BOTTOM LINE: It plays rather like an episode of The Bold of the Beautiful, despite its top-notch cast who aren't given much to do but overact and some fabulous cinematography and production design.

THE GOOD: An historical movie, if done well, is an interesting journey to go on. The movie starts well with some fabulous cinematography, production and costume design. It looks glorious right off the bat. The image of the three kids playing in the field before their lives are disrupted by tricky political manoeuvering and slight of hand is a haunting image and gives you a taste of the danger these kids will face in the future. This film also features a stellar cast headlined by Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana. The film plays in to the timeline of films such as "Elizabeth" and Elizabeth The Golden Age, taking place before the storylines of those films and in some ways is a complement to those films, especially the latter which also has a healthy sense of melodrama.

THE BAD: You've seen "The Bold and The Beautiful" right? Well, this is the big screen version. I'm not questioning history or the way events like these used to happen, but there appears to be such a 2-dimensional, overacted melodrama at work between sisters Anne and Mary and their interactions with King Henry that make it all a bit silly and I believe its more the execution rather than the content. This may be the royal court but the interactions between all the main players are too steeped in melodrama to make it at all dramatically enticing. Eric Bana as King Henry, although he injects the character with a certain gravity, has less and less to do throughout the film except react like a lost little school boy to the schemings of the two girls, who are also being used by their father and uncle to get better positions with the King. Scarlett Johansson only ever seems to have one look on her face, with only Natalie Portman giving a possible extra dimension to her character but even then... If you like your soap operas you might get in to this, otherwise stay away.