Review: The Prince and Me 4: The Elephant Adventure! (2010)
And so here we are, dear reader: we have reached the final film in The Prince and Me quartet. What a ride it's been so far.
We've sat through a bland romance that has survived three previous films, despite the original actors for both love interests being replaced at some point along the way. There has also been itching powder used for comedy, terrible unfunny villains, and many misrepresented, disgruntled viewers from Denmark along the way. How will this film wrap it all up?
The Prince and Me 4: The Elephant Adventure! (also available under the alternate title The Prince & Me 4: Royal Adventures in Paradise) catches up with Paige and Edvard after they have been married for a year. Now they have been invited to the fictional Asian land of Sangyoon to attend the wedding of Princess Myra, whose upcoming arranged marriage might not necessarily lead to her having a happily ever after.
As is tradition with these DVDs, the trailers for the previous films were shown in order before the play menu. Again, I felt like I had witnessed all three films in just a shorter amount of time. Would I be sad that I won't get an opportunity to watch this film in a shorter edit? Let's see.
It starts exactly as one of these films should: with Søren, played by Jonathan Firth. He straightens what is a rather embarrassingly poorly done portrait of people I presume to be Eddie's parents (presumption made because they don't appear in this film, and I don't remember what they are supposed to look like as they changed the actors and they were last seen in film two). We then see our leading lady at work, played by Kam Heskin once again. The characters name? Queen Doctor Paige. Yes, really.
I am sure she would also respond to Lady Jesus Paige at this point. However, in this scene, her patient refers to her as "Your Majesty", and her colleague refers to her as "Doctor". I'm not sure that these can both be correct, at least in this setting. Is the patient overdoing it by addressing her royally or is her co-worker somehow offensive in addressing her as an equal in that environment? It seemed odd to me at least.
After work that day, Paige dresses up in a ballgown and has a romantic evening with Chris Geere's Prince Edvard (because what other kind of evening could these two have together?). During this, Eddie reveals that they have been invited to the fictional Asian land of Sangyoon. Eddie wants to go so that he can sort out some political matters with the royal leader, King Saryu (portrayed by Vithaya Pansringarm), and Paige agrees to go because she wants to continue her role as Lady Jesus by helping the poverty-stricken citizens who also happen to be very sick.
When they arrive, the couple are greeted with an excited crowd all waving Danish flags in celebration of their arrival. The bodyguards tell the royal couple that they should stay in the car, as this is a third world country and therefore the people are inbred. Something along those lines.
Paige of course ignores them and immediately begins to mingle with the crowd. This did lead to the first moment in the film that made me smile though, which was when the bodyguards look at Eddie helplessly after Paige has ignored them. Eddie looks back at them and says "What? Don't look at me, I can't control her, nor want to."
Sangyoon appears to be a fictional equivalent to Thailand (simply due to the fact that the actors playing people from this country are all Thai). However, there is nothing distinct enough otherwise to make this connection, as it also hints at China and India at certain points. Like in the third film, it is clear the filmmakers learned from their mistakes in representing Denmark and are trying to fix them here by a) barely ever showing Denmark and b) using fictional places instead of existing ones to avoid offence.
When Paige and Eddie arrive at the King of Sanyoon's palace, Søren shows Eddie how he should greet King Saryu when they meet. This is interesting, because the film trailer shows a different version of how Eddie performs this greeting to the King, instead of the one in the film. I saw the one in the trailer first, in which Eddie messes up the greeting in what is supposed to be a comedic effect. However, it doesn't work. Edvard is a King, before that, he was a Prince his entire life. He would have had other meetings like this, and he would have been educated on how to greet people according to their traditional customs. The gag would have worked a little better if it was Paige who had tried to perform the greeting, because as perfect as she appears to be, she still continues to bring up the fact that she was once a 'regular farm gal', and a joke like this would have reinforced the fact that she is a fish out of water in the world of royalty still, to some extent. It would bring us back to the old days of itching powder jokes. However, they gave the joke to Eddie, and luckily the film decides to change this moment. Instead of messing up the greeting in a humiliating way, the real clip they use in the film shows Eddie about to attempt it, only to stop himself just in time when he knows he will do it wrong. He instead politely says "Hello." It's a much more comfortable execution to watch.
Within the first eight minutes, Paige appears in two ballgowns, presumably to make up to her girly target audience for when she is out in her adventure outfit later on for the majority of the film. The second ballgown appears during a dinner scene, in which Paige and Eddie sit with King Saryu. Here we also meet and learn more about his daughter Princess Myra (portrayed by model Ase Wang), and Myra's companion Rayen (played by Selina Lo), who is seated next to Søren. In my official, serious critical notes that I wrote to help me with this review, upon Søren meeting Rayen I wrote "Ooh, someone has a crush!" It is all perfectly fine and mediocre until Myra's fiance, Kah enters to disrupt the mood. And oh dear me.
