This year I seem to have watched, and reviewed, 73 films. Wow. Below is a list of them in decending star order. Within each catergory they are in alphabetical order.
The main plot of the movie is typical undercover reporter fall in love with subject. It makes reporters look bad and honestly the entire things is awkward.
The parts of the story that shine are when the characters are soul searching or making genuine connections. The sister character is fantastic and I could have watched the whole movie about her instead.
Score: 0
The Royal Wedding
The weak mystery is barely explored instead they spend most of it on wedding angst and pushing the main character around.
Again, like the first on the bright spot is the sister. She’s inspiring and adorable.
Score: 0
The Royal Baby
This was a well written closed-circle mystery that kept me guessing until the end. (Although I did have the culprit in my top 3.) The characters were less wet towel and they gelled with each other more. There was some awkward drama and they tried much too hard to pin the blame on Simon, again.
Score: 0.5
Characters
A Christmas Prince
The main character does a great job of being doe-eyed and fell for the prince the same time we all did, when we saw him with his sister. There’s some nice developement for the main three characters but overall it felt lack-luster.
Score: 0.5
The Royal Wedding
The king went from an unsure prince who doesn’t want to commit to being king to now being an unsure king who trusts his advisors way too much. The main character gets pushed around and is only really interesting when she pushes back or is helping the sister. There’s also a storyline that’s lifted directly from Princess Diaries. I’ll give the movie this, they did a great job with the redemption arc.
Score: 0.5
The Royal Baby
Overall this was a cute and joyful set of characters, something that should be standard for a Christmas movie. I liked the new additions.
Score: 1
Dialogue
A Christmas Prince
Mostly acceptable, if a little over the top. There are a few good speeches about identity, but nothing spectacular. The dad and the sister got all the great lines.
Score: 0.5
The Royal Wedding
Completely over the top; comparing the dialogue to a telenovela would be an insult to telenovelas.
However, as a giant nerd, I did appreciate the quotes and nods to other movies.
Score: 0.5
The Royal Baby
The writers built on the geeky quotes from the last one and made sure to include as much dorky future parents stuff as possible. The dialogue for them was believable and cute.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
A Christmas Prince
The cinematography of this movie made me angry and gave me a headache. My family didn’t seem to notice, but the constant slow paning for no reason was extremely frustrating.
The locations were lovely and very thematic.
The music was lack-luster and was only elevated by the christmas music included. (You can’t go wrong with Tchaickovsky.)
Score: 0.5
The Royal Wedding
The cinematographer discovered quick cuts since the last one and they were almost as over used as the pans.
That being said, the scenery and clothing were good and the music classic.
Score: 0.5
The Royal Baby
Finally the useless pans are gone and the director and cinematographer started to frame the shots better. It’s not excellent, but good. The castle and clothing are as beautiful as ever.
The music didn’t stand out much; a few cute scenes but nothing spectacular.
Score: 0.5
Fun
A Christmas Prince
Breaking a ming vase or shooting an arrow through a window is a level of awkward I don’t like. There’s a lot of the movie that just isn’t fun to watch even if you know everything will end up fine.
Score: 0.5
The Royal Wedding
The obvious mystery was dragged out too long, and the angst was also dragged out too long. I spent a lot of the movie rolling my eyes and not yelling.
The sister and eventual warm ending was good though.
Score: 0.5
The Royal Baby
I have a soft spot for good mysteries and this was pretty close. It also isn’t angsty and kept my attention. A lot of fun.
Score: 1
Overall
A Christmas Prince
An excellent cast with a mediocre script and lots of cringe, the only thing that truly saves this is the interactions with the little sister.
Final Score: 2 stars out of 5
The Royal Wedding
An acceptable sequel to a lack-luster movie. Too little plot and too much angst. Again the sister saves the movie but she’s joined by a delightful redemption.
Final Score: 2 stars out of 5
The Royal Baby
Finally a balance between urgency and angst, this movie is the best of the three, with a fun mystery and lots of the best parts of the first two movies. I will probably skip the others in future years and just watch this one.
