The 10th Kingdom

Released 2000
Stars Kimberly Williams, Scott Cohen, John Larroquette, Dianne Wiest, Rutger Hauer
Directed by David Carson, Herbert Wise

This epic 10-hour miniseries from the Emmy-winning writer of Gulliver's Travels was a ratings bust on television, but on video and DVD, where it can be enjoyed at one's leisure, it has a better chance to cast its magical spell. Kimberly Williams has never been more enchanting than as Virginia, a waitress who still lives with her janitor father (John Larroquette) and yearns for something exciting to happen to her. Her wish comes true when she and her father are transported from New York City into a dimension that, with apologies to Rod Serling, can only be called the Fairy Tale Zone; nine kingdoms populated by characters from fairy tales of yore. They team up with a dog who's really a prince--Wendell, grandson of Snow White--changed into canine form by the evil Queen (Dianne Wiest), who plots to usurp Wendell's throne. Father, daughter, and his royal dogness are relentlessly pursued through the nine kingdoms by the Troll King (Ed O'Neill) and his three bumbling and horrible children, and the conflicted Wolf (Scott Cohen), who is allied with the Queen but, with the aid of some Oprah-esque self-help books, tames his inner beast and falls in love with Virginia. The 10th Kingdom is a special effects extravaganza. There is indeed, as one character marvels, magic to behold here. But despite the Hallmark brand name and the presence of a grown-up Snow White (Camryn Manheim) and Cinderella (Ann-Margret), bewitched animals, magic mirrors, and trolls, this is not kid's stuff. It can get scary, surprisingly violent, and quite intense; you know, just like real fairy tales.

Summary by Donald Liebenson

"The 10th Kingdom" was a very ambitious project, and it's pretty successful. It's creative and gorgeous looking, and it's funny just above the sitcom level. I don't know how to describe it, though, because I couldn't tell who the intended audience was. It's definitely not targeted to little kids, and I don't know how many adults would watch it without any kids present. I guess it was aimed at tweeners, but my pre-tweeners liked it a lot. I also enjoyed it, but I wish it wouldn't have had so much profanity (hell, damn, bitch, bastard) and sexual innuendo and content. For example, Sally Peep (Lucy Punch) looks and acts like a Juggy from the Man Show, and I have no idea throughout the 7 hours how many times my nine year-old daughter asked "what does that mean?". It would have been much better if they had gone one way or the other. They could have either cleaned it up or gotten rid of some of the dumb stuff that appeals to younger kids. The story's pretty dark at times with several killings, so I'd rather have had them go the PG-13 route. I definitely recommend it for the PG-13 crowd, though, because it's pretty fun. --Bill Alward, December 27, 2003