While Pansringarm as King Saryu is far from terrific, Prinya Intachai as Kah is by far the weakest performer here. It really doesn't help him that his character is over the top and dramatic anyway, but Kah is supposed to be genuinely horrid, the kind of guy you don't want to make a mistake in front of because you don't want to risk making him angry. But Intachai always looks like someone who wants you to think he is angry. You can tell he's really trying, but he does not sell this role at all, even less than this script sells Kah's character as a realistic depiction of a human being.
In Kah's first scene, he makes Myra pull his chair out at the dinner table and then tuck him in (as a gentleman traditionally would for a lady), and then she bows to him. Also, she stood up upon him entering the room, making everyone but the King copy her. Yet the King is completely fine with how Kah treats his daughter, a Princess, no less? Well, he did agree for them to marry only a month after he discussed the matter with Kah for the first time. Is the King that unbelievably ignorant or does he just care that little for his daughter? It see ludicrously over the top and makes the King unlikable to me for the rest of the film. At least Kah is pretty much openly evil. He may as well have entered the film and stayed in it as this meme for its entirety:
It actually really helped me out that his name was Kah. I didn't have to switch the "h" in his name to an "a" to help me visualise how his relationship with Myra is in this film, I just saw it as this anyway:
That A* I got in Photography and Photoshop is really showing now.
Having said all this, Kah is actually one of the least theatrical bad guys out of the collection of villains in these films, which is saying something (Oliver from film three is still undoubtedly the worst thing I have witnessed in any of these films). That's simply because Prinya Intachai appears to want to look like an evil person, he never quite sells that he is the moment, doing bad things because he thinks Kah's feelings justify them. I don't think that Intachai does believe Kah's actions are justifiable.
Anyway, we soon cut to Paige and Eddie alone in their bedroom, discussing Myra and Kah's upcoming marriage. Paige is furious about it, because naturally as a Goddess her sense of good and evil is very strong, as is her compassion for Myra. Eddie agrees the marriage doesn't look like it will be a happy one, but he points out that arranged marriages are very common in this part of the world. Later in the film, it is revealed that the King's reasoning for believing in the union so much is because an arranged marriage worked out for him and his late wife. The film is careful not to say that arranged marriages are wrong, only this particular circumstance is, and I appreciate that they know to draw that line there.
When we see Paige and Eddie in bed that night, Eddie sleeps contentedly while duvet hogger Paige lies awake.
Paige hogging the duvet and showing us she has a flaw!
She gets up and goes outside alone, only to observe Myra have a brief encounter with her secret lover Alu (played by Amarin Cholvibul). Myra and Alu have been in love for quite some time, but cannot be together as Alu is a man of little wealth whose job it is to look after elephants at the palace. Therefore, he isn't worthy of the Princess in the eyes of the King. Paige accidentally makes her presence known to the pair, but after Alu runs off, Myra confides in Paige during an exchange we regrettably don't get to see. Instead, Paige tells about it to Eddie and Søren. When he learns of Myra's real love, Eddie agrees to help by confronting the King. Søren doesn't approve, but I'm just happy he's in on the adventure.
I don't think I ever justified why I like Søren so much in these films. Jonathan Firth is charming in the role. It's the consistent piece of charm I've had for the last three of these four films. Unfortunately, the character hasn't had much to do until this film, so there is nothing in the writing there that grips me otherwise. I didn't care about the character when Ben Miller was in the role. He was fine, but Søren was the blandest he has ever been in that particular film. My main problem with Søren is that we are supposed to believe that this character is Danish, when he has been written as such an English stereotype of the English gentleman ill at ease with emotions and personal revelations, which Firth does it really well (rather like his brother Colin).
Anyway, the King reveals that by some tradition, Paige has to ride an elephant to the wedding for good luck. Yep, not Myra the bride, but Paife has to ride this elephant for some reason. We are introduced to Kayla, a real Indian elephant. Take that, The Greatest Showman and that upcoming Tim Burton remake of Dumbo! The Prince and Me 4 is the film worthy enough of getting real elephants for its production!
Unless it's a matter of animal cruelty that the other films have avoided by using CGI.
Oh. Ahem.
