Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett, Brooke Carter, Nick Robinson, Robin Wright and Milo Twomey.
Written by Dan Mazeau, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and produced by Jeff Kirschenbaum, Chris Castaldi, Jonathan Loughran, Morgan Bushe and Emily Wolfe.
Netflix, PCMA Management and Productions, Roth/Kirschenbaum Films

Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown), one of the daughters of Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone), becomes betrothed to Henry (Nick Robinson), the prince of the wealthy island kingdom of Aurea. Elodie agrees to the marriage initially because the riches being paid for this union will mean much needed money going to her father’s poor, needy land, but then Elodie finds herself actually starting to like Prince Henry, and it all seems too good to be true… and that’s because it is too good to be true! Henry’s elite royal family, headed by the imperious  Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright), intends to feed Elodie to a grudge-bearing dragon! 

Millie Bobby Brown is okay in the earlier scenes, which boast some luscious fantasy visuals of mountains, knights, royal courts and castles, but she gets far better, I think, once her character is put under duress in the subterranean cavern that Prince Henry has thrown her into.

The film as a whole becomes more immersive once we find ourselves in the cave system with Elodie, who must keep her wits about her as she attempts to stay out of the grasp of the dragon. The script benefits from an efficient forward momentum, with new plot developments keeping the story interesting, like the inclusion of the helpful messages (written by a previous sacrificial princess) that Elodie finds and uses to evade the fire-breathing beast. A cool touch is the discovery of glowing grubs, which are a neat way to provide the heroine (and us) with a light source. These grubs also have healing properties, which prove to be useful later in the tale. To keep the location from becoming samey, the cavern is subdivided into different zones, like a vertical tunnel lined with sharp crystals, a cave filled with stalactites & stalagmites, and so on.

There are a number of striking visual sequences in the movie, including a flock of burning birds seen whirring through the cavern, a shot of ice melting as dragon-breath blasts it from above, and a later shot of flames lighting up the sky over the dragon’s mountain domain, which looks especially fantastical.

The female dragon is a pretty fine creation. She has a sleek build, with a solidly-built, ridged neck. Her throat glows before she breaths lava-like flames, and she possesses a long, prehensile tail, a spike-festooned head, a neck covered in spines, and large wings. This dragon has a characterful face, looking a little bit like Draco from DRAGONHEART, and, just like Draco, she can speak. I am not usually a big fan of talking movie dragons, but the way this one speaks, with a female voice courtesy of Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, it works quite effectively. The dragon also has a legitimate reason to want revenge on humans…

DAMSEL’s plot machinations sees Elodie’s younger sister Floria being chucked into the dragon’s lair (because Queen Isabelle realises Elodie has evaded the dragon), and it all becomes really quite thrilling as Elodie goes back into the danger zone to save her sis! Elodie finally tips the balance in her favour after she finds the chance to explain to the dragon that the vengeful beast has been lied to over the years with regard to the identities of the sacrificial princesses.

Robin Wright is sufficiently dastardly as the queen of the island kingdom, Ray Winstone is all right as the father who finally attempts to do the right thing, Angela Bassett is good as the stepmother who smells a rat, and Millie Bobby Brown just gets better and better as the film progresses. She looks very striking as the burnt, bruised, ragged, dirty heroine who eventually finds a way to exact revenge on Queen Isabelle and her sneaky, ruthless clan…