The Reluctant Royal

If you’ve seen any of my videos you’ve probably noticed I love to see movies with truly meaningful, organic character transformations. I also love it when I feel a twinge of emotion by the end. The Reluctant Royal certainly has the capacity to do both. Now the male lead was played by Andrew Walker. And while, generally, I find him enjoyable to watch, I can’t deny that I wasn’t impressed by two of his movies last year.

For Love & Honey and Jingle Bell Run both did just fine for Hallmark. But personally, those movies weren’t among my favorites. So I really wanted to like this one. It’s quite a twist on a Classic Cinderella story, and yes, I do love a good Cinderella story. Ever After with Drew Barrymore is one of my all time favorites. But, as I was starting to mention, in The Reluctant Royal it’s not the female lead whose life is transformed by becoming royalty, or at the very least, a member of nobility…this time it happens to him! So how was it?  I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to talk about this one. So let’s dive right in and get started.

Hallmark Channel aired the premiere of The Reluctant Royal on March 8th, starring Andrew Walker and Emilie de Ravin. I mentioned Andrew Walker a moment ago. He’s made so many movies for Hallmark, he probably doesn’t need much of an introduction. I loved him in the Curious Caterer mysteries, not to mention Three Wise Men and a Baby. But this, I believe, is Emilie de Ravin’s debut on the network. And speaking of princesses, I enjoyed her as Belle from Once Upon a Time. 

Now, the movie opens in a garage where we see Andrew Walker’s character, Johnny, underneath an old Mustang when his girlfriend walks in. She breaks up with him because he’s not ready to make any kind of a commitment.

I’d say Johnny has three great loves: working on cars, hanging out in bars, and juicing, of all things.

Next we transition over to this stunning castle over in England (actually, I think it was filmed in Ireland but England was mentioned in the movie) and this is where we meet Prudence, Emilie de Ravin’s character. She’s the advisor to the Duke of this estate. He’s a bit cranky, everyone calls him "The Old Crust," the taxes are apparently overdue, and he has no direct heir. So, already, I’m seeing some similarities to Downton Abbey come into play, which makes me so happy.  In this movie, though, there’s a bit of a twist because his closest relative, Cousin Alasdair, has been planning on inheriting the title his entire life. Only he’s not exactly the warm and fuzzy type. We’ll get to him later.

Prudence sits down to start putting his affairs in order and that’s when she discovers a document she knew nothing about - an old marriage certificate. Which is also how Johnny ties into all of this. Prudence flies to Philadelphia to meet with Johnny and hopes to escort him back to England. When she explains to him that he’s next in line to succeed the Duke, he wants nothing to do with it.

So how or why exactly does he change his mind? Well, he talks to his mom to find out more about this Duke aka Dad. And she convinces him to go and meet him. My only nitpick here is he’s never been out of the states and yet he was able to fly out, presumably within a day or two, which means he already had a passport, and nowadays even a travel visa? 

Anyway, before he arrives at the castle, there are a couple more characters we have yet to meet. Cousin Alasdair is currently the next in line to inherit the Duchy. And of course once we meet his mother, it’s all that much easier to understand his character. Did I mention his mother was awful?! I would say she was a money-grabber, much like the step-mother in Ever After, but she wasn't nearly as cunning. She was really quite pathetic.

Well, Johnny arrives unexpectedly and stirs things up a bit. What I loved was the way he made his grand entrance without actually making an entrance.

Sadly, though, he entered the castle with some preconceived ideas of what the Duke and everyone who lived here must be like, which was not exactly kind, although not entirely untrue, either. Granted, they had their own opinions of Johnny, too. 

So, finally, Johnny and the Duke met. The Duke, however, assumed he was only there for his money. That didn’t go over well with Johnny. And that was that, I suppose. Johnny storms out wanting absolutely nothing to do with the Duchy, but before he leaves the grounds entirely, he gets a glimpse of an old car that’s been stored away, completely neglected for a long, long time.

He finds his way over to a pub called The Pickled Pickle where everyone makes fun of royalty but that doesn’t keep Prudence away. She'll go to great lengths to find  him. So, how exactly does she convince him to come back? How about a game of darts?! Okay, her last throw was a bit over the top but I won’t dwell on that. That dart game sort of turned a corner for these two.

For the next part of the movie we learn more about the estate, its history, Prudence and the Duke himself. Did I mention the cousin? Actually, if Cousin Alasdair hadn’t been such a horrible character, and treated Johnny so badly this whole time… he might have stood a chance at inheriting the Duchy. But Johnny could only be pushed so far and, after putting up with one too many of Alasdair's insults, he hastily announced, "I'm in!" 

But do you think Alasdair will stop there? No, he’s going to make one last ditch effort to send Johnny packing back to Philly. And how about Johnny? Will he have any regrets? Perhaps at first, yes, when the reality of it all sinks in, but I’ll let you watch to see how it all plays out.

So now, what did I think of this movie? I loved it! There were parts of this movie that reminded me of Cinderella, as I had mentioned before. After all, it’s about a mechanic who becomes a Duke. There were parts that reminded me of Downton Abbey with the setting and the scenario. And you know, there were moments that even reminded me of Cars. yes, Disney/Pixar's Cars! In that movie, Lightning McQueen shows up unexpectedly in Radiator Springs. He doesn’t like town and they don’t care much for him, either. But by the end of the movie they not only learn to appreciate and respect each other, their lives are all transformed for the better. And that’s exactly what happened here. 

And to top it off, what would a Cinderella story be without a ball? What’s different about this one, though, is I got goosebumps when his mom arrived. That was one of the best moments for me.                                 

Or was it this one when they were finally running free together through the courtyard?

The point is, everyone’s lives were transformed, for the better, because Prudence found him and she never once gave up.

What about you? Do you have a favorite scene in this movie? Maybe it was the very end the way they tied in a reference to last week's movie, The Royal We, as well as the next one coming up, Royal-ish?! Or perhaps this one just wasn’t to your liking this time.

So, what kind of a rating would I give this one? A 5 out of 5. Definitely! I know the greedy cousin and his mother were super annoying and over-dramatic, but that was kind of the whole reason for their being there. I’ll admit I would probably have directed them a little bit differently, but it didn’t change how I feel about the movie or all the other characters. They were wonderful, the village, everyone! On IMDB I would love to see it closer to a 7.5. Right now it’s at a 7.1, which is still really, really good for Hallmark movies. Getting past a 7 is no small feat, and that’s two royal movies in a row that met that challenge. I’m pretty excited about that, even if I personally felt this one was much better.

Well, I think that wraps up my review of The Reluctant Royal. Next we’ll be discussing the third movie in the series, called Royal-ish, starring two people I’ve never seen on Hallmark, Nichole Sakura and William Moseley. The only time I’ve seen William Moseley is from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, when he was much younger and played the oldest brother, Peter. So, I’m looking forward to seeing a couple of fresh faces on the network.

Until then, and as always, thank you so much for being here and being a part of the Magical Movie Club. We'll be back next week to chat more about our favorite magical movies!

Hallmark Channel's Original Preview:  The Reluctant Royal - Preview

Hallmark Channel Movie Site: The Reluctant Royal