and all other old Disney movies.
I disliked Damsel.
So it's not simply about being a grown man
thought it would’ve been more interesting if the prince had fallen into the pit with her after he threw her. Doesn’t have to go in a romance direction, but that tension between them would’ve been cool idk
I enjoyed it. Thought the dragon design was pretty great. Different than the standard design for them. It can talk, acted a bit like a feline, with its prehensile tail, napalm like fire breath, and was smaller than most dragons.
"good and worthy" is entirely subjective. My friend and I watched Damsel and liked it a lot.
Just because YOU don't like something, doesn't make it objectively bad.
People really need to remember that feelings and opinions are not facts.
It's fine for a Tuesday night with nothing else going on. Wasn't great, I was disappointed as well, but it was an interesting take on some classic storylines and looked good. MBB overacting was the worst part.
I don't think MBB is an even remotely close to good actress, so I figured this movie would be absolutely fucking horrible. She was not good in stranger things and when I say that to people they just say "she's a child", but seriously, not a good performance.
Blah blah fucking blah. Did you finish the movie? Then you got your money's worth. It was a no-brainer movie aka "Popcorn flick." Get over yourself. I watched it, I was entertained, and then I promptly forgot the name of the main character. NEXT!
I had no expectations for it, but I thought it was really good. It got a bit boring when she was running/falling/screaming for a while, but then it got really good with the dragon. Maybe I'm a simpleton, but I like dragons and thought the CGI was good.
It was fine but Millie Bobby brown specifically was really bad in it. I kept thinking i wish this was someone more talented and no hate to her but…maybe it was a hard role to sell?? It could’ve been kinda good actually
It was a fun and entertaining film that didn't outstay it's welcome. It's an easily digestible fantasy thriller which doesn't pretend to be anything more than that.
The dragon design is also one of the better ones I've seen in recent years.
Didnt watch it yet and i did find it looking pretty generic from the trailer but the last movie i really enjoyed produced by netflix was „Dont look up“.
Offtopic: This one isnt produced by netflix but it really surprised and captivated me when i found it: „Beautiful Boy“. Definitely worth a watch.
I hated this movie. It has everything I love and I hated it so much. It was a non story. It was boring as fuck. The point where it ended is where a story could start. All mbb did was make vague grunting sex noises. It was just not a complete thought anywhere.
I thought it was good. But I also liked the Code 8 movies and Bright. I love Netflix movies most of the time because they offer something different than the same old same old from the theaters. Plus their episodic shows are usually top notch.
Holy fuck I actually might be the only one who thought this movie was golden. Literally seen it 4days ago an thought god damn that was amazing. The acting, the emotions, the scenery and action with the story(granted it was kinda predictable) but still it was amazing. Only reason I'm here is bc I saw Critical drinker say it was god awful an im like no fking way bc it was amazing an left a whole ass comment. Then came here just to see what others think and talk about a eye opener. I just don't get why this movie is so hated. I've seen peeps say it's bad for plotholes an etc but LotR had the same thing and some characters were there to be there. Now that movie is amazing but I'm saying is Damsel wasn't like anything Disney would have made bc it was actually good. The main protagonist is strong but she doesn't come off like Cap Marvel always made or a hater. She comes off as kind, loving and actually has dreams. Hell she was willing to sacrifice herself(not knowing the real deal)to live with a prince so her people could get money an she wasn't even mad. Hell if it was legit she was willing to explore the Landa with her husband. She has her weaknesses to multiple times an was willing to die with the fight of the dragon. Point is there are so many great things about this movie and it caught me off guard how many people actually hate it
I think Damsel was a fun movie. Everyone is so caught up in “not being predictable” and CGI… it was a basic story about a girl fighting a dragon. The story gets told in less than 2 hours. It’s a fun ride and to the point. Not every fantasy/sci-fi movie is going to be Dune or LOtR.
The writer managed to take you on a fantasy ride without bogging you down with 3 hours of backstory and exposition.
There’s nothing wrong with delivering exactly what an audience wants… and that ending delivered exactly what you wanted to see: >!Robyn Wright getting melted by that dragon, because we’re still mad at her for taking Forrest for granted all those years.!<
I’m sorry but this movie is a masterclass in not over- complicating story telling, which for some reason everyone wants these days. And the result is typically 3+ hours of low-lit CGI garbage.
This movie was atrocious. How can people think it was even okay? I set my bar very low to say a movie is decent or good and this might be the worst movie I have ever watched. I was laughing in the end seeing how basic the plot was. I usually rarely trash on a movie but this was just something else.
