Distractions dilute ‘Princess and I’s’ good first impression

BERNARDO AND GIL. Made to get on each other’s nerves for the requisite “kilig” factor.

When “Princess and I” started telecasting last month, it made a good first impression with its exotic vistas (it’s shot in Bhutan) and “modern fairy tale” about a half-Filipino Himalayan princess who visits the land of her birth and, quite without intending to, discovers her royal roots there. It’s all escapist fluff, of course, but the show’s captivating premise made us want to keep viewing it.

These days, however, we watch the series more out of a sense of duty, as its inconsistencies and distractions intrude and obtrude into our enjoyment. Now that the “secret princess” is a teen being played by Kathryn Bernardo, her performance has become such a caution.

Rules

She’s perfectly cast in her bright, lively ingenue role, but she’s made to work too hard at being peppy and chirpy, and comes off as irritating and even ornery.

Imagine, she’s a visitor in the Himalayan kingdom, and yet she breaks many of its rules and caveats, drives her VIP guide (Enrique Gil) to distraction, and isn’t thrown out as a turista non grata?

The production’s excuse for this is that the king’s late wife was a Filipina, so he warms up to Kathryn’s character—but there are limits!

Yes, we know that Kathryn and Enrique are being made to get on each other’s nerves for the requisite “kilig” factor that will delight the show’s teen and tween viewers. But, the irritation level achieved is simply too high for it to be entertaining.

Other distractions include Enrique’s portrayal of the young prince assigned by the king to show Kathryn around. As in “Budoy,” Enrique is too consistently dour and surly here. Does he plan to make this his signature performing shtick? If so, he’s best advised this early that it’s a really bad and unproductive direction to go.

On the brighter side, Enrique should be complimented for coming up with a believable characterization of the Himalayan royal he’s playing in “Princess and I.” He bothers to acquire an interesting “foreign” accent, and his demeanor and physicality are similarly different from his usual projection.

Revelation

On the other hand, the series should be faulted for making poor use of some of the good actors it has, like Arthur Acuña and Karen Timbol. Arthur was a revelation in the film, “Niño,” and also did well in “The Kitchen Musical,” but he’s wasted here in the glumly standard role of one of the king’s advisers.

As for Karen, she’s proven in past TV-film outings that she can do much better than the predictably nasty adoptive-mother portrayal she essays here. These two fine actors should be given more challenging and creative things to do—otherwise, why cast them at all?

Finally, Gretchen Barretto makes a truly lovely and striking kontrabida and is completely believable as a scheming and ambitious power behind the throne—but, she wears her villainous heart too prominently on her sleeve, and semaphores her nasty intentions too vividly for them to remain covert, as they should. Much more subtlety, please?