Drew Barrymore, Dougray Scott, Angelica Houston, Melanie Lynskey, Megan Dodds, Patrick Godfrey
Well blow me down. Once more the version of history that I knew has been blown away and British people populated 98% of the earth way back in the 16th Century. 1% ended up being the prototypes for most modern sociopaths, obviously. The other 1% got together sometime in 1754 to become the future Teeth of Matt Damon. If I've said it once, I'll probably annoy you and say it again: If you're filming in France, if you mention France in any way and you're not in Brittany, PLEASE PLEASE get dialect people who can teach your actors a FRENCH accent. Just for me. Save my brain from having an anyurysm and stop it with the BRITS. Seriously, is Da Vinci a British name? Not that I know of. ARGH!
As Cindie would say, "Just Breathe".
Aside from the obvious problems with the accent department, I really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was the most beautifully visual movie of the year, and if it doesn't get nominated for Costume Design come Oscar Time, I will personally make sure that none of those Oscar people ever reproduce. Save the planet, have your Oscar Committee Spayed or Neutered, and help control the idiot population.
I really enjoyed the way they played the Stepmother in this film, Angelica Houston was made for the part of Evil Stepmother, but she was Evil Stepmum with a human side. (However, what was NOT human were those two things on her forhead masquerading as eyebrows...) She played a woman so desperate to regain her former status in society, that she chose one of her two daughters, raised her as a courtier, just to be able to marry her off to another rich person and recapture some of the connections that she had in the past. She was not as evil as she was desperate. And that was a lovely way go about it.
As for the sisters, they were also well cast and acted. The older of the two, Marguerite (Dodds) was the one raised by her mother to be a courtier, and she acted as such. Jaqueline (Lynskey) was the younger, the nicer and my personal favourite. She too was a product of what her mother had made her, but only in the sense that she simply wanted her mother's attention to focus away from Margeurite for more than a second.
As for Drew Barrymore, shock horror, I enjoyed her performance. The last Barrymore experience that I can remember was SCREAM, where she died so quick that I didn't care how much she bothered me. Before that I can remember Mad Love, with Chris O'Donnell, the movie which made me want to rip out my insides and audition for Saving Ryan's Privates....Private Ryan. But The Drew is groing on me, sort of like toe fungus. But she was believable, and that's more than I can say for her other performances. Anyway, Drew plays Danielle, Cinderella With An Attitude, and marxist views on Slavery and Education. But for the outspoken girl who faced down a Prince, she got pretty soppy and weenie-like around the end.
Dougray Scott, or the man in the iron jockstrap, was a fistful of eye candy playing Prince Henry. He made me tingle everytime some of that Scottish brogue peeped out behind his wanton British accent. Unfortunately, if the camera focused on his upper AND lower extremities, I had trouble looking at his face. Que Sera, Sera, I suppose.
Personally, I think that the absence of fairy godmothers and midnight pumpkin rides made this story so much nicer. Plus, Patrick Godfrey was great as Leonardo 3187. I hear after Ever After, he's planning on making Titanic 56: Oops, she's going down again!
SCREAM! Richard O'Brien is in this movie. If you're a Rocky Horror fan, you'll be horrified at the excellent performance he puts in as the green-toothed Pierre La Pieu. (Les sighs, Les meows, etc.)
All in all, this is an excellent time. Full worth the money I paid for the the fact that the woman next to me smelled like garlic and pesto sauce. But people were so into it that they they clapped at the good parts! Go See It!
TRIVIA: Take a look for a Robin Hood: Prince of Theives Alumni! Walter Sparrow, formally known as the Blind Dude, Duncan is Maurice, the obscenely British servant that Danielle saves.