Double Feature: A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (2019) & The Greatest Showman (2017)

Welcome to the next double feature! Half 2010s decade catch-up effort and half holidays viewings meshed together. I’m expecting that to be something of a trend for this month since I have a lot of movies to watch and don’t want to put the reviews on hold for too long in fear that I’ll just forget about what I watched in general. So here we are!

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (2019)

Director: John Schultz

Cast: Rose McIver, Ben Lamb, Alice Krige, Honor Kneafsey, Kevin Shen, Momo Yeung, Sarah Douglas, Theo Devaney, Richard Ashton, Crystal Yu, Tahirah Sharif

It’s Christmastime in Aldovia, and a royal baby is on the way. Amber and Richard host royals from a distant kingdom to renew a sacred truce, but when the treaty vanishes, peace is jeopardized and an ancient curse threatens their family. – IMDB

You can find my reviews of the first two movies below:

A Christmas Prince
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

Other than the first movie that was a rather fun little holiday romance story albeit all its formulaic tendencies, the follow-up last year was rather lackluster. It had some of those fun elements but felt like a lot of the chemistry in the first one fell apart. Third movie now and we’re talking about babies because that’s the obvious next step. I don’t have an issue with it going in this direction but rather, its a step into the whodunnit deal where they await the introduction of Penglia and even shows a map highlighting the ficitional universe that Netflix has created with mentions of Belgravia (aka The Princess Switch). Its very clever to pull it all together and I maintain that point however, the chemistry isn’t quite there. Everyone seems rather wooden and there’s a good deal of overacting.

It falls short but somehow comes up a little bit ahead of last year’s The Royal Wedding to me at least because it feels less about the romance and focuses on some fun elements, as improbably as it is for it to happen if a precious treaty had gone missing. There’s a ton of plot holes in this one but then, other than reviewers, I’m not exactly sure who goes into this one to just relax with a simple and uncomplicated movie is really looking for these things (as glaring as it all is).

Movies are to its audiences so unless you review these things for the holiday season, there is no reason to go into it if you believe that you dislike these films in the first place. That’s my warning for you. A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby is the third movie in its franchise so you know what is coming and it doesn’t pull any funny tricks and is as formulaic as you’d expect it to be. If you like these films, you’ll enjoy this one and if you don’t, then don’t watch it to save yourself the misery.

On a side note, I ended this movie and started thinking about where I can find that Christmas Tree game because that sounds like a fun party game perfect for Christmas.

The Greatest Showman (2017)

Director: Michael Gracey

Cast: Hugh Jackson, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Austyn Johnson, Cameron Seely, Keala Settle, Sam Humphrey, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eric Anderson

Celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. – IMDB

Being a huge fan of musical, The Greatest Showman was one of the first movies to add to the catch-up roster for the 2010s decade. Its one that had a lot of hype and a soundtrack that is well-known even without the context of the film. There’s a lot of grandeur and big production scenes and splendour in its set.

The Greatest Showman is a biopic and perhaps because of that, it has the burden of giving Hugh Jackman’s role as P.T. Barnum a more ambitious turn of events that highlights his thirst of success and to make something of himself to not be looked down by the others around him and being able to immerse himself in the upper class society where he forgets the most basic reason that he does all this: for love and his wife and turns it into a more selfish ordeal. This type of success story is actually rather familiar and frequently scene whether its as a biopic or in fictional stories about finding the way and seeing what’s important so on so forth.

Deal is, put those things aside and The Greatest Showman is a wonderful musical that stays true to its genre because while it has its drama, it is a great big show with a lot of musical pieces that comes in frequently. The singing is done well and some of the set and choreography are wonderful to look at like Zendaya and Zac Efron’s scene together or the whole This Is Me or The Greatest Show. There is one that is particularly sweet with Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams as they go through the years together which is a neat little way to move time forward quickly without having to add a lot of extra dialogue and content.

There’s a lot of technicalities that work in The Greatest Showman that makes it a fun musical to watch. For musical fans, it does fit the bill relatively well and its one that shows that a familiar story, even though its based on a real life story, with good execution of its elements can be very entertaining and engaging to watch.

