Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Rameshwar IN Reviewed June 2010Though this movie does not enlighten you more than a single glance at wikipedia, it does charm you with the talented Emily Blunt. Though she is not pinup poster beautiful, she grows on you with every movie through her confidence and impeccable voice diction. As the name of the movie suggests, it is the story of Queen Victoria just before her coronation to a few years into her marriage with Prince Albert. The love story is mature and educative of the period's tradition in proposal and approach. What does not augur well in this storyline than most of the other British Royal movies is that, it is a very personal story of Queen Victoria and is told in a way that they knew her. So that thought in mind makes you feel this entire thing is too fabricated. It features apt support performances and production does not leave anything out to show the richness of it's dynasty. If you like Emily Blunt, you should give this a go as you see more of her personality than the Queen Victoria.

Robert J. Maxwell Emily Blunt is Victoria who, when her uncle dies, succeeds to the throne. Everyone figures her to be a passive leader. After all, she's just a kid, has no experience, and is a woman to boot.Various august personages are vying for influence over her. Now, if this were an ill-considered movie, we'd have a robust feminist figure dressing down the Old Boy network and taking charge in no uncertain way.But this is a a more savvy story than that. She's no will o' the wisp when it comes to decision making and even temper. She can throw a childish fit. But she needs a man, just as men of that stature need a wife, and she finds him in one of her less aggressive suitors, Prince Albert of Saxony, Coberg, and Ruritania. And, no, we don't get to see Prince Albert go to the can.It's different from what you'd expect and its informative. (I, for one, never knew that Albert was shot in an assassination attempt.) Ordinarily, This kind of biopic takes us through to the inevitable end. As Ernest Hemingway once observed, every love story is a tragedy because at the end one of the lovers dies.NOT HERE. We don't even follow Victoria and Albert into old age, just the first couple of years of their marriage. The last shot is of the two of them in bed, the smiling queen gently hugging the heroic Prince Consort or whatever he was. Their futures and their ends are given in a printed epilogue.I liked it. Okay, so it ends happily instead of tragically, but these days, who needs more tragedy in his life? The location film is superlative. It will make you rufous with envy. It will coagulate your eyeballs. The ladies costumes are suitably muted but the men in uniform wear outrageous colors. Out of uniform they wear black suits with stylishly skinny shoulders. Most of the interiors have so many paintings they resemble the Louvre except for the dining rooms. They're all framed, tinged, and imbued with gilt and appointed with Louis XIV furniture and resemble Donald Trump's suite at Trump Towers.Emily Blunt is a professional and convincing actress -- and in fact all the performances are at least adequate. She's also quietly pretty. It's not high drama, to be sure, but, again, I don't think I could take much more high drama without stroking out. It's a velvety narrative of romance and the exercise of power. You'll probably not be bored.

brchthethird One of the pitfalls that a lot of biopics fall into is that they try to do too much, e.g., telling someone's entire life story as opposed to a part of it. Thankfully, THE YOUNG VICTORIA avoids this mistake by choosing to focus on the early years of Queen Victoria's reign. The source of dramatic conflict is how, as a young monarch, she was pulled this way and that by advisors and politicians who were all vying for control and influence. Meanwhile, she finds a friend (and eventually, lover) in Prince Albert. One thing the film does really well is show the difficulty inherent in being a leader, especially when one is young and viewed as inexperienced. Emily Blunt pulls off the role admirably and shows the chops she would bring to later performances such as EDGE OF TOMORROW, although her character here is a little more vulnerable. I thought she showed both sides quite well. Rupert Friend also did a great job as Prince Albert, who provided much needed solace and counterpoint to Victoria. Mark Strong also did well as the slimy John Conroy, who pressured Victoria to establish a regency with her mother, the Duchess of Kent. Also worth noting is the excellent production design and costumes which faithfully (I assume) and beautifully reproduce Victorian England. There is also an incredible score and soundtrack with (mostly) period classical music. Put together, this creates a rather handsome period costume drama and romance that should appeal to a large swath of the movie-going public.

lovely_moviefan I am not sure why I love this film and have, without thinking, seen it several times. Maybe it is because of Blunt's moving and darn right brilliant performance as a naive girl turned passionate, confident, and loving queen who chooses to find love in her own time, and finds a great man to share her life with. Or maybe it is Friend's handsome and yet vulnerable Prince Albert, who's charming persona is something any woman would fall for lol Each supporting actor was very well laced and acted. I love Paul Bettany, and Melbourne's calculating acting had me guessing for a minute about where his allegiance lied. Strong's performance in this film is great; he keeps getting better and better! While I love Miranda Richardson in this, I had mixed feelings about her character....or maybe we were supposed to feel apathetic towards her yet pity when her daughter resents her for not comforting her during Conroy's rant. The visuals as amazing, the performances superb, and it's easy to see how much England (from what I saw in London in my short time there) appreciated & admired the Queen.