Sweet Navidad

This is a slight twist on the contest premise in that the contest part is over quickly and it become a kind of gala with Carmen and Jax looking to impress critics to provide future opportunities for their careers.

Camila Banus portrays an appealing Carmen with one major flaw. She has none of the discipline which is essential for an executive chef. This gets obscured by the fact that she is only the Pastry Chef, but that's confusing also because she is supposed to be "equal" to Jax, the executive chef. Throw in all the rabbit trails she leads Jax on and the entire thing comes off as an unprofessional enterprise. Since I am detail oriented, this atmosphere bothered me throughout the movie and I was certain of what would be the conflict in the story.

I said Carmen is appealing and you can tell Jax is falling under her spell. Banus has good energy and Carmen's tendency to dance while doing other things adds some playful fun to the story. Banus and Mark Hapka have good chemistry. They are given plenty of screen time together to develop their relationship.

The acting is good. The dialogue is good but not sparkling. There are no great highs or lows.

I often say about these movies that they don't deal well with reality. In this case, it seemed that reality was stretched to the point of fantasy. Carmen had no business being in the situation she was in, and she knew it at least in the beginning. It just occurred to me that perhaps it is like a Little League coach being put in charge of a Major League team for the playoffs. Baseball is baseball, but the two situations are worlds apart and you can't instantly jump from one to the other.

For my rating, Carmen's energy and appeal are a wash with the impossibility of her situation. The relationship is nice. We're left with a fairly average Christmas movie.

Greetings, salutations, and a seasonal welcome to all you movie aficionados. Here are my considerations and recommendation for A Pastry Shop Christmas.

Story: 1.25/2 - Direction and Pace: 2.50/4 - Performances: 1.50/2 - Enjoyment: 1.50/2

Total 6.75/10

This Christmas Romance Story surprised me. I enjoyed the hell out of it, though the story is relatively simple, uncluttered, and follows plenty of commonly used plot lines. It was the well-defined and credible characters in the lead roles, which made the story for me. Better still is that the couple possesses a gradual chemistry: The pair don't hit it off straight away, but we watch as they form a friendship, then a working relationship, and finally, as it blossoms into a romance. These steps of attraction add to the realism, which's a pleasant change for a Christmas Love Story where it's usually all eye meeting eye and instant chemistry with lip-locking to follow. The writer gives the audience a plethora of believable characters and situations. Happily, the performers add additional realism with their excellent performances, especially the two leads, Camila Banus and Mark Hapka. A Pastry Shop Christmas - Sweet Navidad is one of the finer-performed tales on offer in this Goodwill Season. And the director adds the perfect pinch of light-heartedness and a sprinkling of heartwarming to the mix.

I'd joyfully recommend this for your Christmas viewing pleasure, especially if you're cuddled up with your loved one under a duvet with a mug of hot chocolate. It's a definite snuggle movie.

Please check out my HO! HO! HO! Christmas Belles list to see where I ranked the movie.

Take Care, Stay Well, And Best Wishes For A Merry Christmas.

Worst movie I've ever watched. I'm usually very tolerant and forgiving watching movies, but this was so bad. The main actress didn't even know how to act nor did she know how to bake. Please take a cooking class. We had to fast forward to get through it. Whoever was coaching her did not a good job. The way she was walking and talking and very insecure in the whole acting. Usually Christmas movies are very convincing and they're all the same and it's not a problem for me to watch it but this I could not watch. Even my sister, who is very tolerant couldn't watch it. Not worth showing on TV let it go straight to DVD.