 

Christmas 2018: A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018)

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018)

Director: John Schultz

Cast: Rose McIver, Ben Lamb, Alice Krige, Honor Kneafsey, Sarah Douglas, Theo Devaney, John Guerrasio, Andy Lucas, Simon Dutton, Katarina Cas

A year after helping Richard get to the throne, Amber is about to become his wife. But is she really made to be queen? – IMDB

Following last year’s A Christmas Prince (review), its been a year for us as we watched Amber and Richard fall in love and be engaged. This time, we’re watching Amber get ready for the Royal Wedding while Richard struggles with the modernization of the country whose initiative has made the country bleed money affecting jobs and such. To be fair, the only thing Christmas-y about this one is really that its set during Christmas and they do a lot of Christmas things like getting a tree and baking and Christmas pageants and such. This story is a romantic comedy about Amber as she struggles with following protocol and getting caught up in the whirlwind of everyone but herself having a say on her own wedding and we know what’s going to happen after that. A Christmas Prince (even the first one) is those stories that are predictable romantic comedies however, it seems the second one here still has a few laughs but has lost a bit, scratch that, a lot of the chemistry and charm.

We can start with some of the good stuff. The Christmas decor was really nice. There was an overly exaggerated toboggan ride that I could get along with since it gave a link from the first to the second movie. There was a lot of Christmas activities which also worked since I am watching this for the holidays marathon so it matched the theme. It also emphasized family and friends a lot and that was fun. Some supporting characters like Mr. Zabala (Andy Lucas) adds a nice little twist to it. Then, I really like the little sister, Princess Emily (Honor Kneafsey) who adds a good deal of sharp humor here. Amber’s time with her friends also was pretty fun since it was a lot more natural, be it out investigating in disguise or be it having her mini bachelorette party.

Then, everything else falls apart. Most of you who have been around here know that I’m pretty lenient on rom-coms. Last year’s A Christmas Prince was a pretty alright one in the current state of romantic comedies, well as of last year. There were some nice moments and romantic chemistry and such. But this year, it wasn’t really about that anymore. Amber and Richard were rarely on screen and when they were, it was not exactly full of chemistry. I mean, I guess the ending kind of hinted that they could do a third one if this one is a success although after this one which was rather boring to watch for the most part and pretty predictable and let’s say, a little over the top especially with the Count Simon and her best friend moment that had so much cringe. Not to mention, they really wanted to add in the twist and smoke screen thing going on with why the kingdom was bleeding money and it was just so obvious who was behind it all.

I didn’t expect much from this one in the first place but A Christmas Prince: A Royal Wedding was a big disappointment from the first one. It does tick the Christmas holiday film bit but in the romantic comedy department, it no longer is that kind of category because the chemistry was pretty much not there since the two were not really on screen together much. It was more of a wedding planning movie. I guess I wasn’t too surprised since it panned out like I expected it would. I don’t hate it or like it, I’m kind of indifferent to be honest.  Although, I’d definitely hesitate on watching another sequel if they ever do one because there was something mentioned at the end in the movie that hints at maybe visiting this property again if this one works out.

A Christmas Prince (2017)

We’re moving right along through another TV movie but this time its  a Netflix Originals called A Christmas Prince.

Suffice to say, if you frequent Twitter, you’ve probably heard of Netflix US and their twitter calling out the 50+ people who watched A Christmas Prince everyday for more than 2 weeks. I have my own thoughts on this and I’ll share it at the end of the review.

Moving on, lets see if I would mind watching A Christmas Prince on repeat!

A Christmas Prince (2017)

Director: Alex Zamm

Cast: Rose McIver, Ben Lamb, Alice Krige, Honor Kneafsey, Emma Louise Saunders, Theo Devaney, Sarah Douglas, Daniel Fathers

When a reporter goes undercover as a tutor to get the inside scoop on a playboy prince, she gets tangled in some royal intrigue and ends up finding love – but will she be able to keep up her lie? – IMDB

A Christmas Prince is Netflix original that does tend to be fun to watch. Netflix hopping into this potential market of TV romantic comedies is a pretty great move. While everyone does acknowledge the sappiness of these movies, there is quite a market for those who enjoy these feel-good movies especially when it involves a somewhat generic plot. If you’ve been reading the last few reviews, I’m all about these movies when they manage to deliver good performances and great chemistry between their leads. A lot of stuff out there is generic and predictable and what sets them apart especially when faced with movies like these who don’t usually have a big budget is being able to connect with the characters. A Christmas Prince does that very well especially when paired with a beautiful setting and having some great performances by its cast to show off some fun characters. There’s some drama and its be to expected but despite all that, this story has hints of so many fun movies and is a little package of homages if you will ranging from a fictional world called Aldovia (Princess Diaries had Genovia) and then a Cinderella-esque story of a poor reporter meeting a prince so just a modernized one without a stepmother but rather a ruthless editor. And then there’s the prince who when getting ready for the throne at the coronation, he dresses like the Cinderella prince as well. Forget how the prince dresses, its a prince, okay? And he looks pretty good also. At a decent run time, the story never lags and keeps the plot moving throughout.