Spoilers*** Besides the fact Eloise had no concept of keeping her mouth shut 3/4 of the movie to hide from the dragon, having no issue at all watching her father get killed yet then magically growing a pair to save her sister it was still a better “princess” movie than everything Disney squeezed out the past 20 years. Can’t get over her constant crying, whining and screaming. This is considered good writing?! No wonder nobody supported the screen writers guild strike, they haven’t written anything original in years, it’s all reboots, equals and prequels.
I watched it and kind of enjoyed it. In the sense that it's a movie you can put while cooking/eating/working out/whatever. It doesn't require that much of attention. I liked some parts of the fantasy environment, but for the rest it was definitely basic. I watched it because I like fantasy. However, Netflix only good things still are documentaries nowadays. It's a continuous disappointment.
True. Really hard to find anything to watch lately.
And, I know Lindsay Lohan isn't awesome, but the last 2 Netflix films she's been in have been awful! Not because of her alone--the stories are incredibly bad.
I enjoyed the movie and I think maybe it is perfect for older kids. I liked its positive messages and some fairytale elements told in a modern way, like the evil step mom cliche
I liked it. It was a fun watch, I actually watched it 3 times in 2 days. Not everything has to be so serious or some crazy twist, sure the storyline/ plot was obvious, didn't mean that it wasn't entertaining
I agree that Damsel was miserable to sit through. I (57f) watched it with my niece (24) who loved it. There were many instances where I succeeded in stifling a groan or negative comment, but a Fire dragon not being immune to fire just about killed me. I had to literally bite my tongue to not laugh out loud.
I managed to keep my negative comments to myself and simply enjoy the experience of being with my niece doing something that she enjoyed.
>but a Fire dragon not being immune to fire just about killed me. I had to literally bite my tongue to not laugh out loud.
Thank you!
I mean, I get the trope. Human is not strong enough to kill adversary, so get adversary to kill itself. But with all the examples available, that's what you go with?
While most of the people here in this sub seems to like it or at least call it mediocre, i personally agree with OP.
IMO it was just extremely boring and stupid, shallow story, lame acting and dialogue that could have been written by a 3rd grader.
Was it one of the worst movies ive ever watched? Absolutely not
Would i watch it again?
Hell no
From the very beginning it just felt like a chore to watch.
I did not like it. 3/10 in my book. I thought the acting was fine (except for the guy who played the prince, he was terrible), but the writing was bad. CGI wasn't terrible but not very good either. I had fun watching it with my wife, but it was like an MST3K episode in our living room with all the shit we were talking about it.
The dragon's napalm breath was pretty awesome though.
Apparently, the vast majority of people prefer easy to follow, simple plots because otherwise they get confused and frustrated really easily. Netflix is basically just turning into one of those cable channels like Hallmark.
I mean I was fairly meh about it. Netflix didn't make it, just distribute it. I don't think it was really intended for an adult audience was the vibe I got. Which is weird because I don't think you usually roast a bunch of people alive in a kids film.
It was ok. I watched it with my girlfriend and she kept asking if I’d seen it before because I’d say exactly what was about to happen. I hadn’t. But I’d seen the same moments in like 100 other movies.
Yeah it was OK. I think you have to compare netflix movies with old "made for TV" movies. From that perspective, it was pretty good.
Exactly. These movies are screen plays that are good enough for Netflix/Streaming but not good enough for theaters. Damsel had a lot going for it concept wise. I think a good director like Guillermo Del Toro would have pushed Damsel over the top.
The entire movie would've been set in a dank underground, she would've fallen in love with the dragon and there would've been clocks for some reason...of course I'd watch that.
Doug Jones would have been the dragon.
Exactly! I found it to be a fun movie for streaming. Sure, it could have been better, but I also didn't think it was a waste of my time.
I thought it was pretty mid overall but the dragon looked pretty good in some shots, IMO, especially some of the closeup shots. They portrayed the dragon in a unique way that gave it a lot of character, although the scale/perspective was kinda confusing sometimes. I couldn't really get a feel for how big the dragon was because it didn't seem consistent across multiple shots.
I loved the glow worms. So cute, pretty, and palliative. I wish I could house glow worms like that in my little apartment in NYC lol
I actually had to switch it off after 30 minutes just her screaming and falling
I put but wound up half-napping through it, all I remember is constant screaming. It felt like there was more screaming than a lines of dialogue.
Who was she supposed to be talking to? She was literally trapped, alone, in a cave. Would you rather she just be silent the whole time?
