Love Christmas with all my heart. Love the fun and nostalgia it brings, and cherish all the time spent with family and friends every year. Recently wanted to see some different and new Christmas films released in 2018 and 2019 to stretch my horizons beyond the ones traditionally watched every year. Feelings have been extremely mixed doing this and even when trying to take them for what they're meant to be some have been lacking (though there have been some surprisingly good ones too).
'Christmas with a Prince' was one of those that was lacking, am saying this with a heavy having always made it a duty of mine. There are certainly far worse festive films out there and it is not even one of the very worst seen as part of my quest. Generally though it was towards the lesser end, with its moments but with a lot done badly. One expects cheese and schmaltz from reading the premise alone but not both excessively done and balanced poorly, or almost everything handled in a near-amateurish manner.
Sure, there are moments. The scenery is lovely to look at. The music captures the festive spirit with great affection, although some of the placement was questionable.
There are a few amusing moments and a few very cute ones.
Unfortunately the scenery was not properly done justice, suggestive of somebody behind the camera that had too much to drink on a long night out. The direction is some of the most disorganised and leaden for any film seen recently and of all the recently seen Christmas films, clearly having no idea what to do with the story and the direction of the actors.
Likewise, the script has no tension or emotional connection and is ruined by an overload of the cheesiest of cheese and equally excessive difficult to stomach sentimentality. The chemistry between the actors, especially the two leads, is so disconnected and the story jumps around and is so dreary and predictable not to mention jawdrop inducing daft. None of the characters are worth identifying with and actually found myself irritated by them, especially the doctor. Nobody looks comfortable in their roles and either over-compensate or don't try.
In summary, a charmless Christmas. 3/10
