The strength of The Royal Diaries is that they capture a period and they promote girl power, not princess power.
Isabel: Jewel of Castilla, Spain, 1466
Based on the book by Carolyn Meyer, this film stars Lisa Jakub ("Mrs. Doubtfire," "Independence Day") as Isabel, a devout Catholic who clearly seems burdened by her royal status and is frequently chided for sneaking off. Whereas Cleopatra had to be invited to go to the marketplace to see for herself how her father was poorly regarded, Isabel would rather spend her time with her friend Catalina (Cara Pifko) away from the castle. The politics here are even more complicated than the first story, and that might get in the way of some viewers' enjoyment. One of her brothers rules Castilla, while another is King of another, and the bad brother is eager to marry her off. "Might I know their names?" she inquires, and is told "England, France, and Portugal." The emphasis here is on Isabel's wish to somehow negotiate the civil war that has broken out between her brothers and to marry on her own terms, with the Archbishop (Arturo Fresolone) her closest advisor. No violence is shown, no battles, just homefront chatting as with the first installment. Everything unsavory is kept off-camera, as when, in the postscript, we're informed that "not everything she did was good" as a queen, and told that she was responsible for the Inquisition that tortured and put-to-death thousands of innocent people as she tried to purify the church. As with the Cleopatra segment, the costumes are gorgeous, and the actors who are meant to be children and teenagers are actually that age. It makes everything seem all the more real. Though Isabel's character arc and this plot arc isn't as long as Cleopatra's, it's still effective as a slice of 15th-century life.
Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England, 1544
In this adaptation of Kathryn Lasky's book, young Elizabeth (Tamara Hope, "Shall We Dance") lives in constant fear in the court of King Henry VIII, her father. That's because she's borne witness to the deaths of five of his six wives, and has vowed that the latest Queen Catherine (Jennifer Wigmore) will not suffer the same fate. But Henry is volatile, and her oldest sister Mary is conniving. As with the other entries in this series, the acting is competent-not astounding, but certainly not clumsy-and Hope as Elizabeth is a likeable youngster. The accents can be a little tough to take, is the only thing, but I doubt that the target audience of young girls will notice that when the characters themselves are as captivating as the costumes they'd love to be trying on. It gets a bit Hardy Boys or Nancy Drewish when Elizabeth tries to keep her stepmom from losing her head, but Hope's performance makes us swallow it, hook line and sinker.
In a black-and-white world, I'd probably have to rate this a 6 out of 10, but because of the concept and because these episodes clearly reach their goal of giving young viewers a taste of what life was like in a different era (as seen through the eyes of a princess), I think they're successful and will be watched more than once by young girls ages 6-12.
Video:
These episodes were broadcast in 1.33:1 aspect ratio, but stretched to fill out a 16x9 monitor the picture still looks good, with no real distortion. That's because the filmmakers were careful to center the figures so that they don't get too close to the edge, where the distortions are most apt to occur. The colors are bright and fully hued, and for a DVD there's hardly any grain to speak of. It's a nice presentation.
Audio:
The audio is a functional Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, and since it's mostly all dialogue with practically no FX, that's fine. There's actually a surprising amount of ambient sound that's distributed across the front speakers as well. Sometimes, though, the sound feels just a little hollow. That's nit-picking, of course, because the target audience won't notice a thing.
Extras:
There are no bonus features.
Bottom Line:
Make no mistake, this DVD is for young girls ages 6-12, but parents who've been asked to watch a video alongside their youngsters will be grateful for the change of pace. These mini-biographies are certainly tolerable for adults. The strength of "The Royal Diaries" is that they capture a period and they promote girl power, not princess power. There's not much high drama beyond the ambience, but the plots will seem dramatic enough for the target age group, and the period fashions should be enough to counteract the slower pacing.
Based on the book by Carolyn Meyer, this film stars Lisa Jakub ("Mrs. Doubtfire," "Independence Day") as Isabel, a devout Catholic who clearly seems burdened by her royal status and is frequently chided for sneaking off. Whereas Cleopatra had to be invited to go to the marketplace to see for herself how her father was poorly regarded, Isabel would rather spend her time with her friend Catalina (Cara Pifko) away from the castle. The politics here are even more complicated than the first story, and that might get in the way of some viewers' enjoyment. One of her brothers rules Castilla, while another is King of another, and the bad brother is eager to marry her off. "Might I know their names?" she inquires, and is told "England, France, and Portugal." The emphasis here is on Isabel's wish to somehow negotiate the civil war that has broken out between her brothers and to marry on her own terms, with the Archbishop (Arturo Fresolone) her closest advisor. No violence is shown, no battles, just homefront chatting as with the first installment. Everything unsavory is kept off-camera, as when, in the postscript, we're informed that "not everything she did was good" as a queen, and told that she was responsible for the Inquisition that tortured and put-to-death thousands of innocent people as she tried to purify the church. As with the Cleopatra segment, the costumes are gorgeous, and the actors who are meant to be children and teenagers are actually that age. It makes everything seem all the more real. Though Isabel's character arc and this plot arc isn't as long as Cleopatra's, it's still effective as a slice of 15th-century life.
Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England, 1544
In this adaptation of Kathryn Lasky's book, young Elizabeth (Tamara Hope, "Shall We Dance") lives in constant fear in the court of King Henry VIII, her father. That's because she's borne witness to the deaths of five of his six wives, and has vowed that the latest Queen Catherine (Jennifer Wigmore) will not suffer the same fate. But Henry is volatile, and her oldest sister Mary is conniving. As with the other entries in this series, the acting is competent-not astounding, but certainly not clumsy-and Hope as Elizabeth is a likeable youngster. The accents can be a little tough to take, is the only thing, but I doubt that the target audience of young girls will notice that when the characters themselves are as captivating as the costumes they'd love to be trying on. It gets a bit Hardy Boys or Nancy Drewish when Elizabeth tries to keep her stepmom from losing her head, but Hope's performance makes us swallow it, hook line and sinker.
In a black-and-white world, I'd probably have to rate this a 6 out of 10, but because of the concept and because these episodes clearly reach their goal of giving young viewers a taste of what life was like in a different era (as seen through the eyes of a princess), I think they're successful and will be watched more than once by young girls ages 6-12.
Video:
These episodes were broadcast in 1.33:1 aspect ratio, but stretched to fill out a 16x9 monitor the picture still looks good, with no real distortion. That's because the filmmakers were careful to center the figures so that they don't get too close to the edge, where the distortions are most apt to occur. The colors are bright and fully hued, and for a DVD there's hardly any grain to speak of. It's a nice presentation.
Audio:
The audio is a functional Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, and since it's mostly all dialogue with practically no FX, that's fine. There's actually a surprising amount of ambient sound that's distributed across the front speakers as well. Sometimes, though, the sound feels just a little hollow. That's nit-picking, of course, because the target audience won't notice a thing.
Extras:
There are no bonus features.
Bottom Line:
Make no mistake, this DVD is for young girls ages 6-12, but parents who've been asked to watch a video alongside their youngsters will be grateful for the change of pace. These mini-biographies are certainly tolerable for adults. The strength of "The Royal Diaries" is that they capture a period and they promote girl power, not princess power. There's not much high drama beyond the ambience, but the plots will seem dramatic enough for the target age group, and the period fashions should be enough to counteract the slower pacing.
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[release]24342[/release]