The Young Victoria (2009)

This is a good film. That being said, it isn't exactly historically accurate.
With the new series airing on PBS, I decided to watch this film because I enjoyed it far more when it was released seven years ago than this new show. But both say different things.
Emily Blunt (as Victoria) is great. She is a brilliant actress long overdue for an Oscar nomination, but surprisingly, Jenna Coleman is better in the show as Victoria, capturing her youth better. Sure, they have the same spunk and spirit and hate Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong) with equal passion, but sorry Blunt, Coleman's better. That literally pains me to say.
Now, both miscast Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany). When Victoria takes the throne, just after her eighteenth birthday (her uncle [Jim Broadbent] fortunately lived past her eighteenth birthday just as he always dreamed and prayed and hoped to avoid a regency), Lord M would have been about fifty-eight years old and slightly chubby, not attractive as he is in both the film and series.
The film focuses more on the romance between Albert (Rupert Friend, who needs more roles) than the show (so far, there have only been three episodes) which is welcome. Certainly it must be awkward for a guy in the late 1830s to have to be proposed to as Victoria needs to do that herself. And she is livid when he tries to find something to do to be useful and help her transition to having a new prime minister.
While she claims to be a strong person, she is easily influenced by her prime minister Lord M but at least she stands up to the controlling and cunning Sir John. But it comes at a price, nearly ruining the relationship with her mother (Miranda Richardson) and Albert doesn't like her long standing and dedicated governess (Jeanette Hain) so she is sent away.
The film ends with Victoria finally treating Albert as her equal, placing his desk along side her own and mending the fences with her mother after the birth of her first child.
Despite looking brilliant, the film has its flaws, namely being historically inaccurate, but the performances are solid and the script isn't bad, though Julian Fellows did write it, so it does scan a period of several years flirting over some major issues in the the history during that time period, which the series doesn't. However, this film shows Victoria as being rather unpopular until she married Albert, showing that she couldn't rule without a man, I just wonder what would have happened if she never married or chose differently, what would have become? Grade: B+