Christmas at Dollywood

The hype for "Christmas in Dollywood" was a little to much and I was expecting to love this movie. I mean who doesn't love Dolly Parton right? She's amazing!! I also love Nina Weinman, she is a beautiful storyteller and writes beautiful scripts! Keep her Hallmark! I personally did not feel Nail Matter was not a good fit for Danica! Or for this movie, I felt NO chemistry and NO sparks between them at all! The dancing scene was VERY hard to watch!! So sorry..... I have always loved Danica, especially in previous Hallmark movies with Paul Greene (When calls the Heart) they always have beautiful onscreen chemistry together (Campfire Kiss) And (Perfect Match) which I feel Paul would of been a much better leading man for Danica and for this part. Nail is just ok for me here, he mumbled his lines A LOT! I could not understand what he was saying most of the movie! He is much better suited with Erin Krakow (Finding Father Christmas) movies.

Rachel Davis (Danica McKellar) is told by her boss to take a break and go home to Tennessee for Christmas. She takes her young daughter back home which is close to Dollywood. She interviews to put on an anniversary Christmas event for Dolly. She gets hired with Luke and they have to work together.

At least, I get to visit Dollywood. I've never been there and that's all I want from this movie. It would be nice if Dolly has a bigger role. She should be a real character. It would be nice if we do more with Dollywood. This seems to be begging for more musical performances. There definitive should be more music instead of jamming it all into a small section. The lead couple is fine but there is little heat. There is too little of everything.

As a season pass holder for dollywood I was very interested in this movie. First of all, this move is not about the theme park, which was to be expected. It was the standard hallmark movie made in Canada. It has the usual career conflict. The party planner from the big city meets the local hero who wants more. Also all the town scenes were not in Tennessee. There was too much snow, not enough moutains, and no tourists to be pigeon forge. There are no western bars to which the locals go line dancing.

It was okay. The romance was fine. It was not very funny, but did have a few moments. Dolly Parton had a very minor role at the very end. The movie did not do the park's Christmas celebrarion justice as it was filmed on a very small portion of it.

I was hoping that the plot would center around the individuals who work in dollywood's shows and have a litte more real and human story. Somthing a little different. Even if had all been shot on site or in the area immediately around the park. This was not different at all. I think that is why it dissapointed me. In summary while it was okay, it could have been better.

If you take out Dolly Parton and Dollywood, this movie is a very lackluster production which almost could have been written by a phone app or a bunch of monkeys using past scripts and piecing them together. The story elements had no originality. The dialogue was blah. The acting was not worthy of note. There might have been a smidgen of chemistry between Danica and Niall.

I'm sure most viewers noticed Mckeller's real life book which in the story, and probably in real life, was being distributed by Dolly's foundation to children's charities. Someone made a reference talking to Danica's character saying that maybe she too would one day have her book from the movie story distributed by Dolly's organization.

6/10 - I love some Danica McKellar, but unfortunately this one did little to distinguish itself