Peklo s princeznou

Less of a hell than expected, which is a big hit for modern Czech fairytale standards. (24.12.2010)

One almost doesn't know what to criticize first. Is it the awful acting performances (the always stupid Jiří Mádl, the almost always awkward Jiří Pecha, the unexpectedly annoying Miroslav Táborský...), the terrible script (when I saw in the credits that Marie Poledňáková collaborated on it, I understood where the "as if accidental" situations that made everything complicated to the point of shame) the lack of originality and no decent jokes, one of the worst hells of all time and ridiculously cheap devil masks (poor Martin Stránský), the unnecessarily spectacular and the inappropriate music by Malásek, or the directing without any ideas? In the beginning of the film, there was an attempt to make a film in the style of Give the Devil His Due. They were far from it. I like fairy tales, but they have to be good. This one wasn't. I finished watching it only because of Petr Nárožný. (24.12.2011)

The basis of the fairy tale is very decent, and I was very pleasantly surprised (again) by Alžbeta Stanková as the devil woman Muribana, who once again proved that overacting in the style of Bugyna is fortunately passé. Postránecký, Nárožný, Adamovská, and Táborský are excellent, and the production design is very sympathetic. It all fits together nicely, but when the Voříšková/Mádl duo come on screen, they absolutely ruin everything good. Unfortunate. (30.08.2010)

Together with Angel of the Lord, this is the highest quality Czech fairy tale film of the last decade. Which, considering the poor fairy tale production of the Czech film industry, is not that much of a win. Angel of the Lord has somewhat better dialogues, but It Is Hell with a Princess looks more cinematic than its competitor, which is more suitable for television screens. It lacks the embarrassingly greasy and worn-out dimension of Troška's films, but Šmídmajer's film suffers from an overall lack of refinement. It needed more work on dialogues and the script, and it needed a much higher budget, which would have allowed for casting quality actors even in minor roles, improved the set design, and offered the viewers a few quality special effects. I also had a problem with Jiří Mádl. I acknowledge that he has undisputed advantages for a certain age group and gender, but he didn't fit the role of a prince in my opinion. I acknowledge  Jan Skopeček and Petr Nárožný as excellent actors, but unfortunately, both of them are past their prime, and if, for example, Nárožný carried a fairy tale twenty years ago, today he is more of a passenger. Overall impression: 60%. It Is Hell with a Princess also suffers from the traditional flaw of Czech fairy tales, which is the absence of real evil, weakening the dramatic tension. (29.12.2009)