I'm definitely getting deja vu with 2017's A Christmas Prince. If that title didn't tell you all you need to know, this is yet another 'plucky commoner somewhat dubiously gets romanced by a prince' movie, though this one became quite a hit for Netflix, spawning two sequels.
Yet again, we travel to a beautiful, non-specific European country - named ’Aldovia’ this time - where everyone has English accents. It's a land where the royal family have seemingly little in the way of security and just stroll about town, doing whatever they please, while undercover reporters can just waltz into the palace and snare a plum job as a royal tutor based on some hilarious mistaken identity hijinks. That's exactly what our intrepid heroine Amber (Rose McIver) does in this wildly improbable tale, but who cares if it's nonsensical bollocks as long as it's Christmas, everyone looks lovely and true love wins in the end?
This one at least has the unique angle of having the charming prince be a supposedly hellraising playboy who everyone expects to abdicate from the throne. Dashing Prince Richard (Ben Lamb) is big news because the King, died last Christmas and he only has until this year's yuletide to accept the crown or it will pass to his diabolical, toffee-nosed cousin Simon (Theo Devane).
Aspiring young New York journo Amber is sent abroad to get the scoop, not because her boss thinks she's any good, but because everyone else is busy - it is Christmas after all. So, determined to prove she can cut the mustard as a real journalist, Amber doesn't correct anyone at the palace when they assume she's the new tutor for Richard's feisty, wheelchair-bound little sister Emily (Honor Kneafsey). This brings her into Richard's orbit, where she discovers he's maybe not the despicable cad the press have made him out to be. Romance happens etc.
All of this is done in such a cutesie fashion that we can't possibly think of Amber as a ruthless, lying paparazzi bastard but as more of an innocent victim. I have many questions about how any of this could be allowed to happen, none of which this film is willing to answer.
Amber and Richard's courtship features some pretty cool moments, including archery and even a wolf attack (!), making this much more interesting than most films of this ilk. Of course, Richard will prove himself to be not a mad sex fiend but a really sweet and, hence, rather dull chap.
There's also some unnecessary but welcome stuff about how Richard might actually have been adopted and therefore have no claim to the throne, though how this revelation comes about is laughably contrived. Mind you, my brain has stopped caring by this point.
The film all looks lovely and expensive but Lamb and McIver’s chemistry doesn't exactly crackle, sadly. Theo Devaney and Emma Louise Saunders fare much better in their roles as posho villain Simon and Richard's gold-digging ex Lady Sophia, who are both pure pantomime but deliciously wicked.
Y'know, with some further thought, maybe isn't that bad. It certainly proves a little more satisfying than many of the Christmas prince/ss films I've endured and has already spawned those two follow-ups and counting. Bring 'em on.
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