The Prince and Me is advertised as a fairytale, but it utilizes the well-worn prince meets the commoner storyline as a framework to explore the evolution of two incomplete individuals: one a not-serious-enough spoiled rich kid (who happens to be a prince) and the other a too-serious narrowly focused student (who happens to be a farm girl). The story reveals the lives that these two are living and beautifully shows how each is able to change the other for the better, first through collaboration, respect and friendship and finally through love. Julia Stiles (Paige) and Luke Mably (Eddie) are perfect choices to take us on this entertaining journey. They create persons that are real and that we care about.
The main flaw of this movie is that the scope is simply too ambitious to properly present in 2-hours. The movie portrays both the personal transformations that are occurring and also attempts to seriously explore the challenges and choices that confront Paige as a possible future queen. These are very interesting topics and are worth presenting, but there is not enough time allotted to do all of these issues justice. A novel can take the time needed to tell such a story, but a movie has time limits. The result is a second half that feels like it is shot in double speed. Things simply jump forward too fast, and as a result I felt slightly cheated. For example, I would have liked to savor more of the interplay between Paige and the queen mother. The potential of an expanded Julia Stiles versus Miranda Richardson contest could have been something special. I suspect that the filmmakers wanted to tell that story too, but had to leave a lot in the editing room to keep this film under 2 hours. If that was the case, it's too bad. I would not have minded spending more time with Paige and Eddie.
The main flaw of this movie is that the scope is simply too ambitious to properly present in 2-hours. The movie portrays both the personal transformations that are occurring and also attempts to seriously explore the challenges and choices that confront Paige as a possible future queen. These are very interesting topics and are worth presenting, but there is not enough time allotted to do all of these issues justice. A novel can take the time needed to tell such a story, but a movie has time limits. The result is a second half that feels like it is shot in double speed. Things simply jump forward too fast, and as a result I felt slightly cheated. For example, I would have liked to savor more of the interplay between Paige and the queen mother. The potential of an expanded Julia Stiles versus Miranda Richardson contest could have been something special. I suspect that the filmmakers wanted to tell that story too, but had to leave a lot in the editing room to keep this film under 2 hours. If that was the case, it's too bad. I would not have minded spending more time with Paige and Eddie.
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