Roger Ebert:
"Princess Kaiulani" shows the European business community conspiring against King David's efforts to secure Hawaiians' title to their own land, and indeed rights were stripped away, and the Doles and other white families converted much of Hawaii into their own private plantation. The film's treatment of these results seems somewhat muted; more drama would have been welcome.
Kilcher seems an intriguing Kaiulani, as she was a Pocahontas. Of Peruvian and Swiss descent, she was raised in Hawaii, was a hula dancer by 5 and by 6 a student of classical voice at the University of Hawaii. Unlike a standard starlet, she evokes great depth and sympathy in her role and seems to have created Kaiulani from the inside out. That she has admired the character since childhood is a help. It's a shame more help didn't come from greater passion in the filmmaking.
