Kate & Leopold

Will This One Bring Chivalry Back or Leave it in the Dark Ages?

Kate (Meg Ryan) lives in New York City below her ex-boyfriends apartment. One of the reasons they broke up was Stuart’s (Liev Schreiber) pursuit of a time gap where he could travel back in history; which, apparently, is by the Brooklyn Bridge. Stuart returns home from a trip to the 19th century with more than just pictures; he also has Leopold, the Duke of Albany (Hugh Jackman). Well, with Kate living downstairs she was bound to find out about this foreign visitor. Let’s just say boy meets girl and I don’t have to explain the rest, watch and see…..

The discussion on time travel and history is fascinating….wait who am I kidding the best part of the movie is being captivated by the dashingly charismatic Hugh Jackman (he gets my vote for best actor for Les Mis!). I found the lack of chemistry between Kate and Leopold disappointing however. It was easy to see why Kate would fall for Leopold but the character of Kate wasn’t so captivating (or well acted) and I found myself wondering how Leopold fell for her. Ryan wasn’t her usual enchanting self like in other movies and I found her scraggly hair and big lips a distraction. There are some flaws, but even with flaws Jackman is so fantastic as the perfect leading man in what could have been a forgettable movie without him. I’m thinking we should bring back some of the 19th century charm (men, pay close attention to Leopold while watching).

Motherly Advice: Big kudos to Kate & Leopold for being pretty easy to clean up with my filters at medium. Very little violence and what there was I was not disturbed by. You can’t escape a little kissing and some cuddling which in one scene occurs in bed but very tame. Drinking is consumed socially throughout the film. Pretty safe I think for ages 12 and up.

Hannah – Clearplay Rom-Com Aficionado!

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language; 118 min; Directed by James Mangold