Christmas at Pemberley Manor: Movie Review
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Christmas at Pemberley Manor
Runtime- 1h 24m
Air date- October 27th, 2018
Director- Colin Theys
Writers- Rick Garman and Jane Austen
Filming locations- Essex, Connecticut, USA
Starring: Jessica Lowndes as Elizabeth Bennet, and Michael Rady as William Darcy
Where to watch- Stream on Peacock, or rent/buy on Prime Video
Summary
The story starts with Elizabeth Bennet, a planner in New York trying to make her way up the ladder at Caroline Bingley’s company. Her mission is to prove herself to Caroline, to take on a holiday festival in a small town. The Mayor and long-time friend, George is desperate to make a good impression on his town and knows Elizabeth is the only one up for the challenge. Upon first arriving, Elizabeth bumps into a frazzled Travis. When questioning the jumpy man, she concludes that his boss, Mr. Darcy, is the harsh type and decides to take it upon herself to confront him. Later on, George and Elizabeth find out that the location where the festival was scheduled to be held is no longer able to cater to the public.
This leads them to stumble upon Pemberley Manor, owned by Mr. Darcy, and try to convince him to let them use the property for the town holiday festival. Darcy declines due to his intentions of selling the manor, but Elizabeth’s persistent and crafty thinking finds a way to be able to use the manor that Mr. Darcy would not be able to refuse. The two are now stuck together to get this holiday festival off to a success…
“First Impressions”
Considering this is the third (and last) Hallmark holiday movie I’ve seen, I had gotten into the habit of using the initial watch to find as many characters as I could and relate it to Jane Austen’s novel. I do find it fun and sometimes puzzling. A few characters in this movie seem to be mash-ups of multiple characters and there was one important character, George, where I could not figure out if he represented an original Jane Austen character or just a new character for the movie. A few days later when I was listening to a Pride & Prejudice audiobook where I realized that it was both. It made for an interesting diagram of the relations to the characters.
The Characters
George is based on Mr. Collins? (not really), and also a bit of George Wickham. I initially thought of him as more of a Wickham character due to that he had good relations with Mr. Darcy, and had one date with Elizabeth. Then at the same time, Elizabeth has no romantic interest in George and constantly maintains that they are only friends. George is not a villainous character in this movie at all. His right-hand assistant, Jane Lucas, made me suggest he had a bit of Collin in the intention of character for the.
Jane Lucas a mix of Jane Bennet and Charlotte Lucas. She is an assistant to George but has a romantic interest in Travis. Travis, who seems to embody Mr. Bingley by being sweet and Mr. Darcy’s assistant. Travis did have a bumbling personality. Which to me is a little bit more of a Collins trait than a Bingley trait.
William Darcy or Mr. Darcy is obvious as Thee Mr. Darcy.
Elizabeth Bennet as… Elizabeth Bennet.
Caroline Bingley as Caroline Bingley, who one would assume to be the villain type in this movie.
It was all very interesting how these characters played out. For the most part, I thought it worked very well.
(Credit: Hallmark Channel)
Theme
Out of all three-holiday movies, this movie’s main characters, Darcy and Elizabeth embodied Jane Austen’s characters the best. Mr. Darcy is the highlight of it all. Micheal Rady gave the character a strong reserved facade and a charming genuine dynamic intimate side. Darcy was a solid dynamic character. Elizabeth at first started as a bold and strong character, stood up for others, and did whatever it took to get the job done. However, it seemed that when it came to Caroline Bingley she almost became helpless and muted herself, which I did not think was consistent or the best representation of an Elizabeth Bennet character.
Let’s get back on track…
I did see prejudice and I did see pride from the two main characters. The only fault that I have is the moments with Caroline Bingley, where Elizabeth justifies stepping aside for her to take over. It did feel as though it was intentional to move the plot. Wished it didn’t have to compromise the overall main character.
Final Thoughts
I do have to say, that Christmas at Pemberley Manor ended up being my favorite modern Christmas Hallmark movie out of all three movies. The characters were enjoyable. It was a good Christmas plot. I would watch it again during the winter holiday season, and it would be one of my first picks.
See Also:
Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe Movie Review
Sense, Sensibility, and Snowmen Movie Review
