Expectations were not high for 'A Winter Princess'. While having little problem with Chris McNally, Natalie Hall is more take and leave to me in other roles and the premise had been done to death with variable success already with Hallmark. 'A Winter Princess' was still watched though, because it did sound cute and Hallmark have proven that they can do halfway decent and more films. Despite their 2019 output being patchy and that is including the Winterfest films from that year.
'A Winter Princess' is one of the 2019 Winterfest films and is neither one of the best or worst of them. It is also not among the best or worst Hallmark films from that year, again a middling effort if anything. 'A Winter Princess' certainly has its good things and moments and is not a terrible film by any stretch (or at least to me), but there is also nothing special really about it either and it does very little new with a well worn formula that was already creaking with age.
There are things that 'A Winter Princess' does well. The scenery is absolutely beautiful and well complemented by the photography, that is not static or tries to do too much. Did like too the choices of music, having waltz-like music in parts was a good move and fitted with the concept very well. The middle has some genuinely light hearted and sweet without being too sugary moments.
McNally has an easy going charm and natural charisma, am aware about having said this quite a lot recently but there have been many instances where those two aspects have applied to certain performances in Hallmark films and McNally is one of them. Once she relaxes, Hall is also charming and easy to like. Their chemistry was definitely there and it felt light-hearted and genuine. There are things done differently which was appreciated, including not having the prince incognito.
However, there are shortcomings. Despite some things done differently, the formula is not a fresh one and generally 'A Winter Princess' has a complete lack of originality. The predictability factor is very high here. Also found the early portions hard to sit through, which came over as very cheesy and dull and Hall's acting came over as affected and not particularly relaxed. Good thing that the film did get better, but the final quarter is contrived and on the too convenient side.
Furthermore, the supporting cast weren't particularly good. Especially the king, who was performed in a going through the motions way. The accents agreed are not good, where one can tell that the accents that are attempted by some are not real. The script tends to be very cheesy and stilted and while the characters are not unlikeable there is not much meat to them at the same time.
Summarising, watchable but nothing out of the ordinary. 5/10.