While Paige is boarded onto the elephant, she is comedically abandoned by different people at a time so that they can deal with their own issues, until she is alone on Kayla's back. However, this is intercut with Eddie confronting King Saryu, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. It does have a purpose, and the two things tie together eventually, but it does feel a little bit frustrating that we can't have one full, serious confrontation scene. It's as if the filmmakers decided its audiences womanly emotions wouldn't be able to handle a confrontation scene without something softer going on in the background to help us bear it.
I wonder if this blog made me a cynic or if I was always this way.
Back to the plot, Paige gets off of the elephant by herself when she runs to join everyone else as a fight breaks out when Alu saves Myra from Kah during an abusive moment. This is a bad omen for the wedding (the missing elephant, obviously not the abuse part), and so there is a great sense of urgency to bring back Kayla the elephant.
The adventure really begins here, as Paige and Eddie vow to bring Kayla back with the help of Søren and Rayen in time for Myra and Kah's wedding. If they fail at this task, then Alu will be kept in prison and the Sangyoon army will be sent in to find the elephant instead.
So off to the jungles of Sangyoon it is for our four characters! They get up to quite a bit. Because this isn't a particularly deep film, I will not go into great detail about their misadventures, so a brief bullet pointed summary shall have to do:
Eddie falls a long way down, but luckily only his "pride" is hurt. Paige kisses him afterwards. It's nice to see a kiss in a film as a simple act of intimacy between two people, not a grand romantic gesture.
The four of them are followed by men with guns. The armed men are fought off by Rayen (almost entirely alone), who has swords.
After this, Eddie becomes a fanboy for Rayen. From here onward, my appreciation for Chris Geere in this role grows. He's just fun and completely owning that he is in this kind of a role, this kind of film. He is definitely my preferred actor for Prince Edvard.
Eddie also throws the gunmen's rifles into a lake.
Eddie's admiration of Rayan makes Paige jealous and worried that he might have a crush on her. Finally, a proper character flaw for Paige. Unfortunately, it's dull and remarkably cliche, particularly for a female character.
Being hyper aware of Rayan's very proper English accent amongst these Asian actors is not something that goes away for me while viewing this film.
Rayan later mentions that she went to Oxford university, and I am keen to know the story behind that because it's so far fetched. For a start, she's almost on Paige levels of perfect except she has swords so she's a Strong Independent Woman. Also, if someone like Rayan went to England, where she clearly had a bright future with lots of potential, why would she return to this financially poor land? I don't believe it's out of loyalty for the Princess: their relationship is talked of, but never really shown on screen so it's hard to believe that they really are closely bonded.
Rayen saves Søren from a snake, only to accidentally throw snake at Eddie afterwards because comedy.
Eddie goes off with Rayan to try and be useful, which only makes Paige more jealous. She has a nice heart-to-heart with Søren, who assures her that Eddie loves her very much. Unfortunately, right after this the pair are taken hostage at gun point, forced onto a boat and taken away.
Yes, really.
At the start of this "adventure", Edvard drives away with the group before his security team can reach him. Why? Look how useful they could have been (but then, even if they had been there, I'm sure Rayan would have still been the toughest of them all because that's what the film wants you to believe). But really, why would you refuse your security team, as elitist people valuable in society? If you don't care about your own safety, at least consider the well-being of your wife and two good friends.
Eddie is obviously distraught at his friend and wife's kidnapping. His fault (see previous point).
Paige and Søren arrive on land, where Paige is able to yell for help to an elderly Thai man, who runs away. Søren manages to reason with the kidnappers, and learns that they were sent by Kah.
The elderly man arrives with a group of native people as well as Kayla, the missing elephant.
Shockingly, I realise there is still half an hour left to this film. It feels like there should only be twenty minutes left, maximum.
Let us take a break from bullet points. Rayen and Eddie arrive in the land Søren and Paige were taken to, but have to wait to try and find them at Rayen's insistence because it is night time. Eddie reluctantly agrees to wait until morning. By the way, Eddie has been addressed as "Edvard" in this film, and it feels like it's been a while since that happened for him.
Meanwhile, back in the nice part of Sangyoon where royal people and their servants live, Myra visits Alu at night in his prison cell. They say they love each other and then goodbye. That is pretty much the whole scene, but I think it's good that the film wants us to remember why Paige and Eddie are on this elephant quest and who they are helping by doing it.
I had certainly forgotten.
Anyway, dawn breaks on a new day and Eddie and Paige are reunited, as are Rayen and Søren. Things begin to fall into place after that. Eddie and Paige make up (helped by the fact that Paige catches Rayen and Søren making out, thus revealing them to be a couple). Conflicts occur, but they aren't as complicated as this film wants you to believe they are because, well, they are conflicts in a The Prince and Me film. The main characters will always turn out fine in the end. That's why Eddie succeeds in winning a fight to get the elephant back by fencing, and getting rid of Kah is made easier when it turns out the villain has been poisoning the rivers with waste caused by his factories where he just so happens to employ children and the elderly as his workers.