A Christmas Prince is set during the Christmas holidays with the coronation landing on Christmas eve and having that big royal ball. Its in a snow fictitious kingdom called Aldovia which is set in a beautiful castle in Romania in reality which is pretty awesome. With that said the setting itself made the shots incredibly satisfying to watch. Winter fun came into play here like tobogganing and horseback riding in the snow as well as horse drawn carriage rides. Of course, one of the fun bits was the snowball fight. Its set in Christmas and winter and while it shows a lot of these moments, it never really feels like its too in your face which makes it feel natural. One of the things that these TV movies fail to do is give off that effect. The story here is pretty predictable and you’ll probably figure out whats going on before it actually does happen but its never really quite a hindrance because the ornament traditions the fact that the story focuses not only on the romance but also on the truth about the hesitation of the prince taking over the throne and the relationship that our reporter here Amber builds with the princess Emily is really everyone’s way of healing a year after the loss of their father. Sometimes, its the simple idea of someone relating to you and helping and encouraging to find the way to see yourself in a better way which is the case here with Amber who is a positive force even if she comes into their lives via a lie.

With that said, there are some pretty decent performances here. Rose McIver is very believable in her role here as, Amber the reporter in disguise as a tutor. There are some moments here that feel like they should have seen through her disguise as a tutor but I think the reason that she sticks around is that they grow fond of her because of her simplicity instead of how the royalty here thinks of everything a little too complex. I liked how natural she felt in her role. Especially as her character connected like a friend/older sister to the princess and romantically with the prince. The princess Emily is played by Honor Kneafsey which was a really good role with her own struggles and always kept Amber on her toes. What started out as a deal turned into something more as their friendship blossomed and they taught each other a little about life. Of course, we have to talk about the Prince Richard played by Ben Lamb who is a charming handsome guy who of course gets painted badly in the spotlight but turns out to be different when Amber learns the real him. Its nice because he gives off the hesitation well but also shows that he can find the courage at the end. Both Rose McIver and Ben Lamb pull off the romance quite well. There are some really cheesy dialogue here and there but never enough to feel too cringey. But then I have pretty high tolerance of it so maybe my word is slightly biased.

Overall, A Christmas Prince is a well-paced romantic comedy that packs a little of drama and comedy and romance. Ben Lamb and Rose McIver have great chemistry together. The setting of the movie is absolutely stunning and the holiday and seasonal integration is done really well using Christmas as a time frame and backdrop and using the snowy landscape for fun winter activities. This is an enjoyable one. It stumbles a little with its dialogue and as expected is predictable but definitely a winner here with a lot of feel-good moments.

Thoughts on Netflix’s tweet

While I think that Netflix thinks it was a joke (and looking at the comments, a lot of people consider that as well), I’m not so concerned about the info they hold about us because its a reality of it since we get the stats of our watching history also so why not them since they control it, but more the fact that movies are an escape, I’m not one of those people since I only watched it like 2 days ago, but I wouldn’t have liked to be judged about my watching preferences. However, I guess that is just one way to look at it. Some articles talk about Netflix using this tweet to brag about how well-received this movie is. The lesson here is that comedy (aka jokes) are incredibly subjective so maybe not sounding like the people watching your films are troubled is a good idea.  Anyways, I’m feeling like I’m taking it more serious than it was actually meant to be. So…Ha, Ha, Ha Netflix…you’re so funny.

That wraps up A Christmas Prince! Not perfect but still a really good time! I wouldn’t mind watching it on repeat.
On that note, a lot of people don’t really enjoy these movies (and I say it every single review that I do this). Predictable and generic, it sure is. But its important to respect that feel-good moments are hard to come by even right now as we get into the Oscar nominated films which are usually quite intense and deep so these TV movies offer a sweet escape as the world around us (by just looking at one page of news) looks so very messed up.

Sorry about missing out yesterday. It was a crazy day! I’ll have a second review going up later today to make up for it! 🙂