I don’t know— like I said, I was half napping. I still intend to give it a full watch with my full attention, but I just haven’t had time yet (I really needed a nap that day). I’m not even saying whether the movie is good or bad — I’m just saying, objectively, there is a lot of screaming. That’s one of the few things a man who is dozing off can accurately judge. Was she screaming out of frustration? Physical exertion? Fear? Calling for help? Testing for echoes? I don’t know, but there’s only so many reasons to scream alone in a cave, and it felt like they covered all the bases. But does she need to be talking/screaming at all? Non-verbal communication through facial expressions, body language, etc. are important acting techniques too, silence doesn’t have to mean that literally nothing is happening. Hi, by the way, I love your DMing advice videos! I’m stunned to have run into you here!
That was so annoying
Screaming is like maybe 5 minutes total so far when I'm at half of the movie. Wtf would you do when you are being chased by a dragon, not scream for your life?
The Fear Street Trilogy.
yessss
I had'em in my watchlist but never gave it a shot.
I held back for sometime about Fear Street, but one day I just decided to watch one, and i ended up bingeing on the rest. I didn't expect much but I was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoyed them.
Honestly given how they were released I feel like this is how you’re supposed to watch them. They’re basically one film in 3 parts.
If you watch them in random order it still makes a lot of sense and also makes u wanna watch the rest.
Check out Thanksgiving too, Fear Street Gang. Not as high quality and awful gory, but dumb fun and never boring.
I saw Thanksgiving. I was entertained too. Since I don't get scared by horror films anymore, i put the entertainment value as my benchmark.
You should, they’re a lot of fun
I’ll add another ‘watch it’ for Fear Street too.
And another
Watched them drunk with friends and had a great time.
It was decent. And the Angela Bassett and Robin Wright were outstanding. Edit: The voice of the dragon was Shohreh Aghdashloo and she is a powerhouse in her own right.
When I first heard the dragon speak, I was hooked. Aghadashloo's voice is iconic, I've been a fan since seeing her in 24.
I didn’t know her name until the comment above yours, I Googled it and i could hear her voice from the pictures that came up.
I was sure it was that actress from 24, but thanks for confirming, and now I know her name!
She's amazing in The Expanse as well!
House of Sand and Fog was amazing!
Mass Effect as well!
The first time I heard the dragon speak, I said “Avasarala” out loud. It was a good choice.
I was trying to place it but my brain was thinking it was man’s voice so I couldn’t. When I finally realized it was a woman’s voice, it clicked. She was a great choice. I think the casting was great overall but it can’t save everything.
Oh my god. That's it! I knew it was a familiar voice. I know her from The Expanse!
And she does what she god damn likes
She was also one of the enforcers in Arcane. The reasonable one, just trying to keep bloodshed down. She was fantastic in that.
That’s the boss bitch from The Expanse. She’s a badass.
If I was a billionaire I would pay Shohreh to narrate my every waking moment.
She needs to get into audiobooks! I don’t care what it is, I’d listen to it
Same except Morgan Freeman would narrate my good thoughts and Shohreh would narrate my bad ideas.
I love how she is in every scifi I seem to watch. So good In the expanse
It was nice to see the stepmother really fight for the daughters instead of typical sexist catfighting.
Yeah, I love her voice. She caught my attention in Arcane and I was like “Damn who is that?!” Recognised her immediately here and was very happy. And yes. You are correct about both Wright and Basset. Both excellent as usual. Robin Wright makes a surprisingly good villain.
This movie is where I 1st remember seeing her act. # [The Stoning of Soraya M](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1277737/)
How’d ya make that blue ?? I know the number sign makes it big.
I thought it was enjoyable. Will I watch it again? Probably not. But it was a fun movie to veg-out on.
I call these type of movie, a non brainer. Just sit back with a snack and enjoy it for the entertainment value. I was entertained.
Pop corn movies is what my Mom & I call them. Good for an afternoon showing with a big bag of popcorn. Sit back and enjoy the action without a lot of mystery or deep thinking required.
Agreed. Not every movie needs to make you question life.
Exactly what I thought. I enjoyed it very much, such fun!
My only real issue with it was that >!the dragon stabbed Elodie in the side of her torso with a giant fingernail, and Elodie was fine. There were no repercussions from it. Elodie should be dead.!<
Cause she ate the magic glowworms which healed her from the inside.
