If you have a Netflix account, you’ve probably seen the promos for the new Christmas movie starring Vanessa Hudgens, The Knight Before Christmas. This looked just like a Hallmark movie but on Netflix, so I was definitely intrigued. If those types of movies aren’t your thing (or even if they are), I watched this movie so you don’t have to. Here’s the gist.
Brooke is a schoolteacher in Bracebridge, Ohio that has given up on finding her knight in shining armor or her happily ever after. When Cole, a knight who has mysteriously traveled to 2019 Ohio from 14th-century England, shows up, Brooke begins to rethink her attitudes. Thinking him a man who has amnesia, she takes him in, not realizing that this could be her real-life knight in shining armor.
Okay, so this is a classic Hallmark-style Holiday Movie. It is filled with cliches and obvious foreshadowing and predictability. If that’s your thing, however, then this is the perfect movie for you. Cole acts almost as the manic pixie dream girl trope to Brooke. He shows up out of nowhere, with a vague mission that gets pushed to the side most of the time, and teaches her about love, kindness, valor, and virtue. If it wasn’t obvious (SPOILER ALERT), Cole stays with Brooke because true love is more important than everything else apparently (including attending his brother’s knighting ceremony?).
I can complain about this movie all I want, but ultimately if you want to spend the holidays sitting on the couch with hot cocoa watching some beautiful people have little to no problems while all being very nice to each other, this is the movie for you. This movie ensures you understand its values: true love and acts of kindness during the holiday season.
While there are some funny moments (don’t let 14th-century knights drive, please), this movie is for a certain audience and I was just not that. I had some fun watching this movie, but I think it ultimately would be best watched with other Hallmark movie-lovers.