Chinese
Drama
My
Little Princess (2016)
Grade:
C
16 Episodes, 40 minutes each
Platform:
Amazon Prime
Self-proclaimed
“princess” Lin Xing Chen seems like she has everything a girl
could want, but her life is not quite her own: Xing Chen's stepmother is
forcing her to become engaged to a wealthy and powerful businessman's
only heir, in order to help save her deceased father's faltering
business. She is also cursed: The man she loves will not return her
affections. Still, Xing Chen knows she must at least try. The
soon-to-be couples' first meeting is thrown off when she mistakenly
flirts with the poor but talented Jiang Nian Yu, instead of the proud and rash Zheng Chu
Yao. Brushing off the mishap as only a princess can do, Xing Chen
accepts the challenge to win her prince's heart and starts attending
his school. What happens when the seemingly innocent Yu Yang Yang
starts to interfere with Xing Chen's plans? Will Xing Chen be able to
keep her secret about her birth? And what happens when she starts to
develop feelings for someone other than her betrothed?
*This
entire drama feels like an imitation of a Kdrama, without quite achieving the same charm. Chinese dramas
always throw me off with the way they dub over their own actors –
the vocals don't match the mouth movements or the expected ambient
noises – and it is very hard to achieve that “suspension of
disbelief” required to fully engage with a story as a result. A lot
of the seemingly “romantic” or “funny” parts in the script
felt forced as well, as if someone was trying very hard to copy a
Kdrama but couldn't quite pull off the sincerity of one. Plus a
couple of the plot and character developments didn't quite make
sense, from not being fleshed out enough. The actors didn't seem bad
themselves, and the ending was one of those more “realistic but
still happy” endings, but overall, it just didn't do it for me.
Won't watch again.*
