(No spoilers in the first two paragraphs.) Princess of Thieves (2001) takes the Robin Hood story one step forward. As the movie starts we see a very young Gwyn, Robin's daughter, waking in the morning and, as she goes about her routine, she turns into progressively older girls until we see the Gwen of this movie, Keira Knightly at 15. It was a good way to show the transition in just a minute or so of screen time. We find out that she has not seen Robin, her dad, in some time and eagerly awaited his arrival.
What I liked about the development of the story is that young Gwen did not kick butt right away, after she decided to follow in her dad's footsteps. She made mistakes, sometimes getting others in trouble, but gradually learned how to harness her eagerness and wait for the right moments to take action. Even though she was only 15, a point dwelled on in the DVD's making of special, she was quite an accomplished actress, and held her own against the likes of Malcolm McDowell who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Stuart Wilson who was Robin Hood.
SPOILERS in the remaining comments. There is a conflict between the King's evil brother, and the King's illegitimate son, the young Prince, for the Crown. Against her father's wishes, Gwen cuts her hair short to be taken for a young boy, and sets out to save her captured dad. Along the way she and the young Prince get together, they help each other, eventually the evil brother is brought down and the Prince becomes the new King. Robin Hood, now a 50-ish man, is saved. The young King wishes Gwen could be his queen, but as a commoner she cannot. So he vows to never get married.
What I liked about the development of the story is that young Gwen did not kick butt right away, after she decided to follow in her dad's footsteps. She made mistakes, sometimes getting others in trouble, but gradually learned how to harness her eagerness and wait for the right moments to take action. Even though she was only 15, a point dwelled on in the DVD's making of special, she was quite an accomplished actress, and held her own against the likes of Malcolm McDowell who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Stuart Wilson who was Robin Hood.
SPOILERS in the remaining comments. There is a conflict between the King's evil brother, and the King's illegitimate son, the young Prince, for the Crown. Against her father's wishes, Gwen cuts her hair short to be taken for a young boy, and sets out to save her captured dad. Along the way she and the young Prince get together, they help each other, eventually the evil brother is brought down and the Prince becomes the new King. Robin Hood, now a 50-ish man, is saved. The young King wishes Gwen could be his queen, but as a commoner she cannot. So he vows to never get married.