Princess Emmy

A princess is in danger of losing the gift of talking to horses in this animated feature for younger viewers. Princess Emmy's facility for conversing with her stable is a secret, derived from a precious book passed down from a regal predecessor. Lose the book and the gift goes, too. Cue consternation when a rival princess arrives to prepare for the ball, and mutual antipathy escalates. It's unclear why we should care about any of this, what with ball etiquette, status anxiety and equine conversation not exactly proving hot-button topics in most households. Still, this German/Belgian/Scottish co-production toddles along in its own somewhat deranged manner, playing out in a world where there's no security in the royal household, and childhood use of mobiles and computers goes unmonitored. Animation and vocal performances are serviceable at best, and given the subject matter - princesses and horses - one imagines this is skewed towards a little girl demographic, who deserve better than this.