The main character (Fantaghiro) of this movie is a young woman, which is into male activities (reading, practical cloth, self-determination, weapons) within the given circumstances of this specific fairy-tale world. This motive is not uncommon in the literature. The creators of this movie picked their main character out from the short novel "Fanta-Ghirò, persona bella" with just around 2000 words and extended this character and added many fairy-tale elements to this world. It becomes obvious, that the creators are really into their variation and want you to like her as well.
The creators produced later other movies regarding the main character with new content, but nevertheless, the first movie already got its own unique story. For example, the short novel contains multiple challenges for the main figure Fantaghiro, which are suggested by the opponent king's mother. The movie does not contain this mother and the movie only uses the idea of one challenge, executes it differently and also has a different result. The movie got additional ideas on its own, like the white witch, the opponent king's friends, the general, new challenges, talking to animals, prophesiers, main character's childhood, etc.
In my opinion, the story doesn't need 200 mins to get told, but that is no serious problem. The creators obviously had budget issues, which you can observe a few times on the setup, the cloth or the technical execution, but it is not disturbing. If you are into fairy-tale movies, you can do nothing wrong here. It is comfortable to watch this movie. Most people should find no serious reason to take offense.
The creators produced later other movies regarding the main character with new content, but nevertheless, the first movie already got its own unique story. For example, the short novel contains multiple challenges for the main figure Fantaghiro, which are suggested by the opponent king's mother. The movie does not contain this mother and the movie only uses the idea of one challenge, executes it differently and also has a different result. The movie got additional ideas on its own, like the white witch, the opponent king's friends, the general, new challenges, talking to animals, prophesiers, main character's childhood, etc.
In my opinion, the story doesn't need 200 mins to get told, but that is no serious problem. The creators obviously had budget issues, which you can observe a few times on the setup, the cloth or the technical execution, but it is not disturbing. If you are into fairy-tale movies, you can do nothing wrong here. It is comfortable to watch this movie. Most people should find no serious reason to take offense.