The 10th
Kingdom by Kathryn
Wesley 
Harper
Collins Entertainment Paperback 430 pages ISBN 0-00-710265-8
£6:99
The 10th Kingdom is a modern-day fairy tale. Well,
at least it begins in Manhattan for its waitress heroine Virginia Lewis and
her feckless janitor father Tony. The main thrust of the story concerns their
transportation via a magic mirror to the fairy tale Nine Kingdoms to rescue
the throne of Prince Wendell from the evil machinations of the Queen his
wicked step-mother who is bent on destroying the House of White (yes, Snow
White). The Queen had been released from the Snow White Memorial Prison by
three gormless trolls: Blabberwort, Bluebell and Burly. (These trolls all
share a shoe fetish and are particularly fond of the music of the Bee Gees.)
The Queen had then used her magic to transform Prince Wendell into the shape
of her dog (with the Queen's dog correspondingly changed into the shape of
the Prince). But the dog Prince escaped via the mirror into New York's Central
Park hotly pursued by the trolls and Wolf (half man-half wolf) who is also
in the service of the Queen.
Wolf promptly falls in love with Virginia and is torn between
making a meal of her and making love to her. The early scenes in New York
when he has a session (by mistake) with a psychiatrist and tries to cook
Virginia's grandmother are hilarious. So too are the scenes where Tony eats
Wolf's magic bean that grants him three wishes. His employers become his
slaves, his refrigerator delivers bottles of coke non-stop, his vacuum cleaner
cannot stop cleaning his apartment to the extent of eating his drapes and
a bag of $1 million is left outside his door. But the police think he has
stolen it and chase him across Central Park together with Virginia, the trolls,
Prince and Wolf. They all pass through the mirror and back into Snow White
Memorial Prison.
The story then takes in the escape from the prison, and the
quest to thwart the evil Queen's plans although, at first, Tony and Virginia
are only keen to get back home. Their adventures through the fantasy worlds
of the Nine Kingdoms are a colourful mix of adventure and comedy. On their
way they meet many of the characters and places made familiar in so many
nursery stories and the implicit horrors behind so many of them are manifested
here. There is a magic fish that allows its captors to turn the first thing
they touch to gold, there is the huntsman determined to track down and kill
Virginia. There is the magic spell that makes Virginia's hair grow and grow
and grow until Rapunzel-like she can let it down over some sixty feet of
tree-trunk to allow her to be rescued from the Huntsman. There is the Little
Lamb Village with the sexy Sally Peep who declares of Wolf, "I'd be scared
you'd come into my house and huff and puff and blow my clothes off."
The 10th Kingdom has been compared with Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings. There is no comparison; Tolkien's work was
a 20th century literary masterpiece. This is superficial unevenly
inspired entertainment in comparison. Having said that it develops its intriguing
idea quite well so that one's interest is sustained throughout. Indeed, it
is difficult to put this book down and adult readers may well have a sense
of guilt about being ensnared by so much twaddle. The writing is racy and
narrative-led. Characterisation and character development is generally good
sometimes excellent, especially that of Wolf.
Author Kathryn Wesley apparently is the pen name of two best
selling authors who "live in the magical kingdom of the Oregon Coast with
seven cats".
Reviewer
Ian Lace
The Video Review
The 10th Kingdom - The entire series on three tapes plus The Making
of The
10th Kingdom
WARNER Vision International
8573-82728-3 [7½hrs +]
The 10th Kingdom - the whole mini-series comes in a handsome box
presentation, that
comprises three videos, splitting 7½ hours of programming to place two
episodes on each of the first two tapes and the final episode plus "The Making
of the 10th Kingdom" on te third.
Here in the United Kingdom, the mini-series was screened in five 2-hour episodes
(including of course commercial breaks), on SKY One, which is a satellite
channel and therefore cannot command such a huge audience as the popular
five terrestrial channels. My guess is that The 10th Kingdom will
make a re-appearance on one of these channels before long to catch a larger
audience.
