Tuesday, July 31, 2012

King Ralph

Theme of the day for Tuesday, July 31st: Americans to Brits.  I must admit that King Ralph is a guilty pleasure of mine.  I adore his wacky American ways including his "musical stylings".  My husband is not a fan of the movie. I think it is such a FUN movie.  I enjoyed seeing John Goodman as a romantic lead. His girlfriend helps him learn British facts like the royal line. 

What a Girl Wants is a remake of The Reluctant Debutante.  When I first watched What a Girl Wants I had not seen The Reluctant Debutante since I was young and did not make the connection between the two movies.  But once I knew it was pretty obvious.  There are some glaring differences apparently made to modernize the story.  Similarities include American teenage girl visiting British father and being "presented" to society.  A difference is father being married to second wife in older version and in the newer version just engaged with woman who has her own teenage daughter.

A secondary theme of all three movies is American music overwhelming the Brits.  There is a great scene in What a Girl Wants which is very reminiscent of King Ralph.  The scene includes loud music causing a lot of trouble!  It was really great that John Goodman did his own singing in King Ralph. Ralph James was a lounge singer in Las Vegas before they tracked him down.  In The Reluctant Debutante the daughter is attracted to a musician in the band playing at the debutante balls which is similar in the remake.

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