The Knight Before Christmas is a holiday and medieval themed meet-cute directed by Monika Mitchell, starring a lovely Vanessa Hudgens and a charming Josh Whitehouse. As is tradition with rom-coms, specifically the newly evolving Christmas kind, a few friends and a light-hearted excitement for the season is required to enjoy this movie. I’m not going to lie, but a willingness to drown in Whitehouse’s eyes and swoon over his accent and curls doesn’t hurt either. However, Whitehouse’s Sir Cole wouldn’t be harmed by a visit to the gym.
Appearances aside, there were definitely some less physical aspects of the movies I enjoyed. I appreciated its attempts to expand the theme of the movie beyond the excitement of love, and into important, overlooked territory that is a knight’s commitment to his duty and the acceptable extent into which a lady can gracefully accept the unknown. Hudgen’s Brooke is a smart woman who initially encourages her middle-school students to focus on the concrete ambitions of their goals rather than an elusive “knight in shining armor.” However, she comes to believe and seek the abstract power of true love when she accidentally runs it over and takes it home with her and falls in love with its gallant ways. Sir Cole (Whitehouse) is pure of heart and hard-set on finding his quest as a knight. The fun medieval slang he brings into the modern world, such as “Bejabbers” and “Pip-Toodle”, as well as the time and backstory put into the knight’s character are delightful. It is also nice to have to wait for all the romantic moments, though some moments seemed a little too unrealistic for my liking.
However, many unanswered questions remain. Was it right of Brooke to play into Sir Cole’s fantasy if she initially believed him mentally ill, especially considering the deceivingly adorable man had a sword? Is there room for love in the selfless and noble road of a knight? Maybe some of these questions are meant to be pondered by the audience, but the message of the film seems to be a little wishy-washy. The movie first seemed to accept the realism of not expecting a “knight in shining armor” to show up and fix your life, but that’s exactly what happens, so it’s confusing as to why they bait you with some good cynicism in the first place. The plot was a little unnatural at times as well; both actors were likable, but it seemed a little strange that Brooke would trust this strange man to enter her home and interact with her family without some kind of further research into his background. Also, the time-traveling special effects were just inconsistent and not good.
Personally, I would not watch The Knight Before Christmas again, even though I did not hate it while I was watching it and was genuinely surprised by the interesting bits of unique ideas nestled into the formulaic structure of a rom-com. At best, I was pulled in by the romantic scenes and fawned over some cute moments. To summarize, it’s a nice Christmas movie to watch with friends and get a little bit of a holiday high with, something nice and predictable with just a little bit of spice to keep you interested. It’s not a good movie to watch if you want to devote your full attention to something masterful and well thought out, and it definitely could have focused on creating a more deliberate message to leave the audience less confused.
2/5 STARS