If I Only Had Christmas

I enjoyed the Wizard of Oz twist; there are only so many incognito princes roaming NYC (although, Hallmark has me convinced there's one on every street corner), so I'm delighted when a new angle is given to boy meets girl.

The cast was engaging, even the minor supporting roles, and the family interactions were warm and believable. The storyline was a bit muddled, and Darcy's reaction to William's reveal was odd. I realize there has to be conflict in a Hallmark movie, but I wish the writers would dig a little deeper than the standard "overheard something incorrectly," "saw something out of context," or "lied to me" weary tropes.

One of the biggest misses was not showcasing Kansas City at Christmas. For years, my family and I have made the trek to KC to see the beautiful Plaza, Crown Center, and other holiday displays. The Plaza is magical at Christmas, and I'd hoped to see it featured on screen. Nevertheless, the movie was a pleasurable one I'm sure I'll rewatch in order to catch all the Wizard of Oz references I missed the first time.

I'll admit several of the CCB movies have grated my last nerve, I swear some years they churn them out like butter! But this one was different, I actually liked it. Once I realized there were continuous references to the Wizard of Oz, it was a game to ferret them out. I would actually watch it again, because I think I missed some of the nuggets in the beginning of the film! Cute, funny. A Christmas movie experience like Where's Waldo trying to find all the Ozian Threads!

There sure are a lot of mean reviews for this movie. Sounds like some are trying to knock the ubiquitous Candace off of her Hallmark throne. I am not a huge Candace fan, but she's harmless and she has never looked lovelier than in this tribute to The Wizard of Oz. I thought it was very cleverly done with the names, the characters, and the situations. There wasn't much of a plot, but at least it wasn't a stale rehash of the same old Hallmark set-pieces. I watched it to the end with not fast-forwarding, and that's worth at least a 6 or a 7. I'm not sure why she got so mad at "Glen Goodman" (Glenda the Good witch,Ha Ha) at the end, but that's just standard procedure to set up the happy ending.

I never thought I would say this about a Hallmark Christmas movie, but...this one just wasn't Christmas-y enough!! It definitely felt like the movie was written and then the Hallmark execs went back and added in the Christmas elements at the last minute. The plot really could have worked any time of year.

In addition to that, I just didn't find the movie that interesting and had trouble following who each character was working for (the foundation? the charity? the PR firm?) and what his or her position there was. Also, I figured out the "twist" in the first 5 minutes. I'm usually a fan of Candace Cameron's Christmas movies, so this one was a disappointment for me.

6/10 - Wizard-of-Oz-tinged Christmas flick is better than you might expect