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!

Hallmark movies are where happily ever after lovers go for a guaranteed happy ending (usually in the last five minutes), and that's no different in one of their newest releases, Royal-ish. Theme park princess Lacey (Sakura) spends her days delivering magical tea parties to children in her role as Princess Sweet Pea. When she befriends 8-year-old Princess Rose (and her father and heir to the throne Prince Henry (Moseley) it sets off a romance that screams meet cute and swoon.

While the movie is very much stereotypical Hallmark in plot, it tackles some deeper issues. Lacey found work as a princess while she was working towards a graduate degree, and finds joy in bringing joy to others. She's worried about aging out of her job (which hadn't previously registered for me as an issue for theme park workers). The young princess Rose is struggling with the weight of responsibility after the death of her mother and a traumatic incident. And the romantic love interest (Prince Henry) struggles to balance his role as a father and the crown prince of a small kingdom. They did make some slight changes to the stereotypical 'royal' plot line for these movies that left me amused. And while the lines were undeniably cheesy, it remained entertaining and engaging.

Overall, this was another entertaining storyline. I didn't realize this was supposed to be another 'trilogy' movie, as they didn't connect it outright to the other movies (The Royal We and The Reluctant Royal) like they did in their other trilogies (The Wedding Veil Trilogy). I highly recommend this movie to those who like low pressure, guaranteed happily ever after stories. I don't recommend this movie to those looking for innovative, high-stakes storylines that are harder to predict.

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.

Take a look at Princess Sweet Pea and watch her in the formal Tea Party where she meets Prince Henry and the impression one takes away is that not only is this a fantasy story, but the people producing it don't expect any other impression. It's cute. It parodies a little what goes on at a famous theme park we know where there is a store that you can take you little princess to buy a dress and visit the beauty salon to get all made up. If you have never been, yes, there is such a place and I could easily see this scene playing out there.

But then the story leaves the fantasy castle and theme park and goes out into the world leading eventually back to Henry's mother's kingdom.

We have a fanciful story that has what you need for a carefree fun time. Lacey is so good with Sophie that if it doesn't bring a tear, at least you want to go "Ahh".

But there is a bit of darkness in the kingdom as well. Many of these Royal romance stories have a Queen who always gives off a serious vibe and often some chastising as well. But if that's not enough there is also a royal advisor who is even more depressing. Obviously a potential villain, but he is almost as bad as "he who shall never be named".

If ever there was a commoner who didn't belong in the prince's world, it is Lacey who ironically has a job as a princess in a fantasy world.

As often happens where a child is as important to the story as this one, Lacey's screen time is split between Sophie and Henry making it harder to see chemistry between Nichole Sakura and William Moseley. The real chemistry is between Sakura and Francesca Europa as Rose.

I often complain in this genre about a character completely changing personality instantly. Emily Swan does that in spades as the queen.

In general terms the story is predictable. The obstacle to the romance is just like it is in so many Royal romance movies. The reconciliation is a little cute.

Because of some of the unusual, even quirky aspects of this story, there are some highlights. I mentioned the sentimental and the fanciful.

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.