With a novel quite so extraordinarily overlong as is Stephen King doorstop bestseller It, it makes perfect sense to partition the story into two. The revelation that Andy Muschietti’s take on the classic would draw the line between child- and adulthood, likewise, struck as logical. In actuality, Muschietti’s result is a tale of two halves for the weaker. Chapter Two suffers from an affliction of repetition and of been there done that. A superior cast and high budget visuals help things float but never so high as it’s immediate predecessor.
James Bobin has previous when it comes to the art of blending self-referential wit and naive optimism in the rejuvenation of childhood classics. It stems from a cinematic career that was launched splendidly with 2011’s jovial The Muppets and survives Alice Through the Looking Glass to enjoy a delightful second wind in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Based on the adventures of television toon phenomenon Dora the Explorer, the film catapults its heroine ten years into her future but retains the original thirst for knowledge. If Bobin’s take is too old for prior audience, that’s fine – they grew up.
With its genially old fashioned ideologies and almost – not quite – Ghibli like aesthetic and score, Princess Emmy is never less than charming, never more than fine. The film comes from the producers of Maya the Bee, is sweet on the eye and sticks around only so long as it’s welcome – a breezy seventy odd minutes. Whilst it is aimed squarely at that bygone image of the little girl who dreams of ponies and princesses, there’s enough backbone here to maintain a notional sense for moral modernity.
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