So saddle up and hang on for SPOILERS!
In a small town in Vermont, Evie (Avery Arendes) is a twelve-years-old girl living with her invalid father, Connor (Stephen Dorff). She works in a stable, mucking stalls and caring for the animals. We open some time before Christmas, where spoiled rich girl Molly (Johnny Sequoyah) is about to be given a new horse. However, she doesn’t do something right and the horse starts to panic. Molly hops off and demands another horse. Her parents (Heather Rae Friendenberg and Erik Lunseth) speak with the stable owner, Brian (Richard Kind), while Evie reassures the horse. Despite just saying she doesn’t want it, Molly orders Evie to stay away from her horse because she’s poor.
Then Brian asks Evie to come in the next day—Christmas—to take care of the horses because they’re shorthanded. She protests, saying her dad’s nurse will be off too and she needs to stay home to take care of him. Brian, though, says that he already pays her off the books and is ignoring federal child labor laws as a favor. But if she can’t do it, he’ll have to hire someone who can. Which, ouch. But also I don’t see him taking time out of his holiday to take care of his business. If I were his wife, I’d give him coal for making a young girl work like that. Of course, I also work HR so this whole set up would probably give me hives.
Evie goes home and takes care of her father before taking a bath. She slips under water and seems to slip away to a beautiful land where she sees a beautiful black stallion before coming back out of the water. Her father says that she might have seen a selkie, a mythical creature that looked like a horse and judged the worthiness of people, taking them away.
The next day, Evie prepares for Christmas before heading out to the stable. She finds a present from her father—a coin on a necklace. She puts it on and heads out into the cold morning. She arrives at the stable to find someone has gotten into the feed, asking the horses who did that. Of course, none respond. So she continues her chores before heading outside.
Out there, she encounters the beautiful black stallion from her dream. Evie tries to lure him back into the stable but he wants her to ride him. So she mounts him and they take off, disappearing into the forest. It transforms from a winter wonderland into a lush forest in the middle of summer.
The horse brings her to a cave, where drawings come to life and are excited to put on a show for her. Now, this part makes the title a bit confusing. Because it turns out that Albion is not the horse’s name, but rather the land the horse has taken her to. In fact, the horse’s name is Dag Dia (played by Nitrous and Hans).
Anyway, the cave drawings tell her that Albion was once home to a peaceful race called the Danaan. However, one day, another race—the Melessians, I believe—came and tried to conquer the Danaan. They fought until the Abbess stepped in and brokered a peace treaty, where the two agreed to share Albion. They got to pick their parts of the land and the Melessian leader found a loophole, picking the top half. Due to the treaty, the Danaan were banished underground. They could come aboveground every so often to gather food. The only way to break the treaty is if both bloodlines gather four mythical items of great power and agree to end the treaty. Evie doesn’t know what this has to do with her and then she passes out.
When Evie comes to, a red-haired woman (Castille Landon) looms over her. She points a scepter at her and demands answers from the girl. Evie replies honestly, saying she is Evelyn from Vermont and that it’s far away from Albion. The woman can converse with Dag Dia, who convinces her that Evie is to be trusted. The woman introduces herself as Eriu and Evie realizes the scepter is one of the mystical items, the Scepter of Truth. Eriu confirms it.
After prodding from Dag Dia, Eriu reveals that she’s trying to gather the four mystical items so she can break the treaty. She tells Evie that she’s a warrior tasked to do this but Dag Dia seems to disagree with this. It seems more likely that she’s gone rogue and doing this because the Danaan are being treated worse and worse by the Melessians. She’s reluctant to bring Evie along and Evie doesn’t want to go with her but Dag Dia convinces both to go.
As they ride Dag Dia through the countryside, Eriu spots clouds on the horizon. She explains that the leader of the Melessians can track them using the weather and gives Evie a cloak to wear. However, a drop of rain does land on her skin.
We then see her in the mind’s eye of General Eeder (John Cleese), a fat tyrant who just constantly eats and threatens his subjects. He summons his best warrior before choking on what turns out to be the finger of one of his attendants (Rob Callendar). In a nod to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the attendant calls it a flesh wound. Eeder thinks the attendant tried to kill him but it appears it was more of an accident, that Eeder bit off the finger when eating. Still, he orders the attendant to be killed but will decide how later.
