If you are on BookTok, then you definitely have seen the book, “Red, White & Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston. Written originally in May of 2019, the book quickly became popular among the young adult community, praised for its beautiful writing, captivating story, and deep characters you love to follow. Having seen people praising the book left and right on TikTok, I decided to read the book in 2020 before I fell in love with it myself. Consequently, you could imagine how excited I was when it was announced that Amazon would be adapting the book into a film, causing me, and many other fans, to become ecstatic. Did they capture the same beautiful story and characters that everyone has fallen in love with? No. Far from it.
My first issue of complaint is the casting. While the actor Nicolas Galitzine was a good choice for the character, Prince Henry, my concern is with the casting of Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset that Perez is taller than Galitzine, making the character of Alex taller than Henry when in the book, Henry is taller than Alex. Instead, I am upset with his acting. Perez took this role, which required professionalism, class, care, humor, and wit to convey the character, and just played the same note of sass that failed to capture the true essence of Alex’s character.
Another issue I have is with the pacing. The book took its time and care in introducing the reader to the characters of Alex and Henry. We got to know them as people – their fears, and their dreams – so we, as the audience, would care to follow them on their journey and adventure. While I understand that a book has more time, the film took apparently no time at all in introducing them and their personalities before going straight into the lovers’ end of the enemies-to-lovers trope of the novel.
I can go on for days and days as to why the movie is superior to the film, but I kept my criticisms quick and brief to spare you the time reading pages and pages of my work. While I prefer the book to the film, this does not mean that the film is all bad. It just fails to live up to the hype and legacy that the novel first set by Casey McQuiston. And honestly, could we really fault the film? Well, yes, but the film did have some big shoes to fill. When it comes to books being adapted, 9 times out of 10, the book is better, and this proves true for “Red, White & Royal Blue.” Hey, that rhymed!
