The Secret Kingdom

CinemaSerf

Aug 24, 2023 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

"Peter" (Sam Everingham) and his young sister "Verity" (Alyla Browne) arrive at their new, somewhat dilapidated, home and after a brief visit to an antiques emporium find themselves crashing through the floorboards of his bedroom and into a magical word of armour-plated pangolin who inform the young man that he is their king, and that only he can solve a series of riddles that will deliver the key to a clock that can thwart the dastardly enemy "The Shroud" that is bent of destroying all that is fair in the world. Now it's hardly original this - there are bits fairly clearly inspired by "Harry Potter", "Narnia" and "Golden Compass" throughout, but the efforts from Everingham and Brown with their faithful escort "Bling" and the double-headed tortoise "Ego" and "Ergo" are actually quite fun. The visuals look fine and there are plenty of adventures before an ending that offers little by way of surprise, but hey - it's a family film with dragons and nasties and it's not meant to be over-thought. If you like movies that take you into mysterious enchanted kingdoms for a bit of escapism, you won't be disappointed. You won't remember it for long, either, but I quite enjoyed it for what it is.

I really wanted to give this film a try. But after watching it for 22 minutes, I couldn't endure anymore. At the beginning, there is a narrative part which I find very interesting. Because of that, I continued to watch it to the length of 22 minutes. That being said, when it reached to 22 minutes, I could bear it anymore. The acting is terrible. I can understand the children's acting. They are still young, so, it wouldn't be great as I have expected. But I find the parents action is also not that good. Most of the reasons why I couldn't continue to watch this film is this acting. About​ special effects, I find it has some flaws too. In the other words, not that good. Some might think that it's good but for me, sorry, it's not that good. To summarise this review, although I didn't watch it to the end, I feel like this film is not that good. Just like some people say, if you don't have anything to watch, watch it. But if you have the other film, you can skip it and watch the other films because it's not worth to watch.