Eeder’s best warrior, Eremon (Liam McIntyre), reminds the general that he was summoned. Eeder tells him to track a girl who appeared in his vision, telling Eremon that there’s something unsettling about her. Eremon vows to bring her to him.
Eriu, Evie and Dag Dia stop by a stream to get some water. It’s there that Lir (Daniel Sharman) comes across them. He’s a friend of Eriu’s, though she considers him a nuisance. Lir’s family is also entrusted with protecting the Scepter of Truth. He’s been around it so long, he’s incapable of lying…which makes him very blunt and somewhat rude. Lir lets on that Eriu’s mission may not be approved but she says the situation is dire, that the scavengers haven’t returned.
Eriu then explains to Evie that Danaan scavengers are allowed to the surface every so often to gather food but are given a certain amount of time to do so. If they don’t do it in the set amount of time, they are cursed to become part of the land. She believes the Melessians are interfering with their scavengers in an attempt to starve the Danaan out. Lir vows to help her and to go with them as they continue on to find the Abbess.
Eremon starts to track Evie and finds her abandoned coat. He uses his telepathic capabilities before he guides his warriors to move on to find her.
Meanwhile, Evie has a dream. She sees Eriu and Lir in what appears to be a wedding ceremony. They seem to cut their hands and then raise them. Eriu grows concerned and yells out Evie’s name. Evie wakes up to find Eriu standing by her. Eriu reveals they are in the cave that will lead to the Abbess and they have to stand in the eyes. Evie looks up and realizes two openings in the stones look like eyes. Once that’s settled, Eriu tries to find the right words to open the path to the Abbess.
Evie, though, figures it out. She recalls her dream and she cuts Eriu’s palm before doing the same to Lir’s. He faints so she picks him up, pressing his hand to the wall. She tells Eriu to do the same and it opens up, revealing a cottage. Evie teases Eriu that it means she and Lir are meant to be and Eriu denies it.
Leaving an unconscious Lir with Dag Dia, Eriu and Evie approach the cottage. They are greeted by a woman acting like a child, dressed in dirty clothes with her wild blonde hair in pigtails. This is Once’s Jennifer Morrison in the first of a few roles. She tells Evie that someone is after her and wants to be safe. Evie asks her where the Abbess is and the “girl” brings her into the cottage. There are multiple JMos around, all playing different roles in an elaborate fantasy. One is a strict task master trying to get her other selves to listen to her while another is a harried cook trying to prepare a meal for everyone. The third is a warrior who is convinced they are about to be attacked and wants her other selves to fight with her. And the last is a well-dressed queen like woman who hopes there is a man to romance.
It is complete madness with all the different JMos shouting over each other and Evie and Eriu have no clue what they’ve walked into. At that point, Eremon finds them. He and his men try to break through the barrier to get to them, but it plays right into the many JMos’ fantasy. Young Girl JMo is frightened and clings to Evie for comfort. She starts singing a lullaby and the many JMos start singing along.
They then pull together and reveal that Jennifer Morrison is the Abbess. She holds a flame and says that she split because she had been in its presence too long. But she happily gives it to Evie, telling her its time to end the treaty. Evie asks her how she knew the lullaby but the Abbess can’t answer because Eremon is almost there. She tells Evie how to use the flame to find the next mystical item they need as well as her way home. She then sends her, Eriu, Lir and Dag Dia on their way to safety.
For now.
Eremon tries to get answers from the Abbess but she refuses to give him any. He continues to track Evie and her party.
Using the flame, Evie first sees a beautiful pool of water and she knows it will be her way home. Eriu reminds her that they need to find a mystical object so Evie focuses on that. She sees a beautiful castle and a tower in that castle draws her attention. When she describes it, Eriu and Lir know what she’s taking about and they head to it.
Along the way, they find one of the scavengers sent to find food. He is already turning into a tree and Eriu cries when she sees him. She asks if Lir believes her now and he does, becoming more resolute to help her and Evie.
