Fantaghirò 4

Plot synopsis:
A mysterious black cloud is travelling across the land, bringing death and destruction wherever it goes. Fantaghirò is helping the people of her kingdom escape to safety when she crosses paths with young Prince Parsel. Parsel is chasing the black cloud because it took his castle, and he is trying to find a way to get it back. When the black cloud passes over Fantaghirò's castle, it too disappears, so she joins with Parsel to search for the origins of the black cloud. They travel to the kingdom of Tohor where they discover that Tarabas, the reformed dark wizard, has been imprisoned and accused of conjuring the black cloud. Fantaghirò, who knows that he has renounced his evil ways, helps him escape. Fantaghirò, Tarabas, Parsel and Princess Angelica of Tohor (who has fallen in love with Tarabas) leave Tohor to track down the black cloud, which they discover is conjured by a powerful dark magician named Darken.
Elsewhere, the Black Witch is struggling to revive her magical powers, which have become weak after she had helped Fantaghirò in the previous film. She revives Tarabas' mother Xellesia, who was killed by her rebellious gnomes, and the two witches fly off to find Tarabas and prevent him from discovering the origins of the dark cloud. Fantaghirò and her group have tracked the black cloud to Nekrad, a kingdom beneath a dormant volcano. There, they encounter a deformed man named Fiodor who tells them that the kingdom is ruled by Darken. Darken then emerges from Parsel's body, where he has been hiding from the very beginning. A fight ensues, and Fantaghirò is killed. An enraged Tarabas attempts to kill Darken, but Xellesia arrives and stops him. It is then revealed that Darken is Tarabas' father, and the black cloud was part of an elaborate plot to bring Tarabas back to his evil ways.
Darken promises to bring Fantaghirò back to life if Tarabas will embrace his dark side again. Tarabas is reluctant, but Fiodor talks him into it. It is revealed that Fiodor is actually Romualdo, transformed by Darken into a hideous monster in order to torment him with never being able to return to Fantaghirò. Fiodor also makes Tarabas promise to take care of Fantaghirò. Tarabas finally agrees to become evil again if it means that Fantaghirò can live, and Darken revives her. While Tarabas tries to convince Darken of his evil "honesty", Fantaghirò conspires with Fiodor, Angelica and a revived Parsel to rescue the stolen castles from Darken's collection and escape from the underground kingdom. After Darken is temporarily subdued, Tarabas, Xellesia and a reluctant Black Witch join the group in escaping from Darken's kingdom. Along the way, Xellesia sacrifices herself so her son will be safe.
Darken follows the group, and another fight ensues. In the end, Darken is defeated and Fantaghirò's castle is restored to its full glory. Fantaghirò has also realised that Fiodor is her beloved Romualdo. Fiodor tries to escape, embarrassed by his new form, but Fantaghirò insists that she does not love him for his looks. Tarabas is touched by Fantaghirò's devotion to Romualdo, and decides to move on with his life, promising Angelica that he will learn to love her. In the end, Fiodor transforms back into Romualdo (using edited footage from the first film), and the pair are reunited.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Star Wars in fairy tale land. Let's recall the three films preceding this one:1) Fantaghiro falls in love and unites three war-torn kingdoms 2) Fantaghiro fights an evil sorceress 3) The evil sorceress becomes a sidekick and Fantaghiro fights an evil sorcerer and now: 4) The evil sorceress remains a sidekick and the evil sorcerer becomes another sidekick to fight an even more evil sorcerer, who is (drumroll!) the father of the previous evil sorcerer! Seriously, those father-son things have been overdone in the movies....Do I see a trend developping? Do all previous bad guys have to become sidekicks in sequels? Oh well. Part 3 was still bearable, with the old "Evil guys stealing all children" plot eerily reminiscent of "Willow", but this one is just stupid. And full of sappy attempts to tear at 10 year old girl's hearts, with love interests being turned into ugly goblins etc.Avoid 4/10. much worse than Fantaghiro 3. I will start by saying I didn't like that part of the series and here are some of my reasons: 1) No strong storyline. The way older dark prince wanted to get Tarabas back was overcomplicated and strange.2) Tarabas, once a tragic and deep character, here becomes a parody of himself. His love for Fantaghiro is not eternal after all and he conveniently meets another love interest. Besides, he does not look as great as in Fantaghiro 3, too long hair and too much eyeliner:)3) The actors play bad, it often looks like a stage acting, overacted and feels like they read straight from the script or waited for prompts.What I liked: 1) Intense scene between Fantaghiro and Fiodor in the prison, very moving 2) Irrational love of Angelica for Tarabas before she has even seen him, quite funny.. Average, yes, but still entertaining. I must agree with the comment above regarding the quality of the fourth part of the Fantaghiró series. Nonetheless, after careful thinking, I must say I enjoyed most of it. It doesn't have the charm of the first and second movies, but I still saw some parts of the original plot: Fantaghiro saving those she loves regardless of how difficult things can get, and actually I must say I was surprised on the strong message given during the movie about "image is nothing". Her conversation with Fiodor regarding her love for Romualdo is truly touching, perhaps the highpoint of the movie. It's quite emotional to hear her talk about what she feels for him knowing he's in fact in front of her without Fantaghiró having any clue. The dialogue is simple yet truthful: she loves him above his beauty (and people, we're talking about Kim Rossi Stuart here, perhaps one of the most beautiful men in the world). I don't remember hearing her being so open about her love for Romualdo before, even in the 3rd movie, where she must save him from turning into stone. I would have liked to see this dialogue earlier in the movies, though.