For all of you out there who’ve ever wanted to watch an orc wield a flatscreen TV in battle with a sword-swinging teenage girl, Reed Shusterman’s Goblin Queen has got you covered. It also has a fresh twist on the weathered trope of a chosen one magically transported from her troubled life in this world to a fantasy realm where they’re made ruler of an army on the cusp of war with evil.
Instead of taking us to Narnia or Middle-earth or wherever else, this sharp short film makes its budget count by keeping us tethered to the real world as the enchanted pendant-bearing Amber Lynn (Amy Letcher) goes off to the fantasy realm where she’s the Goblin Queen. It ties us to her mother Winona (Stacey Moseley) who’s as overbearing as she is desperately worried about her daughter’s safety.
Goblin Queen from Reed Shusterman on Vimeo.
It honors beloved tropes while tweaking them, effectively wondering what the Dursleys must do when Harry Potter whisks off to wondrous adventure, leaving them behind to pay the water bill and put the roast on.
Goblin Queen is also genuinely touching, pitting a mother and daughter against each other as natural enemies who care deeply for one another, even as Amber Lynn is dealing with dangers way above her maturity level. The time she spends in the fantasy realm becomes a beautiful metaphor for how quickly children grow up. It’s been months (years?) of mystic battle for Amber Lynn but only half an hour for her mother. She looks up from her wine, and her daughter’s an adult.
What did you think? Leave us a comment below.
Images: Reed Shusterman