They come upon the castle and discover a coffin. All three are a bit squicked but they open it, finding a man (Ryan O’Nan) inside holding the book of healing. He is still alive and pops up, getting impaled in the process. Nothing happens to him—Lir passes out again—and he runs away from them.
They catch up with the man, Gally, who reveals that he’s a god. He says he’s been injured many times, including times that should’ve been fatal. Yet he’s still alive. So he sees it as proof that he’s a god. Evie points out that it might be the book of healing. She explains why she wants it and appears to convince him to hand it over. Especially once it’s revealed he can understand Dag Dia because the horse was once upon a time his brother.
Yep. The horse is his brother.
He then disappears, making Evie suspicious. She cuts Eriu’s hand again, making Lir faint once more. Since it doesn’t heal, she realizes that Gally didn’t give them the real book and takes off after him.
Evie stops and address Gally, saying she understands what it’s like not to have any friends. She doesn’t have any either. But she offers to be Gally’s friend and she thinks she can get Eriu and Lir to be his friends as well. He steps from behind a tree and gives her the book, agreeing to be her friend.
They are caught by Eremon and his men shortly after that. Eremon takes a keen interest in Evie, especially after he realizes she is telepathic like most Melessians. She says she needs to help the Danaan because it is the right thing to do. Eremon confides that he once had a daughter but she was killed during the fighting. Since then he does what he has to do but he he as no loyalty to any man. But he is still going to bring her to Eeder.
In the morning, Evie awakens to find that Eriu, Lir and Gally are attempting to rescue her. Eremon captures Eriu and threatens to throw her off a tall ledge but she tells Evie to run. Evie does so, escaping on Dag Dia as Eriu apparently falls to her death. Lir and Gally are captured by Eremon’s warriors.
Dag Dia takes Evie to safety and is briefly seen in his human form, introducing himself as Daimin (Ryan O’Nan in a dual role). He explains that he was injured fighting the Melessians and was turned into a selkie to keep him from dying. Every so often, he can be human but not for long. He assures Evie that Eriu is okay and she says she knows that Eriu had the book of healing. She asks why she was brought to Albion and Daimin tells her to ask Debra Messing.
Messing plays the The Queen of Danaan and she appears to Evie. She explains that she fell in love with the son of the Melessian leader, Eeder. The two plotted to bring their kingdoms together and even had a child together. But then the Queen’s mother died, making her…well…the Queen. There was a battle and the Queen had to send her daughter to another realm, entrusting her to her father, who had been injured and exiled by his father.
Yep, Evie is that daughter and her father is her real father. She is both Danaan and Melessian and realizes that she was brought back to end the treaty. Since she has both bloodlines, she can agree to end it and let the Danaan be free. Naturally, though, she’s angry that her mother let her go so easily. The Queen insists it was for the best and that she’s missed Evie since she gave her up. Evie still isn’t completely sold until the Queen starts singing the lullaby that Evie sang to the Abbess earlier. She realizes it came from her mother and softens up a bit.
The mother-daughter reunion is brief as Evie has a deadline to revoke the treaty. Daimin is once again Dag Dia and he takes her to Eeder’s stronghold.
Eremon brings Eriu, Lir and Gally to Eeder. He orders them thrown into the dungeon, except Gally. He starts to praise Eeder and offers to be his servant. Eeder accepts. Down in the dungeons, Eriu and Lir have a moment and they realize that Evie might be right about them being in love. Evie then breaks them out of the dungeons.
Eriu and Lir disguise themselves as guards and pretend to be escorting Evie to receive her sentence from Eeder. The attendant from earlier stops them and is suspicious, saying he would know if Eeder was going to be executing anyone. He says the General has a soft spot for him, since he spared him from execution. Lir uses his bluntness well, asking the attendant if he really spared him or if he just forgot to kill him. The attendant realizes that the latter is more likely and lets them pass.
Up in Eeder’s throne room, Evie presents herself to him and introduces herself as his granddaughter. She then says that as a representative of the Danaan and the Melessians, she ends the treaty. Nothing happens though and Eeder laughs, reminding her that she needed to hold the four mystical items—all of which are in his possession. He orders Eremon to kill her.