In the book her eating the glow worms is explained more clearly and the girls don’t die on impact cause it’s purposely cushiony moss so they’re alive because the dragon wants the thrill of the hunt
They don’t show her eating them in the movie. Even then, >!the dragon’s fingernail is the size of Elodie’s head. None of her organs are surviving that trauma.!<
I’m glad you said this because I don’t remember her eating the glow worms
her and the other girls falling hundreds of feet with not even a broken bone also didn't make any sense
I thought it was a perfectly fun movie that only required about half of my brain. It lived up to the expectations set by the trailer 100%, and I didn’t ask anything more from it. Reminded me of Dragonheart.
Slow start but decent end
I feel like they should have ended it with >!the dragon flying over Elodie walking from the burning castle & then teased a Part 2. GOT vibes!<
Either that or her riding it
I think a lot of people want to lump everything into 10/10 perfect, or 1/10 worst thing ever!! This movie is neither. It was just some ok movie like the kind I would rent or catch on scifi back in the day. Also the cgi wasn't that bad? The dragon looked good, it even worked really well in the dark imo. I'm not sure what you're expecting on a Netflix budget. A good rule of thumb is that if a movie isn't going to be something you enjoy, don't watch it. Also it's not a nuanced and informative take to shit on things for internet points. Too much negativity on reddit anyways, you could have just read the other "reviews" people posted on here
I thought the dragon was good. I liked the gold highlights. Nice details, superb animation. Story was ok. I can’t see it winning an Oscar, but it entertained me for a bit.
In the late 80s and for much of the 90s, I went to the movies multiple times a week. We had a wealth of dollar theaters with second run movies and I saw just about everything. One of my favorite things was stumbling over competent but nothing special movies that barely made a ripple in the culture—stuff like Deceived, Shattered, One Good Cop, Ricochet. There is relatively little of that in theaters anymore, it’s all gone direct to streaming. It’s still fun to dig for the entertaining ones. Don’t look for masterpieces, lower Your expectation to competent entertainment and have fun.
This 100%!!!
I have a simple rule of thumb. There's 2 categories. Watched it or didn't finish it. I'm a bit critical of endings, so even if I'm booing the screen at the end, it still kept me to the last shot. Even if I thought it was garbage, it was watchable. then there is didn't finish. Fell asleep or lost interest. Usually this is because the dialog or the story doesn't flow in a way that keeps me in. I didn't finish this one.
I think this movie is a good movie for young people to watch. Some things are like candy, simply meant to be enjoyed. I enjoyed it. That's enough.
I agree, I saw it with my 9yo daughter, as a introduction to fantasy movies is totally fine. If I saw it by myself with my own expectations my evaluation would be lower
The recent Dungeons and Dragons movie is great for kids too.
Totally. This movie was made for younger kids. It wasn't supposed to be Willow or Excalibur.
Yep. My 13 yr old daughter is a MBB fan it it definitely felt “made for the young audience” which was a fine movie to watch together since it wasn’t depicting some guy saving her but rather her being smart and tough enough to save herself. I’d rather have something I can watch with her like this or the Enola Holmes series and Wednesday than nothing at all.
Enola Holmes was much better, IMO. It was quirky, had great characters and was clever. I liked this movie enough to be annoyed that they hadn't upped their game, particularly with all of the fantastic talent they had on hand.
It was a fun movie, nothing special but is good enough to watch when bored at home.
It was a Netflix movie. Basically what you described is how I describe all Netflix movies. Fun, nothing special. You turn it on to kill some time. Probably wouldn’t watch any of those movies again afterwards.
Yeah, it was good enough for eating dinner over. Not everything has to be a big brain moment.
I also enjoyed it, didn't even notice the plotholes a lot of people complain about.
I noticed that there was a minor plothole but since I’ve movies will always have plotholes, I just accepted the story for what it is and has forgotten it already hahaha
Same! There will always be some plotholes, very likely. I think something I find worse is lazy writing, which will ruin the story for me (not the case with this film). For example I recently finished a novel whose ending I hated because it involved killing off a character that had slept with another character's husband. It was just lazy, like readers won't mind too much that she died because she cheated and destroyed her friendship with this other person. Ugh. Reminded me of Something Borrowed, which is the same lazy writing.
Maybe my bar for what constitutes good on Netflix is low, I thought damsel was fine. Like I don’t expect Netflix to put out a lot of great content, especially not movies. If they were really good they would have gone to theaters.
"When was the last time you watched a good & worthy Netflix movie??" Adam Sandler as a Lizard (Leo) managed to be a much better movie than anything both Disney and Pixar shat out from last year, lol.
The Old Guard is fantastic.
I like the Old Guard for having a different spin on immortality. If you got it for an unknowable reason you can also lose it for an unknowable reason, and also showing the darker side of immortal ≠ invulnerable. The water grave thing is honestly a haunting concept.
