Royal Destination - Movie Review

When it comes to homemade(Cameroonian) movies, before I slip the disc into the DVD player I say a silent prayer of hope that I wouldn't shudder with disappointment. Well one of the very few Cameroonian films I have watched so far which I can assure y'all that I could watch as many times as possible is this movie Royal Destination. Forget the Nigerian cast power, this film as compared to most 'Camer' movies had a sense of direction.The ending was commendably neat, the actors immersed in their roles, and the directors vision was applaudable.

The story
The story is divided into two part whioch connect at the end. Set in a kingdom the story is of a king in search of a male child to take over his kingdom less the kingly lineage be passed onto his brothers' side of the family and particularly to his unworthy nephew. With no hope of a remedy the King succumbs to heart failure and passes on. Thats where the drama begins in the Palace as his unworthy nephew forcefully takes over the kingdom and aims for his late uncles wealth. Emeka Ike plays the illegal son of the king who coincidentally comes into contact with the Kings' second daughter (played by Cameroonian rising actress Solange) and is led back to the palace to take his rightful place as heir to the kingdom.Tonto Dikeh plays the first daughter to the king who fights back to preserve her father's wealth.

Analyses
Lets start with the bad. As much as I think this film is worthy of praise there are however some lapses. The picture quality at certain points is doubtful, the script becomes repetitives and inadequate at many areas and there are unneccessary xters in the film. I don't know what happened but the quality of the first shot introducing the king and queen was not one of the best shots in the film. The picture quality was blurred and greyish. This is dangerous cos its at the beginning of the film and could kill the audiences' mood. The many scenes devoted to the desperation the character Tonto Dikeh plays in relation to the pressure from her family was redundant. Emeka's characters mothers' insistence for him to get married too did not require so many scenes. Emeka's brother and brother-in-law were uneccessary characters in this film from my perspective. I thought the lead character Emeka Ike played, apart from speaking french and a bit of some Cameroonian dialect did not wave the Cameroonian heritage flag well enough especially as far as costumes were concerned. Last but not the least I don't like the fact that the coranation takes place when credits are rolling. This was the 'denouement' of the film why put it so unimportantly besides the film end credits? Are the names in the end credits not noteworthy?

The good part lies in the fact that there can be no perfect movie and Director Neba Lawrence and his producer are taking bold steps which we should salute. The vision for this film was simple and the team did their best to pull it off. The script development, its climax and finale is a good attempt in screenplay writing. The locations and props well done.

Characters & Actors
I found Emeka Ike's attempt to speak french and a Cameroonian mother tongue very amusing yet thrilling.I commend the Nigerian actors whose professionalism could be felt as we watched the movie; they blended with the Cameroonian actors. Most of all I salute the one-part movie initiative which is a welcoming breath of fresh air. Some of the Cameroonian actors stood their grounds too. Solange(whose last name I have forgotten (check her out in the film poster) was believable in her pain at her fathers loss(though the nose discharge episode was very disgusting). Yimbu Emma seemed a little taken aback by Tonto from my perspective; I know what he is capable of doing as an actor and I didn't get 100% of that in this movie. The guy who played the greedy nephew was worth watching.As for Emeka Ike's charcaters mother I think she over-acts a little too much. Her flamy reactions in some scenes were unneccessary.

Conclusion
A lot of polishing still has to be done but a step a day will do the trick for this budding Cameroonian video film industry. So my last words are ...go grab your copy now!