Royal-ish

I've been a little over all the royal type movies in the last 5 years, but I happened upon the premier of this movie tonight. Oh. My. Gosh. This was a lovely movie! Love the casting and overall storyline. I was a big fan of the actress who played Cheyenne in Superstore, so seeing her in this role was a complete 180 to that character. Pleasantly surprised she plays both so well. It also took a deep dive into IMDB to realize the prince is Peter from Chronicles of Narnia. Chemistry was fantastic and believable. While we all know basically how these movies end, this was still a really nice watch. Highly recommend!

Third of a "Royal" Trilogy aired on Hallmark Channel in March 2025. Prince Henry, lead male character of this film, Prince Desmond of Androvia, lead male character in THE ROYAL WE, and Johnny Payne, heir to the Dukedom of Glasswick, England and lead male character in THE RELUCTANT ROYAL, are all cousins and referenced as such at the ends of both other films. The other two were breaths of fresh air. I already have a separate review posted for THE RELUCTANT ROYAL. THE ROYAL WE was nearly as engaging with the same great chemistry between actors, and the plot twists.

This one was just your run-of-the-mill formulaic and predictable "European Crown Prince falls for middle class American working girl" movie, specifically the variant where the prince is widowed with a young daughter who bonds with the American working girl who becomes a mentor to her. The characters have good chemistry and young Francesca Europa is particularly charming as the young princess, but it's just not something anyone who watches Hallmark Channel or Great American Family hasn't seen at least a half-dozen times before.

Oh, well, two out of three ain't bad!

Hallmark isn't good at producing "royal" themed movies, the plots and scripts are usually dumb and the dialog inane. That's the case with this movie, plus the female lead doesn't really work. William Moseley was in a far better movie "Christmas in Notting Hill" in 2023. The supporting cast were generally good.

The plot of this one is cliched, it's been done many times and most of the times they've bombed, like this movie. Hallmark really needs a new head of production who can find good scripts and good leads and make good rom-coms, their specialty. As always the filming locations in Canada are beautiful.

7.2 stars.

There are several interesting and somewhat charismatic characters in the story, which is why I give it the above average rating. It feels like a 6.9, but something about the atmosphere raised it a little.

Don't get me wrong, the story has been beaten-to-death and this movie does not stand out as anything particularly special. I enjoyed it sufficiently for a one-and-done, but the only chance of watching this ever again is if I run out of anything better, which I doubt will happen, considering I enjoyed hundreds, yes hundreds of Hallmark films more than this one.

But if you are planning on watching every royal-ish installment from Hallmark, this one is maybe a smidge above average. You might actually enjoy it, but I feel the plot and presentation are a bit deliberate and not original by any means. They modified the music a little to give it a slightly new feeling, not so much the usual royal horns and woodwinds, more strings and piano music, but that wasn't enough to make it stand out.

I don't hate Hallmark but... please stop making British Royal movies. Or at least watch how British is done by the BBC.... Watched the first few seconds of supposed Fencing, and it was painful to watch. Awkward, stumbling and inept, take them off grass and teach these 'actors' how to move/fight.

A good example of Fencing for film... check our Wednesday.

Please stop these American royal movies.

The costuming is cheap and crass, lacking any style and quality. If you must make these movies then stop shopping at Disney for cloths... The one star is really a no-star, for 'Royal-ish'

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