My advice to anyone who rents this DVD is to ignore the movie and go directly to the Special Features section and select The Lawnmower Race of The Prince & Me.  It's priceless!  I suspect that you have to live in someplace like Wisconsin to know that there is an organization called The Lawnmower Racing Association of America.  There are folks in Middle America who take all the accessories off their sit-down lawnmowers, remove the speed governors, don helmets and race around a dirt track course at 50 mph in competition with their neighbors.  It's a YEE-HAW!

            The next offering in the Special Features is called The Look of The Prince & Me.  The director chose Prague for many scenes for two reasons: beautiful architecture and cheaper extras.  The architecture is fantastic, so if you rented this DVD anyway, you should check out some of the filming venue.

            As for the film itself … what can I say?  It was less than Disney quality but still targeted a 13-year-old audience.  The first half of the story was pretty bad and the second half could have been interesting, but it didn't quite achieve success.  The issue of conflict between career and marriage for a bright young woman has merit.  It deserved a better story line, one without a Danish prince, although it was the Danish royalty gimmick that enabled the director to give us some great travelogue shots of palaces.  Also, the prince's traditional education allowed for a tiny bit of Shakespearean influence in the story.

            Julia Stiles played Paige Morgan, the bright-eyed pre-med student smitten by the prince.  I suspect this was her first lead role and she didn't do badly.  I liked her support character Nicky, in The Bourne Supremacy (2004).  Luke Mably played the prince.  I'm sure this was his first time around the block.  I was glad they both had a chance to practice.  Too bad I had to watch it.

            Reviewed February 5, 2005

            MPAA: Rated PG for some sex-related material and language.