Known as The Sun King, Louis XIV (Pierce Brosnan; Mamma Mia!, Cinderella, Die Another Day) is the most powerful and influential monarch on the planet. Obsessed with his own mortality and the future of France, Louis turns to his spiritual advisor, Père La Chaise (William Hurt; A History of Violence, Black Widow), and the royal physician to help him obtain the key to immortality. Believing a mermaid (Fan Bingbing; The 355, X-Men: Days of Future Past) contains a force that grants everlasting life, Louis commissions a young sea captain (Benjamin Walker; In the Hearts of the Sea, Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) to search the seas and capture the mystical creature. Further complicating his plans is his orphaned daughter, Marie-Josèphe (Kaya Scodelario; Maze Runner franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean), who returns to court with an abundance of elegance and an inherent defiance of authority. With a rare solar eclipse approaching, Louis will discover where his daughter’s true loyalties lie as he races against time to extract the mermaid’s life-giving force.
For thoughts on The King’s Daughter, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:
Video Quality
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment brings The King’s Daughter to Blu-Ray with a mostly pleasing 1080p video presentation. The presentation provides a strong amount of depth on display, especially in the interior shots. The opulent production design along with the fabrics of clothing provide crystal clear textural details. The image is clean with the natural color palette popping off the screen. The film employs nice splashes of colors within the setting and costumes which makes for a very striking image. The black levels could stand to be a bit deeper, but it mostly remains stable with not too much in the way of digital noise. The flesh tones are natural with a good amount of detail present in close-ups, especially when it comes to the texture of makeup. This Blu-Ray is in line with most modern movies on the format.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with a great DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that captures this fantastical tale beautifully. This is not a particularly action-driven movie, but the environmental sounds of the world engage the surround speakers in a really pleasing way. When the characters are walking through the court, there are some really nice ambient details that flesh out the setting. Dialogue is the driving force of the film, and it always comes through crisp and clear without being clipped by any competing sounds. The music in the film rings from the speakers in a wonderful, well-balanced way. The various sound effects provide a subtle engagement to the low end of the track. The audio track is an excellent sounding presentation for this feature in all respects.
Special Features
- Deleted Scene: A two-minute unused scene featuring the King (Pierce Brosnan) showing his moves on the dancefloor.
- Cast Reflections On The King’s Daughter: An eight-minute featurette in which the performers discuss being introduced to the story, the goodwill between the one another, acting qualities, details about their characters, and more.
Final Thoughts
The King’s Daughter has had an incredibly rocky road to the silver screen, and anyone who sits down to watch the film should be able to see why. The film is not particularly well made and the acting is likewise not going to be winning any awards anytime soon. That’s not to say the performers could not be charismatic; they just are not given a chance to really do much of anything besides look nice with this material. This film is unnecessarily convoluted and confusing, and even when you do understand what is going on, it is hard to care one way or another. Universal Pictures has provided a Blu-Ray disc that sports a great A/V presentation and a few brief supplements for those who do decide to check it out. This movie is not good, but it might be watchable enough to pass the time for a specific audience.
The King’s Daughter is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
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Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.