The 10th Kingdom
Reviewed by: C. I. Bishop
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Offensive to Average |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | • Adults • Teens (Not for youngsters) |
| Genre: | Fantasy Drama |
| Length: | 6 hr. 57 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2000 |
| USA Release: |
February 27, 2000 |
| Featuring | Dianne Wiest, Kimberly Williams, John Larroquette, Scott Cohen, Daniel Lapaine |
| Director |
David Carson Herbert Wise |
| Producer |
Babelsberg Film und Fernsehen Carnival Film and Television See all » |
| Distributor |
Hallmark Entertainment National Broadcasting Company (NBC) |
Imagine a world where fairy stories are real, where Cinderella and Snow White and Red Riding Hood grew up to be great queens and formed the 9 Kingdoms, a place where everyone lives happily ever after… until now. Prince Wendall’s crown has been cunningly and unknowingly overthrown by his wicked stepmother, the Queen, and at her beck and call is the Troll King and his doltish children, as well as Wolf, a part-human-part-wolf mix who often has trouble controlling his wolfish tendencies.
Virginia Lewis lives an ordinary life in an apartment with her janitor father, Tony, in New York, “at the edge of the forest,” as she calls Central Park. Only what she doesn’t know is that her world is about to be shattered when Prince Wendall, who has been turned into a dog by his stepmother, leaps through a magic mirror into “The 10th Kingdom.” When Wolf and the trolls follow him, Virginia finds herself in danger, and her father tricked into revealing her whereabouts by the gift of a magic bean that gives him five wishes. He wishes himself into trouble, and the only way they can escape is to flee through the mirror… and into the 9 Kingdoms.
Magic and mischief abound in this nearly 7 hour epic that spread its spell through a three-part miniseries on NBC, with so many twists and turns, unexpected horrors and thrills enough for the most hardened seekers, “The 10th Kingdom” puts together a mixture of Tolkien and Grimm that will please any fantasy lover.
However, the film is not for everyone; no doubt proving too intense for young children, and often turning violent, with creatures ghoulish in appearance and jump scenes involving the Queen. Left unrated, I would give it a PG-13. Wolf, Tony, and Virginia encounter a gypsy camp and have their fortunes told; this later backfires. From a later mention of pregnancy, we discover that Wolf and Virginia have slept together before marriage. The Huntsman kills many people with his magic arrows; people are also poisoned. Also, some parents won’t like the whole magical “edge” of the film, although Wolf does say that the more one uses magic, the more one wants it. Wolf is accused of murdering a young girl whom he was flirting with earlier, although Virginia and Tony prove him innocent. The Queen’s many mirrors spy on people, and she pops up in the most unexpected moments.
In conclusion, with a few bumpy moments, “The 10th Kingdom” is a story of romance, adventure, and suspense.
Uses of God’s name (some misused, some an exclamation when encountering danger). John Larroquete, a la “Night Court” continues in that skirt chasing, course jesting attitude. I had invited some boys in the neighborhood over as these fantasy/medieval movies are usually fun, but was very uncomfortable with the innuendo and the allusion to pre-marital sex.
This was a Hallmark Entertainment film, and so I thought that it would be as “family-friendly” as “Hallmark” movies used to be—I was wrong, sad to say. This could have been done just as well and been just as entertaining, if they had pulled back. This would have been rated PG-13, by me.
Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4½
• Violence and gore scenes abound.
• The Evil Queen is the heroine’s mother. The story most inappropriate for children is the concept of, and actually seeing, the young mother (before she became the Evil Queen), try to drown her child (the child heroine), in the bathtub, and the heroine grows up and eventually kills her mother.
• Other scenes of nightmares that will have your youngster crawling in bed with you are too numerous to list. The movie has many many many gory, very bloody, scenes of death to good characters.
• There are also scenes where the heroes are selfish and find it perfectly ok to leave a comrade behind for the mirror they want to find. This is disguised and passed over quickly, but a diligent parent will see them all easily.
• There are many obvious sexual innuendos, and one premarital sex “scene” with the heroine, who ends up getting pregnant.
I am no prude, nor an overly religious person, but I didn’t even like watching it as a Christian adult. I would never show this to my child. I am surprised other Christians have rated this as okay.
Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 5
I was disappointed by the later sexual relationship (though nothing is shown) between Wolf and Virgina. I’m sure they meant it to leave the door wide open for a sequel, but it is something they definitely could have left out. Other than that I found very little to be offended by in the movie. My friend and I thought it was beautifully done and very funny… especially the part near the end with the talking frog. If you haven’t seen it I definitely recommend it. The first two hours are the hardest to get through, but once you get into the 9th Kingdom, you’re trapped and it won’t let you go till the very end. Enjoy it! [4/4½]
I was watching with two 8 year old girls, a 12 year old boy and a 15 year old boy. The 15 year old left before these scenes. I pulled the plug when the father was making suggestions that he would like to have his boss’ wife. As for the moral rating above, I would put it as “simply offensive” if there was such a category. It is not VERY offensive, I’ve seen worse, but “average-somewhat offensive” doesn’t convey the fullness of vulgarity, either. FAMILY entertainment? Is this what our Christian culture is accepting these days? No wonder we are not making a difference out there—there’s no difference in here. To close: good premise, poor delivery. My Ratings: [Average / 3½]