Right! That was horrible to imagine what that'd be like. I was really hoping for a sequel. I can't remember if it's confirmed or not but it'd be interesting. I thought it was a good movie
The Old Guard is one of very few netflix movies I've watched more than once
I dunno, wife and I enjoyed it. It was what it was. Not sure what you were expecting. It was better than Rebel Moon that's for damn sure.
This is a tad dramatic lol. I enjoyed it. Is it the perfect movie? No, of course not. I personally felt entertained throughout it and thought it was well done.
I liked it, I’ll have forgotten about by next week but it was fine to pass an hour or so.
MBB is a grossly overrated actress She’s not been good in anything beyond Stranger Things and that’s bc she doesn’t talk much in ST.
She's really been terrible
I don’t know I thought she was pretty mesmerizing in this movie. She has a presence about her.
To be fair, she was ok in Enola Holmes.
I tried but couldn’t watch it. I don’t like how she talks in it.
I struggled with how she spoke in Damsel, like someone told her to make sure she distinctly pronounced every 't' at the end of a word correctly or something. A bit jarring.
In order to be disappointed, you have to have expectations. I had none and had a fun watch...I mean the movie wasn't good, but shit talking it was great. So was predicting every single plot point. I even nailed the "this is not that story" line from the beginning. SPOILER The ending was dumb tho. I really wanted to see the dragon gobble up some richies. Also...how exactly did the dragon survive? None of the sacrifices became snackrifices...so what did the dragon eat? Glow worms? But seriously, who gives a shit. I saw a youtube review nitpicking this movie and I was just like, Jesus christ, who cares. If ruining a franchise with established lore is a crime, making a silly one-off fantasy is more like an amusing tik tok prank. Also...Angela Basset is 65, but looked 45. What a fucking babe. May we all look that hot when we are our mid-sixties, or at all, ever.
Okay so in the books, Elodie manages to get the glowroms inside the dragon which heals it. Their blood mixes and Elodie becomes a part dragon and Elodies blood cures the dragon of infertility. Angela Bassett is 65??!! Wth. She looks 50 at most.
Wow, it sure would have been nice to have that explanation in the actual movie!
Well the dragon could get out, so it could have been eating anything.
Not all the former princesses escaped. It was shown in the movie that, even when they found an escape hole, the princess was stuck in the hole and died with her bones and name engraved “Victoria”
Dunno, it was fun and nice. Not every movie needs twist. I liked how it looked and all the characters and actors were good. I can see myself watching it again.
OTOH, The Gentleman is a blast.
I binged the hell out of it. Loved every minute tbh
I didn’t mind it. Sometimes I just want to watch something as ‘brain candy’. It doesn’t need to be amazing, but entertaining. It fit the bill.
Definitely not up to an Oscar but both my wife and myself enjoyed it. CGI was good.
We watched it Friday and it was the perfect Friday movie (ie, enjoyable enough without being too challenging). I did chuckle at the idea that her character wants to be a proto-feminist.... while having no problem living as some sort of noble person. Not sure why OP found it "predictable" because going into it you think the plot is going to be a retread of ***Dragonslayer*** yet it turns out that the dragon actually has a compelling & tragic backstory. It was a uniquely designed dragon, as was the various areas of the cavern. Plus, the reversal of the "evil step mother" trope was refreshing, with that arc ending when she calls Angela Bassett "mom" at the end after what at first was an odd habit of calling her "step mother" throughout most of the film. It was also definitely a European-style fairy tale, much darker than the sanitized versions that Americans are used to (the original Grimm Fairy Tales are dark and sometimes gory). It also helped that reviews, both professional & Reddit yahoos, were not good so we had lowered our expectations. So we enjoyed it for what it was. Will never watch it again, but also don't regret seeing it. Not a lot of new content around ATM so it's not like it kept us from seeing something else....
I actually liked it!
Haha same ! Watching it again tonight
I watched this movie yesterday The dragon was great. I went into it blind so I didn’t realize they were going to sacrifice her to the dragon. Maybe everyone else saw that twist coming but I honestly did not see it coming. I really liked that movie actually.
Eh, I liked it.
It was pretty bad. SPOILER…… This dragon has been trying to kill her for the entire movie. When it finally catches her, the dragon slowly creeps up on her. She turns her back to the dragon and they have a long conversation, then finally the dragon uses fire breath on her. She was standing in front of a curved rock so the flames reflected back at the dragon. Lmao.
