- Content: “Noblesse Oblige, Hospitality and Christmas Romance”
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What You Need To Know:
A ROYAL CHRISTMAS MANOR is well produced and has appealing performances and some funny whimsical humor. However, despite a heartfelt, emotional ending, the story and plotline are a bit predictable. They’re also full of typical secular Christmas trappings, with only one brief minor reference to the Birth of Jesus. That said, A ROYAL CHRISTMAS MANOR has a strong moral worldview. It extols hospitality, kindness, free enterprise, marriage, and family. So, it provides an enjoyable, family-friendly, uplifting experience.
Content:
Strong moral worldview with some light Christian content where, despite some romance, the characters don’t make judgments just based on true emotions or what feels right, people generally follow good morals and ethics, woman applies her parents’ business lessons and respects their wishes, man wants to learn to be more like a normal person but instead learns some much needed self-reliance and personal responsibility, woman comforts a man who’s grieving about his wife passing away, and movie extols marriage, family, hospitality, and kindness, the words to “Silent Night” are faintly heard in the background of one scene but that’s really the movie’s only reference to the spiritual significance of the Birth of Jesus in the Nativity Story and the Christmas holiday aka holy day, plus the female lead runs the inn her parents started, so the movie strongly promotes free enterprise;
No foul language;
Some light physical comedy such as man falls down trying to walk downhill in snowshoes, man has trouble putting together a bookcase (he bumps his head, etc.), and man and woman have a brief snowball fight;
No sex scenes or other lewd content, though the romantic couple share several kisses when they finally discover their mutual love;
No nudity;
There’s a toast in one scene with red wine;
No smoking or drugs; and,
Man spends most of the movie concealing his identity and it’s full of omissions, and the man, due to a misunderstanding, accepts a lie that his family owns a printing company when he’s really an actual Prince.
More Detail:
The story revolves around two people, Katie Miller and Prince Alexander of Fredonia. Katie is a manager of her family’s business called The Fredonia Inn. Almost two weeks before Christmas, Katie’s parents leave to see her brother and his new baby. Katie sees this as an opportunity to prove to her parents that she can run the inn and give her parents the chance to retire. Around the same time, Prince Alexander of Fredonia, the fictional European country that Katie’s parents named their Inn after, is hoping for a vacation and a chance to be a normal person.
With help from his best friend, Jackson, Prince Alexander can convince his parents to allow him a short vacation from all his duties, so long as certain conditions are met. He chooses The Fredonia Inn, because he thinks it’s neat that an American inn was named after his country.
As Alex arrives at the inn, a massive snowstorm hits, which causes problems later, and he meets Katie. The two have an instant bond that can be noticed by Jackson and Katie’s staff and regulars. During his stay, Alex both volunteers and is volunteered to help Katie with certain tasks and problems that arrive at the inn, like getting a shipment of firewood, building a shelf, and improving some of the Inn’s dishes. In addition, Alex enjoys the treatment of being a normal person not just by Katie, but by her staff and regulars. He ends up forging a bond with all of them, and he starts to fall in love with Katie, and she with him.
However, as the storm gets worse, Prince Alexander is forced to prolong his trip and he finds himself torn between telling Katie the truth about who he is or not. Meanwhile, Katie agonizes over whether she’s actually up to the task of running the inn. Over the course of the movie, both realize that the other is able to not only see past their own insecurities but also encourage the other person to be better.
A ROYAL CHRISTMAS MANOR is well produced. All the set decorations and setting have a warm Christmasy feel to them, with the trees and lights in almost every single scene. On top of that, the acting is actually entertaining. Each character brings new light and depth to certain scenes. For example, Jackson, Alexander’s best friend, does a very good job at keeping his friend grounded while still respecting his station and feelings. Katie’s most reliable regular, Mr. Norton, who treats her like she’s his daughter as well, provides fatherly advice and encouragement not just to her and his own children but also to Alex when he needs it. Also, the cook, Gretchen, despite being a grouch, shows that she cares for others by letting them try her excellent cooking and has some fun interactions with the rest of the cast. All of these characters add to the movie’s entertainment value.
That said, however, this particular Christmas movie doesn’t exactly stand out with flying colors. The story and plot, it summarized to another person, could describe a dozen or more other movies. In addition, there are many typical, secular Christmas movie tropes as well, including a bad snowstorm, mistletoe kisses, Christmas shenanigans with decorations and sweaters, and light Christmas music used as background music. In one scene, the words to “Silent Night” are faintly heard in the background, but that’s really the movie’s only reference to the spiritual significance of the Birth of Jesus in the Nativity Story.
That said, A ROYAL CHRISTMAS MANOR has a strong moral worldview. The main characters are learning to be better versions of themselves. In Katie’s case, she’s learning to be more confident in her abilities to run her family’s business as well as being compassionate to the people stranded at her inn. Alexander, on the other hand, learns some much needed personal responsibility and self-reliance, while also appreciating what the common people have. The story also has a strong element of found family. Mr. Norton acts as a pseudo father figure for the couple, giving fatherly advice to them and helping them when they need him. Speaking of generosity and compassion, both are emphasized by almost all the characters when the snowstorm strands them all in the Inn. Everyone comes up with a fun Christmas tradition for them all to do to keep spirits high. In addition, the king and queen of Fredonia make sure their staff spend Christmas with their family. So, the movie extols hospitality, kindness, free enterprise, marriage, and family.
A ROYAL CHRISTMAS MANOR has very little objectionable content. There’s no violence, sex, nudity, drug use, foul language, or drunkenness. The main problem is the lies that occur around Alexander’s true identity. Alex spends most of the time hiding his identity from Katie and the others at the inn because he doesn’t want special treatment. He doesn’t lie outright initially, but a misunderstanding occurs and causes a lie to form about his background. Alex doesn’t correct the lie immediately, and it places him in a tough situation later. All’s well that ends well, however.
Overall, A ROYAL CHRISTMAS MANOR creates an enjoyable, family-friendly, uplifting experience. And, the Prince displays a strong spirit of noblesse oblige, the kind of honorable, generous and responsible behavior that, traditionally, people of high rank and birth were once expected to reflect.
