I went in this movie looking forward to see Q'Orianka Kilcher's performance after having the pleasure of watching her acting in The New World (2005). Unfortunately for me, this movie failed to live up to my expectations. Before I talk about the negative aspects of this movie, I should talk about the few good things: the cinematography and costumes are breathtakingly beautiful, but they can't make up for the blandly delivered dialogue, the emotionless, awkward romance, and some atrocious pieces of acting. Now, the actors themselves have proved they can act in other movies; thus I find fault with the director and the script. I wasn't connected at all to the love story and I found myself not believing anything they said or felt for each other. Except for some sensual kissing scenes, the romance was poorly done. Aside from that, the movie is full of historical inaccuracies, although I've come to expect that when watching a period drama film. My verdict is to skip this movie and go read or watch a documentary if you want to know more about the real Princess Kaiulani.

This movie was disappointing. As a native Hawai'ian, I was excited to see and support a historical movie detailing a significant period in our history filled with issues that still weigh heavy on us until this day. Most of the movie seemed amateurish and poorly put together but it tells a story so I guess thats what mattered. There are several scenes which serve merely to develop the viewer's sympathy for Ka'iulani in love, begging us to be overly sensitive towards our heroine and an interest in love while in England ..instead of building her character around more important issues that were her life. Characters like Alice, Archie, Miss Barnes are shallow and rather dull. They exist solely to enhance Ka'iulani and funnel the plot towards her own turmoils in romance.Though the dialog has its moments (like the lovely conversation at dinner in regards to food and politics), the whole movie gets sidetracked by just another fated love story... the same one we've seen a million times: Girl and boy from different situations, finances, countries, and dispositions are supposed to hate each other, but end up falling madly in love. There were also many significant events in Ka'iulani's life that are not portrayed in the movie.

After viewing this enlightening and educational movie, I selected and viewed the extra bonus features, saddened and shocked at finding out the detailed history of Hawaii and its royalty. The truths unveiled by the research (done before the movie was made) made my heart hurt.How sad that again, US intervention caused another group of natives to become a part of the United States when clearly, they did not want that to happen. Capitalism raised its ugly head then, as it continues to do so.Even after moving to England (during the unrest in Hawaii) for several years while her people suffered, Kaiulani (Victoria to her Scottish father) mourned the loss of her Hawaiian mother and her beautiful land. This teenage young lady thought and acted like royalty, wanting the best for her people. Too bad that it didn't happen--her aunt, acting queen, was jailed by American soldiers and sentenced to in-house arrest and hard labor. Kaiulani returned to Hawaii and a few years later, died after developing a serious type of arthritis and a thyroid condition.Princess Kaiulani's heart broke twice, when she gave up the man she loved for the land that she loved.

The other reviews were clearly written by the writer/director or friends of the writer/director or cast members. Don't be fooled. They're more like gushing summaries than real reader reviews. There's much more interesting characters to be portrayed than this person. Wow.... This movie was boring boring boring and amateurish at times. Who funded this thing and how is it possible? I have a couple of bridges I'd like to sell to the financier. This movie doesn't even belong on Lifetime. If you're looking for a good night's rest, I would suggest Ambien. If you're looking to waste 15 minutes of your life before falling asleep, try beating your head against the wall to knock yourself out. You'll still feel better about that 15 minutes than having spent it watching any of this film. This must be a first for the writer/director. Hopefully the last as well.