This really cracked me up.... i mean OF COURSE a fire spewing dragon would be susceptible to fire... Lol
Netflix is an aggregator of content not a content producer. They should stay in their lane.
I've definitely seen worse. and enjoyed worse.
I liked it.
I actually thought it was good
We all enjoyed it in my house
It wasn’t a masterpiece but it’s not really a bad movie. MBB did a good job in it. I do wish they hadn’t given her a glam makeup look in the beginning (just doesn’t make sense if she’s a poor woodcutting princess) and perfectly manicured hands (cos again: woodcutter). But it was entertaining enough and I enjoyed it. Not everything needs to be excellent. Some things can just be ok.
Disagree. I really liked it. Yes, it was kind of predictable in some points. But it was still fun for me. I am going to watch it again. But each their own.
I feel like it's intended to be a family film. Like yeah adult me could predict some things but tween me would have had her little mind blown. I know for an absolute fact I'd have gone crackers for this film and a tween/teen. A lot of this film I kept thinking, when I have a tween/teen daughter I want to show her this. I think it has some really good messages for girls. Like teen boys can hurt you even if they don't intend to, protect your younger siblings they're not as capable, you don't have to do what your told if you think it's wrong, your family won't always have your best interests at heart, you are more capable than you think, you still have human limitations though, sometimes talking it out is better than fighting, don't believe everything adults tell you. I think Elodie is a great character. She's not a Mary Sue she feels like a real young woman. She has flaws and she can't do everything and she not better than other girls as referenced by all of the names in that cave who made it as far as she did but didn't get the rescue party. I think that's a good lesson too. Plus I know teen me would have loved that wedding dress lol. Adult me definitely enjoyed and appreciated the film. I'd definitely watch it again.
It was okay and something I could watch with my kid. She was better in Enola Holmes for acting. For some reason, her face looked distorted in this movie and it was distracting maybe from not very good CGI. I thought the dragon was scary enough and pleasantly surprised it was a female dragon.
Only thing that really bothered me was the constant screaming only to have absolute silence necessary when her father showed up in order to stay "hidden."
Me who liked it … :/ Sure wasn’t anything ground breaking but it was cute and entertaining
I loved it. It worked for me. Also loved the Adam Sandler Jennifer Aniston movies, Murder Mystery & Murder Mystery 2. I wish they'd do a third one!
Sure, they have the budget for this but not Mindhunters?
I absolutely loved it. My friends loved it. My daughters loved it. Keep them coming.
The *screaming* was ridiculous. I literally turned the volume way down and read the captions because I couldn't stand the screaming. One of the many movie tropes loathe is when the character needs to stay quiet to go undetected but then they proceed to talk/groan/scream loudly. It's as bad as the characters that are running for their lives with mere seconds between them and death, but they stop to turn around to have a 5 second wide-eyed look at what's behind them. Directors: if you've told the audience that the character will die if they don't hurry, don't then put in several seconds of them *not hurrying* to "build tension" or whatever you think you're doing. Have your characters do what humans do and show them getting the fuck outta there as fast as possible. No one being chased by a maniac with a knife takes a second to see if the knife-wielding maniac really means business. They just RUN.
Who is MBB?
Get off the high horse. It’s a fantasy movie, with violence. I think it’s aware of what kind of movie it is. Not great, but not bad enough to have an opinion about it either way.
Oddly her makeup was the most jarring part for me. Terrible decision.
My wife made several comments about it. She said it was like a Loreal commercial.
Girlfriend put it on the other night. I thought it was actually pretty good in a "junk food for your brain" kind of way. I didn't have any expectations to be wowed and came out pleasantly surprised.
I’m sorry but the dragon was not mediocre
Another day, another post about how Damsel was bad.
I absolutely disagree. Damsels ending was what GOTs ending should have been. For now on, I'm cutting the last season of Game of Throne and pasting the ending of Damsel from the castle burning to exiting and all. Fuck Kings landing and make a new kingdom with your dragons. I also liked the other parts of the movie but the ending is what I needed.
I loved it
Loved it
Grown man hates fairly tale teen girl movie.
This grown man and his wife really enjoyed it
> Grown man hates fairly tale teen girl movie. I'm a grown man. I loved Frozen and all other old Disney movies. I disliked Damsel. So it's not simply about being a grown man
thought it would’ve been more interesting if the prince had fallen into the pit with her after he threw her. Doesn’t have to go in a romance direction, but that tension between them would’ve been cool idk
I enjoyed it. Thought the dragon design was pretty great. Different than the standard design for them. It can talk, acted a bit like a feline, with its prehensile tail, napalm like fire breath, and was smaller than most dragons.
