The latest original for the 2019 holiday season, “The Knight Before Christmas” is Netflix giving the Hallmark Channel a knockout blow in the skillful art of cheesy holiday movies.
To call “Knight” an original concept would be an understatement. Yes, the movie opens in a snowy wood a week before Christmas. But here’s the kicker – its 1334. A young knight named Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse) encounters a magical woman who presents him with an ambiguous quest. Sir Cole is then thrust into the present day of 2019 where he encounters a beautiful woman (Vanessa Hudgens) who for some reason can’t find love. And…movie!
As outlandish as that sounds, “The Knight Before Christmas” is downright hysterical, in a hate-yourself-for-laughing kind of way. One could nitpick the numerous asininities that surround the story, and believe me, there’s a lot to dissect. It’s as if someone thought up the knight/night pun and then formed a movie around it. But we won’t harp on the filmology in this review. Doing that makes you miss the point. It’s a fun, good-natured, and enjoyable holiday movie that offers a smile and a 90 minute reprieve from a stressful and negative world.
There are no physics offered for the time travel, other than magic. Sir Cole accepts his situation rather quickly, referring to cars as steel horses, and watching him interact in present day small town Ohio is funny. I dare you not to laugh out loud as he recoils in dismay at the sight of an airplane which he calls a flying steel dragon, or a hysterical sequence with him using an Alexa.
Vanessa Hudgens is quickly becoming the go-to face for Netflix originals. Hudgens starred in last season’s “The Princess Switch,” and here plays Brooke, a high school teacher who is overly caring about her students and has just broken up with a two-timing ex-boyfriend who had cheated on her. Brooke fantasizes about someday meeting her “knight in shining armor” which is an odd thing for a woman in today’s age to say but, you know, movie.
Hudgens and Whitehouse are smooth together on screen. Neither take their respective roles too seriously, and it works well to showcase that this is a funny and silly movie and nothing else. Sir Cole has been given until midnight on Christmas Eve to complete his quest, and various things he does bring he and Brooke closer together. At one point the pair fall asleep on the couch binge watching. Good one, Netflix, totally meta.
“The Knight Before Christmas” is what we have come to expect. A predictable holiday movie whose warm-hearted tones and laugh out loud moments totally overshadow the buffoonish writing and bonkers plot. I for one want a sequel.
