In the midst of the holiday season, Netflix has been overwhelming its viewers with one after another of their original Christmas movies, many of them spinoffs of classics. “The Knight before Christmas” is one of these movies that reminds people Christmas is nearing and aims to convince viewers young and old that anything is possible. Although the goal of the movie was to give viewers hope that fairytale endings exist in real life, actors Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Whitehouse did not convince me. 

The movie flashes back and forth from medieval time, 1334, to modern day, 2019. Josh Whitehouse plays Sir Cole, a soon-to-be Knight from Norwich, England, who time travels into the future. The time travel occurs when an old lady in the woods told him he needed to achieve a goal before midnight of Christmas Eve to become a Knight. It’s not until the end of the movie that Sir Cole realizes in order to become a Knight, he must find love. Sir Cole falls in love with Brooke, played by Vanessa Hudgens, who’s a science teacher that is convinced living happily ever after doesn’t exist.

 Having Sir Cole time travel to modern-day Ohio where Brooke lives was funny at times because Sir Cole naturally had a tough time adjusting. He was completely unaware of obvious social norms, such as how to speak to people, dress, drive a car and even talk to an Alexa device. There were definitely some humorous attempts made in the movie, but I did not enjoy how unrealistic the meeting of Sir Cole and Brooke was, and more specifically, how quickly their relationship evolved. 

Brooke and Sir Cole first met when Brooke spilled her hot cocoa all over him, which I thought was unoriginal, as it is a common way movies make their main characters meet. They didn’t really talk much in the scene, but later Brooke hits him with her car, and that is when she decides to take care of him and get to know him better. I find it really bizarre that Brooke just willingly took care of Sir Cole, a stranger to her at the time, and let him live in her guest house. Although this may have been an attempt at displaying hospitality during the holiday season, I find it unusual. I also think that the timeline of the movie was abrupt due to the fact that Sir Cole and Brooke’s relationship evolved instantaneously. One minute Brooke was weirded out by Sir Cole and the next they were snuggled up on the couch together. 

As Brooke gets to know Sir Cole while living with him, he begins to convince her that he truly is from 1334 and has come to 2019 to fulfill a quest so he can become a Knight. Although doubtful at first, Brooke realizes that just because you can’t explain something logically doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Though the message of this movie is encouraging and optimistic, there was no background or explanation on why Sir Cole had time traveled to the year 2019 and why he was destined to fall in love with Brooke so he could become a Knight. I guess this could’ve had to do with the theme of finding your soulmate, but the whole idea was too unstructured and illogical for me to enjoy the movie.

Overall, I liked how carefree and lighthearted this movie was, and it definitely put me into the holiday spirit. But I think it’s best to watch this movie knowing that it’s going to be cheesy and simplistic, so don’t overanalyze how unrealistic it is.