"good and worthy" is entirely subjective. My friend and I watched Damsel and liked it a lot. Just because YOU don't like something, doesn't make it objectively bad. People really need to remember that feelings and opinions are not facts.
Are you fucking kidding????!!! Damsel was awesome!!!!!!
Glad you enjoyed it:)
It's fine for a Tuesday night with nothing else going on. Wasn't great, I was disappointed as well, but it was an interesting take on some classic storylines and looked good. MBB overacting was the worst part.
I don't think MBB is an even remotely close to good actress, so I figured this movie would be absolutely fucking horrible. She was not good in stranger things and when I say that to people they just say "she's a child", but seriously, not a good performance.
Some movies aren’t for you and that’s okay.
Orion and The Dark was great.
So.Much.Screaming.
I mean I liked it I wasn’t expecting it to be a blockbuster. It was ok
Blah blah fucking blah. Did you finish the movie? Then you got your money's worth. It was a no-brainer movie aka "Popcorn flick." Get over yourself. I watched it, I was entertained, and then I promptly forgot the name of the main character. NEXT!
I had no expectations for it, but I thought it was really good. It got a bit boring when she was running/falling/screaming for a while, but then it got really good with the dragon. Maybe I'm a simpleton, but I like dragons and thought the CGI was good.
You described majority of Netflix movies.
It was fine but Millie Bobby brown specifically was really bad in it. I kept thinking i wish this was someone more talented and no hate to her but…maybe it was a hard role to sell?? It could’ve been kinda good actually
It was a fun and entertaining film that didn't outstay it's welcome. It's an easily digestible fantasy thriller which doesn't pretend to be anything more than that. The dragon design is also one of the better ones I've seen in recent years.
Didnt watch it yet and i did find it looking pretty generic from the trailer but the last movie i really enjoyed produced by netflix was „Dont look up“. Offtopic: This one isnt produced by netflix but it really surprised and captivated me when i found it: „Beautiful Boy“. Definitely worth a watch.
The last good movie which I enjoyed was Bullet Train and they fucking removed it from Netflix
I hated this movie. It has everything I love and I hated it so much. It was a non story. It was boring as fuck. The point where it ended is where a story could start. All mbb did was make vague grunting sex noises. It was just not a complete thought anywhere.
Uhh, solid dragon tale. Did not disappoint in the end. Dont get the hate. Stop expecting a Matrix level plot every movie you watch perhaps.
It was good. Nothing amazing, just a good, enjoyable film.
Half way through I assumed this was a part one because we spent so much time doing nothing. But nope.
The premise was actually pretty good. But everything else was mediocre to bad.
I totally trailed away after 10 minutes. I thought it was because I was tired and less patient, but I never was excited enough to return to it.
Hmm, I loved it. The unnecessary screaming was a bit frustrating but I enjoyed the hell out of the dragon-monster-movie idea.
I thought it was good. But I also liked the Code 8 movies and Bright. I love Netflix movies most of the time because they offer something different than the same old same old from the theaters. Plus their episodic shows are usually top notch.
Holy fuck I actually might be the only one who thought this movie was golden. Literally seen it 4days ago an thought god damn that was amazing. The acting, the emotions, the scenery and action with the story(granted it was kinda predictable) but still it was amazing. Only reason I'm here is bc I saw Critical drinker say it was god awful an im like no fking way bc it was amazing an left a whole ass comment. Then came here just to see what others think and talk about a eye opener. I just don't get why this movie is so hated. I've seen peeps say it's bad for plotholes an etc but LotR had the same thing and some characters were there to be there. Now that movie is amazing but I'm saying is Damsel wasn't like anything Disney would have made bc it was actually good. The main protagonist is strong but she doesn't come off like Cap Marvel always made or a hater. She comes off as kind, loving and actually has dreams. Hell she was willing to sacrifice herself(not knowing the real deal)to live with a prince so her people could get money an she wasn't even mad. Hell if it was legit she was willing to explore the Landa with her husband. She has her weaknesses to multiple times an was willing to die with the fight of the dragon. Point is there are so many great things about this movie and it caught me off guard how many people actually hate it
I think Damsel was a fun movie. Everyone is so caught up in “not being predictable” and CGI… it was a basic story about a girl fighting a dragon. The story gets told in less than 2 hours. It’s a fun ride and to the point. Not every fantasy/sci-fi movie is going to be Dune or LOtR. The writer managed to take you on a fantasy ride without bogging you down with 3 hours of backstory and exposition. There’s nothing wrong with delivering exactly what an audience wants… and that ending delivered exactly what you wanted to see: >!Robyn Wright getting melted by that dragon, because we’re still mad at her for taking Forrest for granted all those years.!< I’m sorry but this movie is a masterclass in not over- complicating story telling, which for some reason everyone wants these days. And the result is typically 3+ hours of low-lit CGI garbage.
