Un Principe per mamma

I enjoyed this more than I expected given what Hollywood sometimes manages to do to English "aristocrats" in "comedies". Here we have a Marquis (Kassianides) suffering from amnesia and a young girl (beautifully played by Kiernan Shipka) who doesn't like killing frogs, is willing to believe they can turn into princes, and wants her widowed mom (Martin) to find happiness. It's a charmingly told story with witty character development and always on the light side. But....

Kellie Martin can act, and there are certain scenes in the film she handled okay, but she didn't convince me at all that there could ever be any chemistry between her and a man other than her dead husband, not ever. It irritated me to bits from the start it really did, and then I thought maybe it was part of the plot. Unfortunately it wasn't because her confinement didn't relax for a second even in the best scenes of the whole darned film. And in the meantime daughter Zoe is acting her socks off.

Nick Ullett was very good as Wilkins, and young Rod Myers does well as Sam. In fact the cast do really well altogether. It's just the miserable Gwen who lets it down ever so irritatingly for me..... but still, six out of ten because chemistry is a purely personal thing!

This is a cute little TV movie in the "Miracle on 34th Street" vein. Besides some rather amusing acting -- particularly Simon Kassianides as a Marquis or perhaps Prince who prefers to get drunk and fall into an amnesiac fugue rather than marry his horror of a social-climbing fiancée, and Kiernan Shipka as a straightforward young girl who would rather believe in magic than live a rather empty life, there is plenty of subtext in this movie about hope, expectations and San Francisco -- although that highly cinematic town is not shown to any advantage. Surely a few more original pickup shots could have been arranged.

The romantic interest is provided by Kellie Martin, who is directed in the manner typical of a Hallmark TV romcom: brittle, fast-talking and ready to fall. There won't be much in the way of surprises in this work, but a light, almost negligent handling of the issues by director Ron Oliver keeps things moving along at a decent clip

This is a fabulously innocent Valentine's Day movie. Watch it with your children of elementary school age (before the eye rolls start, displaying jadedness towards life -- too bad, once they do! ).

Be sure to have read a story to them about kissing a toad that turns into a prince before viewing so they can appreciate the context. (Don't read or share personal experiences of kissing someone who turned out to be a toad!)

If you'd like to put aside some of your own jadedness, watch this movie with an openness to the simple things in life. All the kingdoms of the world cannot match a very fine smooch.

Well she thought he was a FROG, This really was a fun watch. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 2/15/2021

This movie has a whimsical aspect similar to a children's tale. Actually, it is mostly a children's tale and will probably appeal to the whole family. I don't think it's appropriate to consider it with the same criterion as a rom/com aimed at adults. There is no implied magic, but the story resembles a magical tale. The story is funny in a whimsical way.

In some ways it is not a rom/com even though there is a whirlwind relationship between Flynn and Gwen. It doesn't get a lot of screen time so looking for chemistry here, or of selling the idea that the two fall in love just doesn't have a chance. The real relationship of interest is Zoe and Flynn. In a lot of ways Zoe is the star. Kiernan Shipka plays Zoe just the way she should. Not bad for a 11 year old actor if I calculate right.

The movie is similar to some other movies of the same genre. The identity of the real prince is a secret. The stranger becomes the kid's nanny. This situation plods along until the reveal which is like so many other movies where the person with the secret is just about to confess. And that creates a rift. The obligatory grand gesture is what you might expect if concocted by 2 children. All of this is predictable.

The story differs from anything believable in a myriad of ways, but it is a story for the whole family, not just adults.