Here's a fairy tale that will please neither children nor adults. It's way too long and drawn out, and ends stupidly.
The psychologists among us will wonder long and hard about a father who wants to marry his daughter. Jean Marais was a wonderful actor, but he's wasted in this imbecilic role.
As the princess, Catherine Deneuve was never more radiant, but the songs she's made to perform have none of the interest or charm of her work in director Demy's "Les parapluies de Cherbourg."
Making matters worse, the film is full of loose ends. A donkey that excretes gold coins -- pretty special, right? The king thinks nothing of slaughtering it, and its loss makes no difference to him. And if he's monarch, who are the other royals in the tale -- Prince Charming's parents? It's as if that couple's realm appears from nowhere. Most egregious is the deus-ex-machina conclusion, with Marais's character having found love with his erstwhile foe, arriving for his daughter's nuptials by helicopter. How would 17th-century author Charles Perrault have felt about that?
If nothing else, this film is colorful. One guesses that the performance-artist Blue Man Group found inspiration for their face paint here.
The psychologists among us will wonder long and hard about a father who wants to marry his daughter. Jean Marais was a wonderful actor, but he's wasted in this imbecilic role.
As the princess, Catherine Deneuve was never more radiant, but the songs she's made to perform have none of the interest or charm of her work in director Demy's "Les parapluies de Cherbourg."
Making matters worse, the film is full of loose ends. A donkey that excretes gold coins -- pretty special, right? The king thinks nothing of slaughtering it, and its loss makes no difference to him. And if he's monarch, who are the other royals in the tale -- Prince Charming's parents? It's as if that couple's realm appears from nowhere. Most egregious is the deus-ex-machina conclusion, with Marais's character having found love with his erstwhile foe, arriving for his daughter's nuptials by helicopter. How would 17th-century author Charles Perrault have felt about that?
If nothing else, this film is colorful. One guesses that the performance-artist Blue Man Group found inspiration for their face paint here.