Clearly with such a pacing, the directors had the opportunity to capture
fully the essence of the book and this is one of those rare occasions when
one is delighted to report that not only are all the events covered but
practically all of the dialogue too. In fact the screen version improves
upon the book. Which brings one to a rather vexed question. The book's authors
have written under a combined pen name as Kathryn Wesley, yet the video makes
no reference to an adaptation from this book but claims that the writer is
Simon Moore who is credited as such in the documentary of the making of the
programme. Is Simon Moore, Simon Moore? Is Simon Moore one half of Kathryn
Wesley? Which came first the video or the novel? Intriguing!
No matter, this mini-series is likely to appeal to all ages. With few exceptions
(see below) forget the acting, concentrate on the concept. The story is magical;
the pace, fast moving; and the special effects, jaw-dropping - particularly
the opening credits sequence in which New York is transformed into the fairyland
of The Nine Kingdoms. The sets and costumes are all lavish - take the sumptuous
climactic ballroom scene for instance. The fascinating documentary details
all the many American and European locations in which the mini-series was
filmed and the immense pains the production team took - including lugging
up the dead dragon's skeleton, that forms the entrance to the dwarves mirror
mines, high up into the Austrian mountains.
Fairyland is brutal as we can all recall from our childhood. Who did not
hide their eyes when Disney's wicked witch appeared before Snow White? Directors,
David Carson and Herbert Wise, astutely point up the underlying psychological
elements in the story particularly the parallel in the relationship between
Virginia and her mother, and Snow White and her step-mother. If I was asked
which actor had made the biggest impression and who might go on to bigger
things from this film, then I have to say it must be Scott Cohen as Wolf.
But then his, is the most appealing and strongest character in the story
although Cohen cleverly uses an array of subtle wolf-like mannerisms to deepen
his portrayal. Ann-Margaret makes an impact in her small role as a 200 year-old
Cinderella. Rutger Hauer dons his well-worn sinister garb as The Huntsman.
Diane Wiest is, perhaps, too nice to be a really chilling Queen; yet she
shows the vulnerability of her character (who has lost her soul) well enough.
A number of well known British character actors pass through the story including
Robert Hardy who plays a suspicious courtier sniffing out the Queen's diabolical
plot.
To Anne Dudley's music, as featured in the film. I saw the videos some weeks
after listening to the CD and my revised comments are added to my original
review that appears again below. I would just add that some material is repeated
ad nauseum especially the sinister synth figure used to signal anything menacing
that is about to occur. This uses the leitmotif technique in quite the wrong
way with no subtly, no shading and really shows up the inadequacies and severe
limitations of synth scoring.
Daft but utterly compelling viewing, I loved every minute of it
Ian Lace
Anne DUDLEY The 10th
Kingdom OST VARÈSE SARABANDE
VSD 6115 [54:12]
Yes, we're including this review again, repeating it from last
month but now that I have had a chance to see the mini-series, I can appreciate
the music more as music for the film. In this it succeeds rather well in
supporting action, creating the magical or threatening atmospheres and filling
out characterisations but my principal observations remain unaffected.
Anne Dudley fashions a broad romantic score putting some new
spin on all the treasured clichés the genre demands: romantic yearnings,
magical little bells/stardust awe and wonder material, brooding, eerie
atmospherics, comic, rumbustous stuff and of course the nasty menacing monsters
music - seasoned with the magical or menacing synths.
The opening cue, `The 4 Who Saved Nine Kingdoms' captures all
the score's essence, a broad romantic bit of a theme (I'll elaborate on this
remark later) frog-croaking-like electronic antics and swirling eerie evil
troll-like menaces. I will not go into detail about the rather repetitive
score but just select one or two of the more interesting cues on which to
comment. `Six Glorious Wishes' is great galumphing fun with xylophone and
woodwinds and percussion enjoying a merry, swaggering ride. `Addicted to
Magic' is sheer sparkling enchantment with a hint of a modern beat and agitated
tremolandos and glissandi all adding to a rich, magical cue. `A Stepmother's
Curse' is a vivid devil's kitchen of a concoction with what sound like pots
and pans being bashed about amongst swirling mists and witches howlings;
scary, scary (not for little one's ears!).
Generally speaking Anne Dudley's score is big on atmosphere
and characterisation. However, unlike George Fenton in similar Ever
After mode, she cannot spin out a memorable melody; all we get is some
meanderings around material that could and should comprise a melody. If Dudley
can hone this facility for writing a truly memorable melody she could have
a great future.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
