Oct 31

Oct 31 One Royal Holiday

When a snowstorm freezes their travel plans, Prince James and his mother must hunker at Anna’s inn for the holidays. But the waiting game is just one of the many Christmas festivities the town of Kentsbury has to offer. Will the snow melt before hearts melt…or can the Grinch of Galwick trade his stuffed shirt for stuffed stockings?

Christmas clichés:

Opens w/ a City Scene
Deceased Parent
Hate Becomes Love
Christmas Pageant
Carolers
Weather Unprepared
Sleigh Ride
Tree Buy & Trim
Ends w/ Kiss or Ring

Our Thoughts

Happy Halloween! Not the best day to have our #4 2020 Premiere air, but two adults in fuzzy onesies (Jess, a deer; Rob, a shark) sat down to watch “One Royal Holiday.”

Perky nurse Anna (Laura Osnes, Broadway Cinderella and a fellow Minnesotan) is headed home to small town Connecticut just before a storm hits. A stop at Donny’s Donuts includes a run-in with a stick-up-the-butt man in a suit, James (Aaron Tveit, needs to smile more) whose family needs a place to wait out the snow. A short-lived Hate Becomes Love has the whole clan headed to Anna’s family B&B and the charming small town’s Christmas Pageant week of events.

Oh, and James is a secret prince of Galwick. (Which isn’t as much of a plot point as it should be.)

What sets this typical plot apart is the toying nature of the cliches. We yelled at the TV when Anna and James didn’t take the carriage…and then a few minutes later, our Weather Unprepared male gets talked into a Sleigh Ride home! And just when you think the royal family is heading to the airport, the smallest hint of black ice has the whole group giddy and unpacking their bags for more Xmas activities.

And we can’t talk about the positives without dedicating a whole paragraph to Gabriella (Victoria Clark, who stole the whole movie). We expected the Queen of Galwick to be as rigid and unforgiving as the classic Jane Seymour in “A Royal Christmas” (review forthcoming). Instead, she’s a delight. She encourages James to have a little fun and teases her fellow characters with a knowing wink.

Give us more Gabriella.

Is there anything wrong with the movie? Not really. But something’s missing. Rob thinks it’s because the leading man is missing a spark. Jess thinks the overt Broadway cast should have sang their lines. Whatever it is, this movie is a close but not quite “Very” Merry movie.

Rob's Final Take: Merry
I’d watch a whole movie starring the queen, but her son - the Duke of Dowdy - saps all the energy from this contender. Let’s hope he abdicates from the sequel.

Jess's Final Take: Merry
So close to having a Very at the front! But there were too many missed opportunities to add more Christmas. And singing. Our Broadway leads should have sung more.