A Royal Christmas on Ice

After last week bragging on GAF for stepping up their game this year, we come to this.

Weak dialogue, weak acting, and a contrived and unconvincing story line had us deciding to abandon this film sometime during the Christmas party scene.

Seriously, how long can you milk the angst from a dropped bakery cake? According to these writers, for a VERY long time. There was a bit of self-awareness when the female lead's friend asked her why she was so hostile to the guy (who by the way, SHE bumped into in the action, not the other way around as they continually stated in dialogue) when what happened was an accident and he went well out of his way to make it right.

Exactly.

Dialogue with the ubiquitous 'old boyfriend' was weak and unconvincing. Dialogue back with the male lead's royal family was awkward and glacial in pace.

We could finally take no more, despite the fact we're ice skating fans and were drawn by the premise.

The story is a spin on the royalty, post-injury ice skater, and failing business tropes, but it works. The acting, with the exception of the small role of Stephen Baldwin and the promising actor in the lead male role, is inexcusably terrible. Everyone either over or under acted. I could hardly get through it, and my expectations for these movies is pretty low.

It also seemed incomplete, because the rest of the royal family was set up to be revisited, but wasn't. That part of the story was just dropped. They rushed to the unrealistic and unbelievable ending.

Not to be picky, but they could have spent an extra 15 minutes to teach them to ice a cupcake. That was ridiculous.

Don't waste your time.

Unfortunately, not a great script; actually pretty horrible or it's that the casting was that bad. Maybe with better directing it might have been an okay movie. Also very little chemistry between actors. Most of the scenes felt forced like the actors were bored with the script. I was unfamiliar with Jonathan Stoddard (Prince John) but felt he was the only redeeming quality about the movie and probably why I kept going back to finish it. For the most part, he seems believable in most of his scenes. Peter Johnson (Al the baker & Santa) didn't have many scenes but I also thought he was believable.

First, the presence in cast of William Baldwin was the attraction to see this film who uses, again , old image of the prince , incognito, in Unied States, for an ambitious project , becoming, again, off course, so predictable, victim of Cupidon.

But the story just works, in decent and, for few scenes, just beautiful manner and this fact real matters.

A good detail - the good humor, skating and friendship and the gentle shadows of depression and new chance as gift.

Not great, not memorable but that pleasant Hallmark far to be boring or silly.

In fact, all being so predictable , it becomes just the old story repeated for new encounter . And it sounds not so bad, honestely.

This was probably the worst Christmas movie I've ever seen. I would find myself being embarrassed for the cast.

Abigail was a pretty girl but strange. Very negative and snarly. Obviously, her glass was halfway empty.

The scene when she is skating and just holding her arm out with a slow turn and John clapping for her was pretty bad.

John was nice looking but when he would smile his smile at her with the look in his eyes, it was freaky. In real life I would think he was a stalker and was making evil plans. Her ex boyfriend was just thrown in a couple of times, for what reason I have no idea.

In fact, the entire movie was like that, not really ever running smoothly. Throwing in a hamburger- peppermint casserole didn't help at all.

If this is an example of new Christmas movies, it's not anything to look forward to.

God bless it, I think sometimes it could be the right move to not accept the part if offered.