Crown Prince of Christmas

I watch a lot of Christmas movies and with four networks now cranking them out full time, I had to pick and choose more. Now I pick films that vary from the traditional formula or have stars that I really enjoy.

This one got my attention because it had a slight twist on an old theme and both leads were engaging. However, it felt very low budget, like super low. Odd camera angles, shots and close-ups, awkward pauses, and some not great acting and dialogue.

However, the biggest disservice to the script was the obviously low budget they had to produce it. Part of the premise was that the hotel was supposed to be a luxury hotel lavishly decked out for Christmas! In fact, that was the reason it was chosen for the "Gala". However, the bulk of the decoration was tinsel garland and strings of lights. And the same tinsel showed up everywhere, on every set (the red and silver). I even think I saw one small, unfluffed wreath with two present bows stuck to it being hung on a wall!

Another big plot element was the "Royal Gala" which felt more like a daytime junior high assembly. Minimal set decoration, tiny crowd, no lighting or orchestra. The headline entertainment was an acapella version of Silent Night?!? Cindy is a decent singer, but certainly not the prodigy that built up the entire movie. Heck, even the most accomplished singer wouldn't drive the crowd into that frenzy in that scenario. And that single song appeared to be the entire content of the gala. So odd.

I could overlook a lot of plot absurdities and predictability when it is visually beautiful and filled with Christmas imagery and magic. This unfortunately lacked and even the charming stars couldn't save it.

Look, I don't expect a royal romance movie to be first class acting, big budget, and a super philosophical script with complex characters but I do expect a descent effort. This movie could've been so much better had they taken some simple steps to make it believable.

Firstly, I can't get over the language problems. A Norwegian-named prince who speaks Latin, comes from a Britishly named country where they eat decorated Belgian/Dutch cookies. Pick a region, people! It's not that hard. With a minimal amount of effort, they could've easily had names, regional traditions, and the language match. And for Pete's sake, think of a country name that doesn't sound like a butchered mashup of Luxemburg, we all know you just googled "small European countries" and made a word salad. All of it sounds completely ridiculous and it's distracting to any viewer who knows anything about western Europe.

Second, the male lead. Jilon VanOver comes across as a guy, impersonating a puppy. It's weird. He seems fake, you can tell with every look and every word that he's acting. He's trying to be sweet and dreamy but he never really became his character. Was there really no better actor available?

And lastly, who did Cindy Busby's makeup and hair for the gala scene? She looks like she did her makeup while cycling to set. The eye makeup is just two black blobs, the skin looks really sweaty, and the lipstick looks like a 5 year applied it to mommy after picking out an awful color. It makes it so awkward when everybody is looking at her as if she's a princess.

The rest of the movie is pretty standard, exactly what you would expect from a movie of this caliber. I just wish we'd stop with the "big lie" plots. Why do these movies always have to have someone who lies about who they are in it? There are plenty of other drama twists waiting on a screenwriter to use them.

In the end, it all comes down to effort. It is a watchable film, it's okay, but it's littered with "dumb American" mistakes, the ones posh Europeans roll their eyes at, on top of all the other awkward fails. Every single one of them could've been avoided, had the makers just put in a little bit of effort.

Yet another "royal" Christmas re-hash. The prince-pretending-to-not-be-a-prince (Jilon VanOver) was actually not a bad actor. He was believable, both as Madison's co-worker friend and as a prince. Madison (Cindy Busby) and her entire family were excruciatingly bad. Her sisters laughably bad actors. Her mom was ditzy and over-emoting most of the time. Her dad was mostly invisible. Even the scene where he tries to empathize with Madison was non-descript. But even he was better and more believable than the King and Queen. I had the idea they just grabbed a couple off the street, dressed them in what they thought passed for regal costumes and set them loose. Don't waste your time on this one.

I have to remember that one of the goals of the new GAC network is to be family friendly. I'm guessing that means movies like this one, with an obvious nod to Cinderella, are aimed to include children in the audience.

I'm used to Christmas rom/coms aimed at adults. I expect a little more subtlety in the acting. In this movie it seemed that many actors were delivering their lines with emphasis and the result often didn't seem natural, perhaps even melodramatic. That is especially the case with Cindy Busby. Add on her smile which can look pasted on and it seems even less natural. Jilon VanOver was a little better, but only slightly. In addition, characters' reactions to actions or preceding lines seemed out of place and transitions were rough.

The script often made no sense or was confusing. I will say as a definite positive that the story had some interesting twists from the beginning. I am very unhappy with a reviewer who included an untagged spoiler that bore directly on one of those twists. I think I probably would have suspected, but I will never know and the twist was revealed about the halfway point. The tone of the story was upbeat and there was almost no tension other than Madison's nerves and that seemed overplayed not to mention inconsistent.

I agree that the sets gave a definite low budget feel. The "Gala" had something like only 30-40 people and a tiny stage. The makeup was often bad, especially for Cindy Busby.

I find it interesting that all the written reviews as of this writing are lower than the average overall rating, including my own. Many of those reviews are critical of Busby's singing. I found her singing to be mostly pleasant, but lacking the polish of a regular singing performer. I would leave it at that were it not for the fact that her final note of her final song was off key.

We've seen this movie done over and over. It's getting old. The Prince comes to work in America and goes incognito. No one knows he is a Prince until after a year of him being there. Lack of chemistry between the 2 leads. Madison's family is so cringy. Her dad overacts and the 2 sisters act childish and the mom had the most annoying voice. Madison sings one song at the gala. It just so stupid. Normally I like Cindy but not in this roll. I feel like GAC and Hallmark need some new writers with new ideas. Typically I don't watch anything Royal related but I taped this one because I like Cindy. Take it or leave it.