Parents' Guide to

Damsel

Movie PG-13 2024 109 minutes
Damsel movie poster: Millie Bobby Brown with a sword.

Common Sense Media Review

Jennifer Green By Jennifer Green , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 13+

Suspenseful adventure has strong female lead; violence.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 12+

Based on 30 parent reviews

age 12+

Great adventure movie with a fun and engaging plot!!

This was a really great movie and I would highly recommend on watching it. It is really great fantasy and adventure, so if you want to just sit back and enjoy some epic battles and cool solo adventures like the Legend of Zelda or something, go ahead and watch this great piece! There isn't the best character development for the characters but otherwise it's a great run. The plot is not the most creative but it is executed really well. Millie Bobby Brown does a great performance and carries the film, along with the great dragon and epic cave and battle scenes. 100% worth seeing!
age 10+

One Tough Damsel

I love the ironic title of this film. Millie Bobby Brown does a great job of being an intelligent princess. I also find the take on the stepmother to be very refreshing. The movie may scare children under eight years old. If they are not afraid of dragons, then you are good to have them watch it.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (30 ):
Kids say (49 ):

From Stranger Things to Enola Holmes, Millie Bobby Brown is cornering the market on roles for young women with superhuman strength, intellect, and resolve, and she proves her mettle here once again. Damsel takes pains to make its feminist message clear, and Brown manages a sensitive performance within a highly physical role as the damsel in distress who can rely only on herself to be saved. She's also surrounded by reliable veterans (Wright, Bassett, and Winstone). Gathering so much talent together for what could make a new franchise at Netflix might not have been an easy task for Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later), but it pays off.

Fresnadillo and team also do a solid job creating suspense out of just a few (well-designed) settings. They've edited together multiple camera angles on many sequences and kept the camera close on Brown in the caves, keeping the pace brisk and the emotional stakes high. Production design, wardrobe, and effects are all worthy, and the score, produced by Hans Zimmer, is appropriately eerie. The labyrinthine cave is a little confusing for the viewer, even with the maps Elodie finds, and her levels of fighting and progression, complete with discovery and use of tools along the way, carry more than a hint of a video game structure. That may ultimately reveal this film's target audience, though the veteran supporting cast could draw older viewers too.

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