A Christmas Dance Reunion

WARNING: I haven't watched the full movie yet!

I don't hate the movie. I liked the dancing in it, but the movie just seemed like your typical feel-good Christmas movie, which isn't a bad thing. One of my problems is how nice they make the characters. I'm only saying this because previously these two (Monique Coleman and Corbin Bleu) played the couple Taylor and Chad. The contrast is that Taylor and Chad had sass. Taylor always had snarky remarks and Chad always had witty ones. Nonetheless, they were good friends.

It was just kind of hard seeing the same actors play characters who were too nice and didn't seem to have a lot of personality or flaws. That's some of the things I would look for in a character. That's one of the reasons why I loved High School Musical so much. The characters had fun and distinctive personalities. I feel like Hallmark and Lifetime could do a bit more of that in their movies. I don't know why that would hurt, even though they like to keep their plots plain.

Like every other romantic Christmas movie it was pretty cheesy BUT very nice story line and not to talk about the chemistry between Bleu and Coleman! It totally made the entire movie! Also very nice and professional dancing! A nice touch to a otherwise dull Christmas movie!

This movie isn't about the story. The story is a vehicle for some great dancing both individual and group. Dance performances are sprinkled throughout the movie with a great finale at the end.

The story is pretty much the same old stuff. Save the inn. Put on a show. Old flames reunite. There isn't a lot of highs or lows, surprises or tension. The romance is OK. Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman do have good chemistry. And they dance together.

Maybe I just have Christmas movie fatigue, but this really didn't hold my attention. I couldn't click with the characters but enjoyed the Christmas medley soundtrack.

I've seen one very similar to this before, but this isn't a bad version of the story.

It has a bit of 'White Christmas' (1954) about it, but it is also a bit too cutesy and twee.

Mr Bleu definitely comes across better than Ms Coleman does and I'm not sure that they are well met as a couple.

I also find it hard to believe that he taught a load of people to move like that in just a few days, it's all a tad too professional. What I could appreciate was the LGBTQ+ inclusion, which was nice and not made a fuss of.

The dancing was very good actually. Perhaps they should have made it in to a musical instead. With the huge revival of musical films it could have been quite successful and they had the right cast with Corbin and Monique both previously featuring in all three of the 'High School Musical' films.

It would be nice to see a version of this type of film, where they genuinely have time to save the property and don't just rush around 3 days before Christmas, it would certainly make it a bit more realistic, but overall it is enjoyable. I would love to see them really ramp up the joy and give these films a bit more thought however. Send out 5 good ones each year instead of churning out 30 so-so rehashes of what we saw the year before. Pay for some new writers and directors and give them a proper budget to achieve something that is a must see each Christmas.

5.5ish?/10.