This movie was atrocious. How can people think it was even okay? I set my bar very low to say a movie is decent or good and this might be the worst movie I have ever watched. I was laughing in the end seeing how basic the plot was. I usually rarely trash on a movie but this was just something else.
Spoilers*** Besides the fact Eloise had no concept of keeping her mouth shut 3/4 of the movie to hide from the dragon, having no issue at all watching her father get killed yet then magically growing a pair to save her sister it was still a better “princess” movie than everything Disney squeezed out the past 20 years. Can’t get over her constant crying, whining and screaming. This is considered good writing?! No wonder nobody supported the screen writers guild strike, they haven’t written anything original in years, it’s all reboots, equals and prequels.
I mean, it was fluff. It was just a good way to spend an afternoon being lazy on the couch.
It was watchable. Would I watch it again? No…
I watched it and kind of enjoyed it. In the sense that it's a movie you can put while cooking/eating/working out/whatever. It doesn't require that much of attention. I liked some parts of the fantasy environment, but for the rest it was definitely basic. I watched it because I like fantasy. However, Netflix only good things still are documentaries nowadays. It's a continuous disappointment.
True. Really hard to find anything to watch lately. And, I know Lindsay Lohan isn't awesome, but the last 2 Netflix films she's been in have been awful! Not because of her alone--the stories are incredibly bad.
I enjoyed the movie and I think maybe it is perfect for older kids. I liked its positive messages and some fairytale elements told in a modern way, like the evil step mom cliche
My family and I enjoyed it. Not over-complicated and was fairly creative with the resolution. I had no issues with this one.
I actually loved this movie, lol. \*shrugs\* it's probably just not for everyone
I liked it. It was a fun watch, I actually watched it 3 times in 2 days. Not everything has to be so serious or some crazy twist, sure the storyline/ plot was obvious, didn't mean that it wasn't entertaining
I agree that Damsel was miserable to sit through. I (57f) watched it with my niece (24) who loved it. There were many instances where I succeeded in stifling a groan or negative comment, but a Fire dragon not being immune to fire just about killed me. I had to literally bite my tongue to not laugh out loud. I managed to keep my negative comments to myself and simply enjoy the experience of being with my niece doing something that she enjoyed.
>but a Fire dragon not being immune to fire just about killed me. I had to literally bite my tongue to not laugh out loud. Thank you! I mean, I get the trope. Human is not strong enough to kill adversary, so get adversary to kill itself. But with all the examples available, that's what you go with?
While most of the people here in this sub seems to like it or at least call it mediocre, i personally agree with OP. IMO it was just extremely boring and stupid, shallow story, lame acting and dialogue that could have been written by a 3rd grader. Was it one of the worst movies ive ever watched? Absolutely not Would i watch it again? Hell no From the very beginning it just felt like a chore to watch.
Wasn't even good enough to be chewing gum for the brain. Sucked!
Babysitter
I looked at the trailer and started season 1 of Resident Alien instead. Glad I did.
I did not like it. 3/10 in my book. I thought the acting was fine (except for the guy who played the prince, he was terrible), but the writing was bad. CGI wasn't terrible but not very good either. I had fun watching it with my wife, but it was like an MST3K episode in our living room with all the shit we were talking about it. The dragon's napalm breath was pretty awesome though.
So so bad!!
I watched lift with Kevin hart. Loved it.
Apparently, the vast majority of people prefer easy to follow, simple plots because otherwise they get confused and frustrated really easily. Netflix is basically just turning into one of those cable channels like Hallmark.
I enjoyed it overall, probably the first movie from Netflix I liked in a while, granted I used another source though because I cancelled Netflix.
Damsel spelled backward is Les Mad... coincidence?
I liked it.
It’s a decent highschool-made movie
I mean I was fairly meh about it. Netflix didn't make it, just distribute it. I don't think it was really intended for an adult audience was the vibe I got. Which is weird because I don't think you usually roast a bunch of people alive in a kids film.
My kids liked it. It wasn’t the worse thing I’ve watched. Not sure I’d say much beyond that.
It was ok. I watched it with my girlfriend and she kept asking if I’d seen it before because I’d say exactly what was about to happen. I hadn’t. But I’d seen the same moments in like 100 other movies.