There is nothing that I love more than tropey goodness. When a movie has so many tropes that it’s so bad that it’s good, I smile. I love cheesy and Private Princess Christmas is full of cheese. Is it my favorite? No. But it was still enjoyable.
And I love enjoyable.
The short of it – Princess Violet wants to spend time with her mother – the Queen. It’s Christmas time and she wants to do all of the things that she can with her Mom. The Queen is super busy and well, kinda cold to Violet. She thinks that Violet can’t lead and is being irresponsible.
In order for Violet to be named as her successor, her Mom wants her to find her mission in life and to learn to lead. So, Violet agrees to go to a boot camp in Colorado to teach her how to lead. You know, because ten days being bossed around will change you (in the movies – it does).
So, Violet does just that – she agrees to go to boot camp where she meets Ryan Douglas. He’s the leader and he’s a jerk. He doesn’t treat any of the people in boot camp with any respect. He acts like a hard a**, but the campers are not afraid to call him out.
What we’re witnessing is a bunch of rich and entitled people trying to find their way. They aren’t used to someone telling them what to do or having to do the hard work. The only thing that all of them have in common is their want to not be there and their dislike for Captain Ryan.
One thing that I loved was the way the campers tried to find a way around everything that Ryan tries to make them do. They don’t get his team building activities or what he’s trying to teach them. However, I would have loved more dramatic things to happen. I may be like the campers – not understanding how carrying a Christmas tree three miles is supposed to teach them anything.
I do admit that I had to laugh sometimes when Ryan realized that his teaching style wasn’t something that they could all adapt to. Why did I laugh? Because it didn’t seem like he got it, but was trying so hard to act like he did. I wanted to love Derek Klena as Ryan, but I didn’t really love it. When it comes to Hallmark movies, I am really trying to give people a chance because I do love their actors. The hard part for me was that I felt like Klena’s facial expressions never changed and I think that is a huge part of convincing the viewer that your emotions are changing and your character is growing.
I did love Ali Skovbye as Princess Violet. I have to admit that I saw her in Firefly Lane, so I have been a fan. Skovbye’s character of Violet was all over the place and she was constantly rising to the occasion. Violet was headstrong, stubborn, and yet soft and vulnerable. She wanted to be a leader, but was also underestimated.
And that’s the thing – to me the movie was all about being underestimated. It was tropey goodness filled with snark and laughter. It was learning that there is a reason for everything and sometimes we have to let our guards down and embrace those reasons. If we aren’t learning, we aren’t growing.
These campers really needed to grow.
Over the course of the two hours, there is a lot of moments that were meh, but when you suspend reality, you realize you’re getting something fun. It was a different way for royalty and commoners to meet. I always love that type of trope and I loved seeing something besides a ball at the end.
Private Princess Christmas wasn’t perfect, but the departure from the normal royal movie made it even more enjoyable. Filled with drama, royalty, military, and love – it was a movie to escape for two hours.
And sometimes an escape is what you need.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- The Queen was just a little too uptight and needed to loosen up
- The Queens secretary – I felt bad for her because she was the inbetween
- I love Colorado
- There is nothing that will get me up at 415AM to run
- Princess Violets boyfriend was just boring and I didn’t like him so I was glad that they broke up
- Squibby was too good – loved her
- Remind me that none of these characters can bake a cookie
- I loved that the movie had ASL and that Princess Violet knew it and showed that she knew it
- I loved Violet fixing the bench
- Again, Queenie needs to be kinder
