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This biopic tries to illuminate a forgotten part of American history, but fails to make it interesting. In Hawaii at the end of the 19th century, a cabal of white landowners — with the U.S. military as muscle — wrenched the government away from the native royalty, and only the charm and grace of the young Princess Ka'iulani (Q'orianka Kilcher) persuaded the U.S. government to relent and restore full human rights to the native Hawaiians. Writer-director Marc Forby frames this story as Ka'iulani's coming-of-age: forcibly relocated to England by her Scottish father (Jimmy Yuill), facing racism in a snooty boarding school and falling in love with a young Englishman (Shaun Evans). Kilcher (who portrayed another native princess, Pocahontas, in Terrence Malick's "The New World") is as beautiful as the Hawaiian scenery, but far less expressive. The American cast, led by Barry Pepper and Will Patton, is buried behind mounds of unfortunate facial hair.
Sean P. Means Hhj
Princess Ka'iulani
Opens today at the Megaplex 20 at The District; rated PG for some violence and thematic material, and for brief language, sensuality and smoking; 130 minutes.