This is a fairly predictable prince and commoner movie. The protagonists are a handsome couple that are basically developing quite a romance. The commoner's situation is perhaps even a little more dire than the usual and she is confronted with some depressing options. The movie does right in devoting a lot of screen time to Prince Duncan and Emma. The viewer gets to see their relationship develop. Viva Bianca and Kirk Barker have a nice chemistry without Emma knowing who he is. The story develops along predictable lines. The final scene is well executed.
The bad point is this. This movie comes very close to crossing a line and comes close enough to deserve being called on it. "Todd's not a bad guy, he's just hurt." Alice says this after Todd's overly aggressive behavior which results in a fight. Todd is guilty because he thinks he owns Alice. And he degrades her. He tells her she doesn't deserve anything better. I'm not sure that Todd would back off if she made a firm statement of no. She actually does say no several times, but then appears to waffle. Alice doesn't put her foot down. Every time Todd asks her to make a final choice, Alice doesn't. That doesn't condone Todd's attitude of ownership and aggressive behavior. But the movie doesn't condemn it. He suffers no negative consequences and the movie's postscript even gives him something of a happy ending.
Romance movies need to stop condoning this behavior. I've seen various degrees of this behavior in several romance TV movies. This movie is actually on the mild side. In some of them, the man is even more wrong, often grabbing the woman and kissing her without permission even as she struggles to break the kiss. This is unacceptable behavior and movies such as this need to make that clear. I have yet to see a romance movie that does.
I didn't rate this movie originally and watched it again because I didn't see a personal rating. The second time through confirmed my original thoughts but I decided to add a few more and give it rating based on everything but the double standard of condoning unacceptable male aggression, even though I feel strongly about it. Other than that the movie is actually enjoyable.
The bad point is this. This movie comes very close to crossing a line and comes close enough to deserve being called on it. "Todd's not a bad guy, he's just hurt." Alice says this after Todd's overly aggressive behavior which results in a fight. Todd is guilty because he thinks he owns Alice. And he degrades her. He tells her she doesn't deserve anything better. I'm not sure that Todd would back off if she made a firm statement of no. She actually does say no several times, but then appears to waffle. Alice doesn't put her foot down. Every time Todd asks her to make a final choice, Alice doesn't. That doesn't condone Todd's attitude of ownership and aggressive behavior. But the movie doesn't condemn it. He suffers no negative consequences and the movie's postscript even gives him something of a happy ending.
Romance movies need to stop condoning this behavior. I've seen various degrees of this behavior in several romance TV movies. This movie is actually on the mild side. In some of them, the man is even more wrong, often grabbing the woman and kissing her without permission even as she struggles to break the kiss. This is unacceptable behavior and movies such as this need to make that clear. I have yet to see a romance movie that does.
I didn't rate this movie originally and watched it again because I didn't see a personal rating. The second time through confirmed my original thoughts but I decided to add a few more and give it rating based on everything but the double standard of condoning unacceptable male aggression, even though I feel strongly about it. Other than that the movie is actually enjoyable.