I'm not much of a fan of the "Royal" Christmas movies. I do love superheroes.
Lindsay is a true superhero. She doesn't fly like Supergirl. She can't deflect bullets like Wonder Woman. She doesn't have superstrength. But in the best traditions of those superheroes, Lindsay wants to change the world and her heart is almost big enough to do it.
First remember that rom/coms and Christmas movies often don't have much acquaintance with realism. They aren't supposed to. Especially so the "Royal" ones. So, if that's going to bother you, stay away from this movie. It probably pushes that envelope as much as any.
Lindsay doesn't have a selfish bone in her body. More than that, she understands as much or more than other movies' protagonists what the traditional movie sprit of Christ is. Lindsay wants to change the world by teaching orphans how much joy there is in giving. You see, orphans are lucky if they are in a position to receive one gift. They certainly don't have the resources to be giving them out right and left. So, what if Santa or whoever distributes gifts at the foundation gives them two? One to keep and one to give. (The grinch of realism tells me most of them will keep them both, but remember, we aren't supposed to care about realism.)
Meanwhile we have the prince and commoner story going also. It takes quite a bit of maneuvering by the writers to deal with the obvious cliche and predictability. But I have to give them credit. They walked that line better than most movies of this type. Most of those "that's blasphemy" moments which are usually ignored and done blatantly in the scripts are sidestepped instead.
This movie is verry upbeat. There's no mean antagonism between the leads on their first meeting. Her insult to him is said jokingly. The worst villain is the guy trying to take Lindsay's credit. Rival and mother have no meanness or arrogance.
For the circumstances, the acting is decent. There is real chemistry between Jen Lilly and Brendan Fehr (despite his fake royal accent). And there is a real Christmas message that comes through loud and clear. I might even start a tradition of giving two gifts at Christmas.
I've said it before - I love sappy.