There is a nice quiet scene of Paige watching Eddie play with the children ill from the river water and Chris Geere is lovely in this scene, but once again it brings up a plot hole that occurred in The Prince and Me 2: whatever happened to Edvard's little sister? Granted, people find child characters/actors annoying at times, but a scene like this would explain how he is so good with the children (unless this was foreshadowing for a cancelled sequel, maybe called something like The Prince and Me 5: Popping Out Royal Babies!).
With the elephant, the group return to the palace where Myra's wedding is underway. They interrupt it and help the King to see that Kah might in fact not be quite such a nice guy. The King allows Myra to marry Alu after all, after Kah has been removed. Søren requests some time off of work to be in Sangyoon with Rayen for a while longer. It's a cute moment, but it doesn't bring up the issue of long distance relationships, particularly the struggle of their one. They live on opposite sides of the planet and both have high-intensity jobs that would be incredibly hard for them to leave. How would they sustain this relationship, or are we quietly supposed to expect them to enjoy it while it lasts?
And as for Eddie and Paige, what did you expect? Of course they live happily ever after. The King of Denmark and his wife, Queen Doctor Paige of Denmark. Oh, and Kah went to punch Eddie in the face, but Eddie ducked, so Paige punched Kah instead. That was quite fun.
Then it ends with a Bollywood inspired dance sequence.
It's over. Not just the film, but the series. Wow.
I review the entire series below The Scoreboard, but I will give my main overview of this film now. The Prince and Me 4: The Elephant Adventure! was definitely my favourite in this series. It was so light, cheerful and fun. This is such a fun film. The actors who return are all enjoyable and the only newbie who is really any good in their role (and has the screen time to prove it) is Selina Lo as Rayen. The rest of the cast may not all have the best acting chops, but they're enjoyable and look like they enjoy being there too.
In fact, it feels like everyone involved with this film had a good time with it. They didn't have to put any effort into it, they could have just done another bland chick flick with makeovers and romance-drama, but an adventure film is rare in the chick flick genre. I for one, was happy to go along for the ride. It's ridiculous and fluffy, but the film knows this and is confident in it. This made it so refreshing to sit back and actually feel like I could willingly immerse myself into the world of Paige and Eddie. The series has ended on a high, but it saddens me that there were no highs in the three films before this.
THE SCOREBOARD
Chick Flick Check List Elements: 1, 5, 7, 23, 24, 27, 36, 51, 54 (half point: Paige can be a bit silly sometimes, notably her fixation on Eddie and Rayen here), 60, 63x3,
Total: 12.5
Is this really a chick flick or will men like it too? Absolute chick flick, even though it isn't packed with an overwhelming amount of cliches.
Would I recommend this film? If you want something fluffy, silly and fun to switch your brain off to, sure (note that it's also definitely for a younger audience). Otherwise, probably not.
Quote of the film: "What? Don't look at me, I can't control her, nor want to." - Eddie
Film rating: 5/10
So, we have reached the end of The Prince and Me series. What an emotional ride it has been. I was bored, then bored until I wanted to tear my eyes from their sockets, then embarrassed, bored again, angry, amused, confused, entertained, and finally: satisfied. Let me give you a brief recap of what I thought of this series, each film in order from first to last to be released:
The Prince and Me A bland chick flick. I honestly don't remember it that much at this point, nor do I feel a sense of longing for any of the original actors. If you think the first film is the best one as a general rule for films, then I would think you are wrong about this series. If you saw this film and loved it, don't watch the other ones because they don't really connect beyond the names of the characters. I know the original is supposed to be the best, but this one definitely has the worst editing and Julia Stiles and Luke Mably don't have chemistry as strong as that between Kam Heskin and Chris Geere do in the roles of Paige and Edvard.
The Prince and Me 2: The Royal Wedding. The worst one in the series. You will either be bored out of your mind or cringing with deep discomfort. It did give us Jonathan Firth as Søren though.
The Prince and Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon The first film to have both leads replaced by different actors than those in the first film in this series. If there was no villain who made my blood boil with irritation, I would simply be bored and occasionally charmed by the chemistry between the two leads at this point. Also, not enough Søren.
The Prince and Me 4: The Elephant Adventure! Out of the DVDs I bought for this series, this is the only one I intend to keep and revisit one day. It was a piece of fun fluff, completely knew it and owned it. The ridiculousness was mostly charming and not really embarrassing to watch compared to the previous two in particular. If I had to recommend one of them, this would be it.
