"Next year will be even busier ..."
Hello everyone!
So we interrupt your regularly scheduled Hallmark Countdown to Christmas with a movie nobody actually expected but people were honestly pretty happy about.
Or, at least, they were sort of happy, I suppose?
Netflix is the streaming service that a lot of people consider as a saviour because they've often picked up series after they've been cancelled by other networks, or made movies that were really savory to watch.
They've also started punching out Christmas movies in the past couple of years.
This means that, yesterday, after I was finished with part one of Crisis on Infinite Earths (OMG!), I needed something to both cheer me up and to make me think about other things.
Naturally, I went to grab a Christmas movie, and I chose Netflix instead of Hallmark. I may be missing the bridging part of the trilogy, but A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby could easily be watched as a stand-alone, too!
He also asks Amber to marry him after following her to New York. So there's that.
There's a sequel to this story, A Royal Wedding, which I actually DID watch last year but never reviewed, so I'm going to leave that for January at some point I think, but in very brief strokes, it's tradition against modern influence where Amber fights to keep her identity and her voice in a sea of palace rules and traditions, and Richard forgets he ever had a spine. But all's well that ends well, and by movie three, Amber is now the queen of Aldovia, and VERY heavily pregnant.
Actually, the baby's due right after New Year's, and Aldovia is beyond excited.
So are Amber and Richard, who are making all the necessary adjustments in their lives and in their royal apartments to ensure everything's ready for the arrival of the little one, and scenes of the two of them together finally portray them as a happy, settled couple who don't need drama in their personal life to keep the movie interesting, not anymore at least. They're just two expectant parents, and Richard rediscovers the inner boy in himself, while also doting on Amber and trying his best to make sure she has everything she needs.
Meanwhile, there's a big thing happening in Aldovia.
600 years ago, the kingdom was at war with Penglia, and it was a devastating occasion over the Silk road and trade routes (because someone figured that would be an interesting thing to smack into Europe too, LOL), and eventually the two rulers signed a peace treaty on Christmas Eve that year. This treaty has since been renewed every hundred years, and it falls to Amber and Richard to do it this time.
Well, only Richard, because the Penglian royals, Tai and Ming, are much too traditional to allow Queen Ming to sign the treaty alongside her husband, no matter that Amber is all for progression and moving Aldovia into the modern present (it should be noted that the programs Richard and she are implementing are actually raising Aldovia's budget and helping the country immensely).
But, of course, things don't go smoothly. When do they ever in Aldovia?
When it's time to sign the treaty, they discover it's missing. And there's more!
If the treaty isn't signed by midnight on Christmas Eve, the countries will effectively return to a state of war (one fought with lawyers given neither has a standing army), and a curse will befall the firstborn child of the country who orchestrated the event.
Naturally, Amber's VERY keen on finding the treaty, because hell to the no that her baby's going to be cursed!
Nevermind everyone telling her that curses went out of fashion hundreds of years ago, natch.
Anyway, as per usual for Aldovia, a snow storm also locks the country down, so the Penglian royals can't leave, which enables the two couples to spend more time together while the treaty is sought for, and Amber and Ming grow closer through the process. This helps because all the stress surrounding everything causes Amber to go into labour early, on Christmas, and Ming helps her while Richard rides out into the storm to get the doctor who ended up in a snow bank.
Note here that there are wolves howling in the woods as he does so, but he just glares into the darkness, snaps 'Not today', and rides on. As you do.
Meanwhile, the hunt for the treaty is still on, with the former Queen and Emily getting locked in the palace dungeon and finding the treaty itself hidden there, the one place the police dog didn't look when they'd called for one and brought it up to search.
Richard returns with the doctor and a massive, Agatha Christie-style confrontation takes pace where Amber reveals the one who stole the treaty is from the rival royal branch, who were discredited after a scandal back in the 14th century, and that the guy who's been super helpful all movie is from that family and stole the treaty to hide it. They promptly lock him up, and Richard apologises to Simon, who everyone thought was the culprit.
Remember Simon? He's the guy who originally wanted to become king over Richard, then in the second movie worked with the royals (eventually) to help solve the then problem, and who was now suspected once more (because he's royally an idiot who really needs to work on his delivery). Anyway, he and Amber's friend Megan have been dating, and while she suspected him of going behind her back with the Penglian attaché, Lynn, he was actually coming up with an economic strategy for Aldovia and Penglia, and picking out an engagement ring.
All's well that ends well, the treaty gets signed by both queens and kings, and Amber finally goes into labour proper, delivering a healthy baby girl, Elleri, just in time for her father to arrive from New York after the airport is no longer closed.
And with that, Simon receives a peerage and becomes a Duke of Aldovia, the Penglian royals return home to spend Christmas with their three children with promises that they'll see each other again soon (since, you know, everyone's become such good friends now), and Richard and Amber present their little princess to the world on Christmas morning.
And they all lived happily ever after, to the end of their days!
This movie, and the entire trilogy actually, has a VERY low rating on IMDB, but I wouldn't judge it by that if I were you, because while it IS a sappy Christmas story every year, it's also fun, funny, poignant, and most of all entertaining to watch. I honestly enjoyed all three movies, though the Wedding might have been the weakest of the bunch - the debacle with the fashion designer was awful, and I thought for sure it would be something similar when he reappeared in this one, but thankfully he got better!
Amber and Richard are comfortable with their roles in this one and make a great power couple who rule their country wisely and are trying to do the best they can for Aldovia. This definitely beats the usual fumbling to become acquainted with life as a royal!
As a final touch, a special shout-out to Richard and Tai building the baby's crib. That may have been the funniest scene of the entire movie.
xx
*images and video not mine
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