Eriu and Lir start to fight the other soldiers in the room and Evie worries about Eremon. Meanwhile, Gally gets extra clumsy around Eeder, which allows him to steal the last mystical object (the bowl Eeder’s been holding the whole movie) and they break the case containing the other mystical items. It seems Gally was playing the role of traitor in order to get close to the items. I have to assume the movie had Eriu and Lir know this or at least understand it because they showed no shock at his supposed betrayal in the earlier scene and they don’t seem surprised when he helps them now.
With all the objects in her possession, Evie once again declares that the treaty is over. Eeder still doesn’t see her as a threat…until the ground starts shaking and the Danaan crawl out from under the ground. Eremon tells Evie he believed his daughter would’ve helped her and tells her to run with her friends. He then advances, ready to kill Eeder as the camera cuts away.
Evie is reunited with her mother and it appears there’s plenty of work ahead in Albion as the Danaan and Melessians find a new way to live together. So they have to say goodbye and Evie has to go back to Vermont for…reasons. It’s all very rushed and there’s never really a reason given as to why Evie has to go back. There’s a chance for Evie to come back but it’s still not stated why she can’t stay. Can’t they just send Dag Dia back for dear old dad? Won’t it be helpful to bring him back so he can rule with the Queen, so that the Melessians see one of their own doing so? And there doesn’t appear to be much of life back in Vermont for Evie to return to. She doesn’t seem to have any friends and she’s burdened with far more responsibilities than a preteen should have. So why shouldn’t she just stay with her mother and maybe actually get to be a kid?
Anyway, Evie and her mother say their goodbyes. Dag Dia takes her to the pool where she dives into the water, letting it take her back home.
Evie comes to in the stables with Brian leaning over her. She’s wrapped in towels and blankets, with the explanation that he had pulled her out of a nearby pond. He no doubt had to panic since he left a minor alone to do work on Christmas. Evie explains that she was chasing after Dag Dia and Brian assumes she must’ve fallen into the pond. Her father then shows up and she uses her newfound telepathy to tell him that Mom says hi. Dad nods and tells her that they have a lot to talk about as he hugs her. Then Brian introduces them to his new riding instructor—Eriu, who has brought Dag Dia with her!
Then…the movie just ends.
I mean, yes, the main part was wrapped up. Evie saved the day, Eeder was defeated, the Danaan were free and there was an acknowledgement that there was work to be done ahead of them in Albion. But we don’t really get resolution in our world. We don’t see how Evie’s adventures change her with her problems here. I mean, Eriu shows up, so that means she’ll probably have to work less but we don’t see her get to confront her bully. Or see her be more confident, make friends, etc. It just…ends…when there probably should’ve been a little more to wrap it up. The movie is only 90 minutes. I’m sure it could’ve afforded to go to 100.
Anyway, it was a decent movie. It was well-paced, no part ever seemed to drag. There were a few plot holes—including why didn’t the Queen and Connor try to revoke the treaty? Of course, my biggest is still why Evie had to go back. For a while, I thought Eremon was her father after he spoke of losing his daughter. I thought maybe Evie had been hidden away to save her life but her mother had died so that Eremon didn’t know. Or that the Queen had faked their deaths, hid Evie and went underground to keep them both safe. Then it would explain why Evie had to go back—even if Connor wasn’t her bio dad, he had raised her and needed her help. She couldn’t leave him.
But that’s not what it was and so the plot hole remains. Oh well.
The cast did a great job, especially Arendes as Evie. She easily carried the movie and came across as believable. I hope we see more from her in the future. McIntyre was another stand out as Eremon and Landon and O’Nan were also delightful to watch. Morrison’s role was brief but she shone in it, adeptly playing multiple versions of the same character. Maybe she got some advice from Once co-star Lana Parrilla, who has had to do it many times on the show?
If you’re looking for an upbeat and light movie to watch, I’d recommend this. There are some scary parts but the silly ones far outweigh them, so I give it a go for children over the age of 4.
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