Noël avec un prince

Like many Hallmark romances, this one is about a man and woman who come from different circumstances. They could hardly be further apart than a New York bakery worker and a British prince being groomed for succession.

Julian Morris' portrayal of Prince Colin is the best part of the film. He feels genuinely regal yet very likable. One could understand that any woman might fall for his rugged good looks, his affable personality, and his musical talents. His attraction to DeeDee (Megan Park) is a little harder to explain. We are to believe that the prince has little access to women of quality, perhaps due to his parents' well-meaning control of his life. Fortunately, he is attended by Whitbey (acted by Tony Nappo, who makes the most of his part), who is charged with overseeing the prince's activities, but cuts him some slack.

The acting is good, but the story---after some energy in the first part---bogs down in the mechanics of their obstacles.

6/10 - the royal Christmas movies are always a bit of extra fun when it comes to holiday TV movies and while this does not do anything to reinvent the wheel, it is still quite enjoyable.

This movie is about what you'd expect for a "royal" movie where the prince tries to hide his identity. In this case, he is a supremely talented piano player who is shamed into subbing as the pianist for a children's choir performance and rehearsals after he smashes pastry samples DeeDee is carrying. Somehow, there are several days of the typical Christmas activities tied into it for the kids. Meanwhile, his mom and dad, the King and Queen, are pushing him to marry a Duchess. If you sit down and write a plot outline for the rest of the movie before watching it you are bound to be almost perfectly correct.

At one point, DeeDee reveals she was once in the armed services. This could have been an interesting subplot, but it barely comes up again.

The story is thin and recycled. The relationship is OK, but nothing outstanding. There's a small bit about their separate ornaments which again could have been expanded more.

This would probably be a decent movie if you had never seen a Christmas romance before, at least not a "royal" one.

Positives: I've always enjoyed Julian Morris and he is very nice to look at, too! Megan Park did well as the leading lady, and I thought she and the actors playing her family had nice chemistry together.

The story dragged a bit, but the scenes with the kids were all very sweet. Morris and Park were a nice team with her as the director and him as the pianist!

NOW for my pet peeve - for the love of God, can someone PLEASE teach actors how to conduct properly?! I can teach someone to conduct a simple 3 or 4 pattern in a matter of minutes. It is incredibly frustrating to see such laughable conducting for a supposed trained musician, and this movie is not Hallmark's first offense!

I would have given a higher rating if they had bothered to find an actor to play the king, who was able to pronounce the name of his country. I think that he only said it correctly twice, almost like by accident. Annoying!

I liked the leads and they had good chemistry. Decent acting. The prince was very handsome and sweet, had an honesty about him. The girl was not over the top like many of the female leads in these types of films. Had one moment of exaggeration with the "I will go to clean up like a normal person" line (paraphrasing). She got over that pretty quickly, and was acceptable throughout.