Private Princess Christmas is the latest Hallmark rom-com hoping to be a royal hit this holiday season. The movie stars Ali Skovbye as a spoiled royal whose recent loss makes her reluctant to move on and accept her incoming “queenly duties.” In hopes of forcing her to group up and find some purpose, she’s sent to an American boot camp led by a demanding commander (Derek Klena) who has some hangups of his own. Can these two people overcome their differences to find common ground, and maybe even love, over the holidays? And will this princess get her act together enough to be ready to take over for her mother (Erica Durance) as queen?
PRIVATE PRINCESS CHRISTMAS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Princess Violet (Ali Skovbye) is in line to eventually lead the Eastern European land of Wingravia, but her mother, Queen Winnifred (Erica Durance), does not believe her daughter is ready. Since the loss of the King last Christmas, Violet has been listless, unwilling to follow through on her duties, and unserious about her future. Violet’s uncle, Felix (Mackenzie Gray), ends up proposing a potential solution: sending Violet to an American army boot camp over the holidays to teach her discipline and help her find a mission that will drive her philanthropic and leadership efforts as queen.
Initially reluctant to leave due to an aversion to hard work and reluctance to part with her selfish boyfriend, Scotty (Stewart Prince), Violet grows impressed with the camp’s website and changes her tune. But upon arriving at Colorado’s Chesterfield Military Academy, Violet is dismayed to find that things aren’t quite how she expected them to be and that her superiors Captain Ryan Douglas (Derek Klena) and Captain Juniper “Squibby” Squibb (Tanja Dixon-Warren) mean business. Ryan especially is (pardon my French) a total hard-ass who holds his cadets to an impossible standard and seems completely devoid of Christmas cheer. He’s haunted by decisions he made and words he said regarding a promising cadet from his past, and lets this affect how he treats the new cadets he has reluctantly stepped in to lead.
Violet spends the next 10 days joined by vain Indian duke Sateen (Aman Mann), rage-filled K-pop star Marlena, (Ingrid Park), insubordinate Falcons wide-receiver Finch (Kheon Clarke), billionaire tech guru’s daughter Le’Tress (Louriza Tronco), and crypto shyster Bitcoin Bobby (Nathan Lynn) in this intense Christmastime boot camp that will teach cadets all about leadership, teamwork, and service. Can this motley crew learn how to trust one another and themselves enough to overcome past hangups? Does Violet have what it takes to lead, or will she continue her long-held habit of quitting? Will sparks fly between the equally headstrong Violet and Captain Ryan? And, seriously, what the heck is a baked festoon?
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Private Princess Christmas is the “parent figure sending daughter to a boot camp where she finds purpose and an unlikely bond with her Captain” aspect of Cadet Kelly with dashes of The Sound of Music and Falling for Christmas also mixed in.
Performance Worth Watching: Tanja Dixon-Warren is very likable and natural as Squibby. Additionally, McLaughlin is very endearing and engaging as the deaf local veteran Colonel “Shep” Shepherd. Both of them were total scene-stealers who were enjoyable to watch whenever they came onscreen.
Memorable Dialogue: Who can forget a zinger like Violet’s early line: “A boot camp? I mean, a stiletto camp I could consider, but, boots?”
Honorable mention for: “So basically it’s 10 days of Top Gun meets Oprah meets Santa. I’m in!”
A Holiday Tradition: Violet used to always bake a festoon and watch The Sound of Music with her parents for Christmas, but now that her dad is gone, she’s trying to keep the traditions going on her own in his memory.
Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Private Princess Christmas is about a princess who goes to a military boot camp during Christmastime, so yep, this title checks out.
Our Take: I think that Private Princess Christmas is actually an interesting idea, in theory, that’s a bit different from the typical Hallmark holiday rom-com story, but the execution, unfortunately, was lacking. The lines are cheesy without being charming, and there are perhaps too many cadets to ultimately feel emotionally attached to any of them.
Outside of Violet, the other cadets are two-dimensional at best, but even the princess is sometimes difficult to feel connected to, especially when she’s matched up with Ryan. Not only do they lack much romantic chemistry, but there also seems to be no world in which they could make a romance work, as they are from two totally different worlds with very little in common. The movie brought up The Sound of Music more than once and seemed to be going for a Baron Von Trapp and Maria pairing with the whole “military captain falling for his subordinate” storyline but it just didn’t work for me in practice.
Also, apologies for being nitpicky, and I know Wingravia is fictional but they did say it was in Eastern Europe, so what’s up with the British accents? Wouldn’t something vaguely European and Slavic be more fitting? Then again, this movie isn’t too concerned with realism, so I guess we’ll have to give them a pass. I mean seriously, how did they cause a fire in an oven because Violet confused Fahrenheit and Celsius? I know it’s annoying to be the “um, actually!” person but I’ll do it anyway and say that if Violet was setting Celsius numbers on an American oven, she’d be baking things at less than 200 degrees Fahrenheit, so how would that end up burning anything? But hey, I guess where there’s a will, there’s a way.
This isn’t to say that it was all bad! Ali Skovbye was at her best as Violet when sharing the screen with Shep, using her knowledge of ASL to communicate with the deaf veteran in moments that transcended a script or schmaltzy Christmas story to feel like genuine, touching scenes of human connection. Perhaps if the romantic plot was axed, the story would have had time to give Violet more of these moments, and maybe there’d even be time to make the other cadets more well-rounded. Unfortunately, a Hallmark holiday movie without a romance is like a queen without a crown or a princess without a mission (that is to say, apparently unthinkable) so the finished product does not fully reach its potential.
Our Call: SKIP IT. Private Princess Christmas has some sweet moments, but a subpar romantic plot, two-dimensional characters, and some extra cheesy moments end up dragging it down. However, if you want a good drinking game, then actually you maybe should stream it, just so you can get blitzed by taking a sip every time they say “festoon.”
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Private Princess Christmas’ on Hallmark, In Which A Passive Princess And Demanding Army Captain Butt Heads At Boot Camp appeared first on Decider.
