The Knight Before Christmas – 28th December

I was excited for this film because the medieval knight is Sir Cole of Norwich in England which happens to be my hometown. Despite the very inaccurate portrayal of Norwich, I enjoyed this film and thought it was less soppy than other films on the Countdown. Vanessa Hudgens has returned for another Netflix Christmas film after her role in the Princess Switch.

The basic premise is that Sir Cole has to fulfill a quest as a knight in 13th Century Norwich. After encountering a sorceress, she transports him to present-day Ohio where he meets Brooke. She’s a science teacher, this doesn’t play into the story very much apart from one student who she bumps into multiple times. Cole and Brooke become closer as Brooke helps Cole to become accustomed to the modern world. He is desperate to complete his quest and return home for his brother’s knighting ceremony.

Cole becomes close with Brooke and her family – her sister and niece. Her parents both passed away a while before the film. There is one scene where they binge Netflix and scenes from Holiday in the Wild (a 2019 film I reviewed earlier) and The Holiday Calendar are briefly shown on the TV. There’s also a reference to the Christmas Prince, a film I have also reviewed this year, with one of the tree decorations.

I thought this film was very cute and had the right mix of family fun, goofiness and fantasy. Josh Whitehouse who played Sir Cole did a good job of pretending to be from a different time. I always wonder how actors pretend that they don’t know what basic things are like cars or television as it seems impossible to not be aware of these things at least subliminally.

Overall I give this film 3.5/5. Romantic and a little cheesy, just the right thing if you’re clinging on to the magic of Christmas while waiting for New Years Eve.