Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

The 10th Kingdom Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 20, 2018

The Fairy Tale is a staple of both film and literature alike, and both bookstores (what few remain) and cinemas are always welcoming new arrivals, the latter in both animated (Frozen) and live action (Beauty and the Beast) forms. Some are simply recreations of classic tales (Disney has made its name on rehashing classic tales) while others, particularly some of the more modern escapes, are made of pieces from several different tales (Disney's Once Upon a Time television show weaves together an intriguing blend of various characters and settings) or are unique re-imaginings of well-established genre conventions (Enchanted). The made for television miniseries The 10th Kingdom efforts to capitalize on classic tales meshed together within dual real world and fantasy world settings. Unfortunately, the program cannot maintain a focus along the way of mixing and matching its components. It may have worked better in a lengthier format (like the multiple seasons allowed to the aforementioned Once Upon A Time), but within the constraints of a mere hours-long mini-series the plot proves too cumbersome and the characters are never fully realized within it.

As tends to the the case in these sorts of stories, the tale begins with an Evil Queen up to no good. This particular Evil Queen (Dianne Wiest) has been imprisioned but enchants the Troll King (Ed O'Niel) and his children in order to aid her escape. Once free, she manages to cast a spell on Snow White's grandson, Prince Wendell (Daniel Lapaine), swapping his mind into a golden retriever, and vice versa. When Wendell escapes into New York City in his dog form, the Fairy Tale world meets the real world and a number of adventurous and mischievous mishaps ensue as trolls chase the dog, Wolf (Scott Cohen) pursues the trolls to find the dog, and humans Virginia Lewis (Kimberly Williams) and her father Anthony (John Larroquette) find themselves in the middle of it all, eventually leaving New York for the Fairy Tale world.

While Enchanted managed to seamlessly move between the real world and the fantasy world, and even as franchises like The Smurfs work hard to make the transition as believable as possible, in The 10th Kingdom the jump feels forced at best and ridiculously unbelievable at worst. Perhaps with more time to develop (and/or a bigger budget) the characters and the world might have found more believable interactive life. It's something Once Upon a Time has honed to a fine edge, and perhaps its a long and fruitful experience with that show, and other movies like it, talking, but The 10th Kingdom struggles to rally its character roster, make full and worthwhile heads and tails out of them, and do something remarkable, never mind magical, with it all. It's difficult to follow, hard to buy into, and almost impossible to enjoy.

While the special effects might have looked good in 2000 on standard definition television, they appear shoddy and out of place in 2018 in high definition. Every time the show manages to accomplish something to draw the viewer into its story and worlds, along comes some terrible visual to pull the viewer back out of it. The live action backgrounds and elements filmed in New York City look fine (even if the character's don't: the trolls roam New York City dressed like extras from a bad 80s Fantasy film or oddball music video combined with some leftover Ferengi makeup), but once it becomes inhabited by Fairy Tale creatures the visuals degrade as support pieces inorganically interact with the real world. Costumes and character structure leave much desired as well. Simpler characters -- Snow White, The Huntsman, The Evil Queen -- lack real splendor but manage to bring out essentials well enough. Rapunzel's hair look like a nest of Wookie pelts rather than natural human locks.

There are a few positives, at least. Daniel Lapaine isn't at all bad as the Dog turned Prince, believably acting as though he really is a canine in a human body. He shines in his second role as the voice of the Prince-turned-Dog and finds just the right mix of exasperation and haughtiness in his travels. Kimberly Williams does her best to turn the female lead into a memorable role. Unfortunately for her, the script doesn't offer her much with which to work considering that the conflicts aren't complex and the romance is rather bland when it's a focal point. John Larroquette does well enough with the role of the selfish father who, without fail, puts himself first, often to the detriment of his own daughter. Scott Cohen shines in the otherwise forgettable role of Wolf -- Casanova, food critic, rascally dog, therapy patient -- and blends them into a coherent character that offers more than the script inspired.

The 10th Kingdom Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 10th Kingdom looks decent enough at-a-glance, but problems persist upon slightly closer inspection. The image is flat, de-grained, and while textures are sufficient, they're not particularly efficient. Everything is rendered kind of dull, offering up serviceable baseline details but failing to go that extra mile to present skin, clothes, and environments with any kind of rewarding complexity or textural accuracy. Much of the problem, of course, stems from cramming hours of material onto the disc, though video bitrates do hover around a comfortable-enough lower- to mid-20s. "Crude" is perhaps the best way to describe the presentation's textural orientation. Colors are likewise lacking nuance, depth, or satisfying saturation. Skin tones are pasty and the film's various environments -- dense city streets, lush green exteriors, and so on -- lack dialed-in contrast, often appearing washed out and unnatural. Black levels struggle across both ends of the spectrum, appearing overpowering here and light there. Some lower light shots go very snowy and clumpy. Occasional speckles pop up across the frame and macroblocking occasionally stops by to say "hello." This is a transfer that casual audiences -- undemanding families, perhaps -- will find to look "good" while videophiles will find to look "poor." It's watchable, but positives don't extend very far beyond that, and no superlatives apply.

The 10th Kingdom Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 10th Kingdom features a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that's about on par with the video presentation in terms of delivered quality. It's perfectly serviceable in that it capably delivers all necessary elements with essential clarity, but there's little sense of dynamic intensity or interest in giving real shape to anything beyond the crudities. Environmental elements find decent width and are nicely integrated in terms of supportive volume. Music plays with good general clarity and stability and decent reach out to the sides. Action scenes struggle to build any kind of sonic momentum, though thunder effects in chapter six of episode two do find a decent crack and stage width. Between the low budget sound construction and the absence of a subwoofer channel, there's not much weight or intensity to anything in the show. Dialogue does at least image well enough to the center and presents with adequate clarity, sometimes hindered by undesirable scratchiness and mild hollowness.

The 10th Kingdom Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 10th Kingdom contains an isolated score track across both discs (Dolby Digital 2.0) while disc two contains The Making of 'The 10th Kingdom' (480i, 44:55). This piece offers an extended look at the story, features extensive cast and crew interviews, offers a number of behind-the-scenes clips, and showcases scenes from the program. It also explores shooting locations, cast and characters, costumes and special effects, and much more. Fans will find this to be an enjoyable all-in-one.

The 10th Kingdom Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The 10th Kingdom just isn't fun. Plodding, grossly over-the-top, decidedly unfunny, riddled with bad visuals, and hindered by a wayward script and insufficient time to flesh it all out (or perhaps it's too long and forced to overexpose itself), it's saved only by the occasional burst of decent acting against parts that are either overly complex and severely underdeveloped. Video isn't great, audio isn't either, and extras are merely acceptable. Nostalgic fans might find it worth picking up, but newcomers should enter carefully.