Known as The Sun King, Louis XIV (Pierce Brosnan) 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, Pere La Chaise (William Hurt), and the royal physician, Dr. Labarthe (Pablo Schreiber) to help him obtain the key to immortality. Believing a mermaid (Bingbing Fan) contains a force that grants everlasting life, Louis commissions a young sea captain, Yves De La Croix (Benjamin Walker) to search the seas and capture the mystical creature. Further complicating his plans is his orphaned daughter, Marie-Josephe (Kaya Scodelario), 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.
Others to round out the cast are Ben Lloyd-Hughes as Jean-Michel Lintillac, Paul Ireland as Benoit, Crystal Clarke as Magali, Rachel Griffiths as Abbess, Virginia Bowers as Marie-Josephe's mother and Julie Andrews as narrator.
This was dramatically and, at the same time, whimsically directed by Sean McNamara ("Hollywood Chaos" '89, "P.U.N.K.S." '99, "Treehouse Hostage" '99, "Race to Space" '01, "Raise Your Voice" '04, "Bratz" '07, "Soul Surfer" '11, "Space Warriors" '13, "Spare Parts" '15, "The Miracle Season" '18, "Orphan Horse" '18, "Mighty Oak" '20, "Aliens Stole My Body" '20, "Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite" '20) plus others, TV, TV movies and videos. The characters in this were presented dramatically, but in that 'once upon a time... and lived happily ever after' sort of format replete with Julie Andrews narrating in the background. Considering this filmmaker's resume and the type of films he's used to helming, he was definitely in his comfort zone and we are the victors of his conveyance. If you like this consistent, veteran filmmaker, both his "On a Wing and a Prayer" and "Reagan" are in post production and both looking at a 2022 release. This was well crafted by writers Ronald Bass, Barry Berman and Laura Harrington, based on the novel by Vonda N. McIntyre and James Schamus. Out of the three writers, Bass certainly has the lion's share of the experience here, although Berman and Harrington certainly were pivotal with their input. Other than a couple of very small places of inconsistencies, this storyline was spot on. This is the quintessential fairy tale replete with villains, good guys, a damsel in distress, a creature, all with a period era backdrop in which to house this story. This is essentially a more traditional version of a "Pan's Labyrinth" story.
In a day where our world is so turned upside down, it sure is reassuring that there are filmmakers out there that are willing to give us a fairy tale that allows us to be able to escape into a world where the problems and issues outside the theater are something that we can forget even if it's only the running time of this film. I simply enjoyed the simplicity and the pure storytelling that we need to see in more films and just don't.
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: PG 98mins.
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