I didn't get any plot at all from "The Kingdom of the Fairies". Movies made in the 1900s had apparently not figured out title cards yet, so characters have no dialogue. They also all look the same.
I was able to follow "Trip to the Moon" and "Impossible Voyage" by the same director because their titles tell you what the movie is about. "Kingdom of the Fairies", however, merely tells you where the movie was supposed to be set.
If not for the word "Fairies", I wouldn't have known there were supposed to be fairies in the movie. Which ones were they?
Despite making no sense to me at all the movie is still mildly enjoyable for its visuals and effects, which were Melies specialty. The backgrounds (and foregrounds) all look hand-drawn, the characters apparently real people lost in an illustrated storybook.
In this regard "Kingdom of the Fairies" is like a storybook where the backgrounds have been lovingly detailed but the characters remain rough sketches. The backgrounds overwhelm them and they all look the same.
I was able to follow "Trip to the Moon" and "Impossible Voyage" by the same director because their titles tell you what the movie is about. "Kingdom of the Fairies", however, merely tells you where the movie was supposed to be set.
If not for the word "Fairies", I wouldn't have known there were supposed to be fairies in the movie. Which ones were they?
Despite making no sense to me at all the movie is still mildly enjoyable for its visuals and effects, which were Melies specialty. The backgrounds (and foregrounds) all look hand-drawn, the characters apparently real people lost in an illustrated storybook.
In this regard "Kingdom of the Fairies" is like a storybook where the backgrounds have been lovingly detailed but the characters remain rough sketches. The backgrounds overwhelm them and they all look the same.