The past couple decades or so have seen fairy-tale subversion after fairy-tale subversion where a princess doesn’t want fancy dresses and a handsome prince, and instead decides to pick up a sword or split-kick her attackers. In fact, it’s such a common play in media these days that “Pretty Princess Powerhouse” has become a trope of its own.

And Netflix’s Damsel, starring Millie Bobby Brown as a young woman who fights off the dragon that the royal family tries to sacrifice her to, initially seems like it fits that mold.

But director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo smartly subverts those expectations into something more. It isn’t just a story of a headstrong young woman who doesn’t want an archery contest to determine who marries her, so she shoots for her own hand. Or one where a captured princess in a high tower picks up a sword and starts stabbing everyone who’s wronged her. With some stronger core relationships woven in and a plot that slowly puts a spin on the usual conventions, Damsel turns into so much more than a typical fable shake-up, evolving the fairy-tale twist to the next level.........

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