A Very Charming Christmas Town

I'm a lover of bad horror and Science fiction, but my guilty pleasure is romantic comedies and the like. This movie is the perfect example, perfect people in a perfect town with a completely predictable plot. Makes you feel good inside. Enjoy.

Jon Prescott (Not the politician obvs) is adorable as the lead male, but the lead female is vile and obnoxious right from the start and she really doesn't improve enough to deserve anyones affection.

This is a not all that successful attempt at showing Danish Christmas culture as an alternative to the usual American traditions of cookies and lighting the tree that we are all so over now.

I really like the idea of exploring these other ways of life and thought that it was particularly well done in 'Christmas In Rome' (2019), but I'm not sure that this one is well made enough in general or with another thought put in to the explanation of the traditions.

Also the dad was very odd and I kept expecting him to turn out to be the real St Nicholas or something.

It was a very lame ending and so obvious what was going to happen.

If Jon hadn't been so appealing I would have turned it off and left it on my list as an unwatchable film, but him and the few Dutch elements really saved it enough to keep me watching.

5.5ish/10?

People keep saying that this is a Hallmark movie- it's not. Lifetime put this one on. This is the epitome of why viewers prefer Hallmark movies much more than Lifetime ones at Christmas. The story is standard holiday fare, but a Hallmark production would have cast far better actors and made sure that the sets were beautiful.

The lead actress is appallingly untalented and save for Sully from Dr Quinn, the others are not much better.

They are stilted and awkward, clearly "acting" - whereas the Hallmark actors make you believe that they actually are their characters. The lead actress might be almost illiterate- her mangling of "windmills" and use of "expeshally" reveals a lack of education on her part, and gross ineptitude on the part of the director and any other staff responsible for dialogue. The dialogue sounds like the Netflix programs dubbed in English- like thevperson is reading from a page and is bored senseless.

The lead actor has less personality and animation than a malfunctionig Disney attraction. This diminishes the appeal of the historic tidbits about the lovely twon- the only thing positive in this train wreck.

Hallmark would have done a far superior production that would showcase Solvang and send droves of Christmas mad tourists to its streets. The town should disavow association with this production.

Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime and Hallmark. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. And 'Christmas in Solvang' did have the sort of premise where the execution could have gone either way.

Lifetime's 2020 Christmas film batch, like all their previous years, was pretty hit and miss which was not unexpected. 'Christmas in Solvang' is somewhere in the middle. If one was to judge it from its early portions, it could have easily passed for being one of the worst if it didn't get better. Luckily 'Christmas in Solvang' did get better once Aubrey became more comfortable and progressed, providing that one is willing to stick with it. Was really umming and erring at first whether to but don't regret my decision to stick with it.

As can be figured out, to me 'Christmas in Solvang' started off not just badly but terribly. Really disliked Aubrey as a character to begin with and that her negative characteristics were overwritten to breaking point. Which made her truly unlikeable with hardly anything redeeming about her. The dialogue is pretty bad early on, sounding very awkward and difficult to take at face value.

Even when things improve, the predictability factor is very high with very little fresh done with familiar tropes. Kelly Jackle is a little over the top at times, though she does have times where she is amusing.

However, as said, 'Christmas in Solvang' does get better. Most of the acting is serviceable at least, though Jackle could have done with more subtlety and Natalie Hall also overdoes it at first and even for the character seemed ill at ease. When Aubrey as a character loosens up, Hall becomes more relaxed and as a result more engaging and with a lot more charm. Jon Prescott is a very likeable male lead and Jo Marie Payton is a joy in the film's best performance. The characters may lack depth but do become easier to like when they grow. Hall and Prescott's chemistry is a bit on and off, it is very genuine and sweet later but was very disconnected and awkward to begin with.

Furthermore, 'Christmas in Solvang' is visually appealing despite the obviously artificial snow. Lovely scenery especially. The music is not as intrusive as it tends to be with Lifetime. The script does flow a lot better later and doesn't get over cheesy or too schmaltzy. The story is predictable but also has a good deal of charm and light-heartedness, leaving me with a warm glow. The ending is not as easily prematurely telegraphed as it tends to be.

In summary, the early portions are a turn off but improves drastically. Not great but not dreadful on the whole either. 6/10.

So, this is now my 4th Lifetime Christmas movie of the 2020 season, and it's second from the top. When I saw that Natalie Hall was one of the leads in the film, I was looking forward to seeing this one. I had seen her recently in a couple of cute (Hallmark) films: You're Bacon Me Crazy and Sincerely, Yours, Truly. Though this film was not as strong as those two, it was still entertaining. Natalie and Jon Prescott's performance were pretty good. Their chemistry was good at times, and other times, it was a bit off, but overall, not bad. The story is cute and enjoyable with some decent dialogue, though a bit 'cheesy' at times, as one would expect in a Lifetime romance movie. The supporting cast was great; I enjoyed Jo Marie Payton's performance as Estelle. The props, scenery and sets were well done, though the fake snow was quite obviously fake at times on the screen. The movie too instilled a bit of Christmas spirit and cheer, which is nice. Fans of Hallmark and Lifetime will no doubt enjoy this new edition to Lifetime's original Christmas movies.