Unwrapping Christmas: Mia's Prince

After having just sat through first "Unwrapping Christmas: Tina's Miracle" and then "Unwrapping Christmas: Olivia's Reunion", and enjoying the former and not finding the latter particularly good, I was actually looking forward to watching "Unwrapping Christmas: Mia's Prince" as it had Kathryn Davis in the leading role.

However my expectations were cut short by writer Kathleen Fox, as the script and storyline for the movie was not particularly interesting, much less enjoyable or entertaining, and it wasn't really particularly Christmassy. So it was a bit of a disappointing viewing experience sitting through the movie.

Leading actress Kathryn Davis did manage to keep the movie afloat, but she was struggling with having a subpar script to work with. The acting performances in general were fair, despite the script being not so great.

I am sure that diehard fans of sappy Christmas movies might enjoy "Unwrapping Christmas: Mia's Prince" a lot more than I did as a casual viewer.

This is not a movie that will find its way back to my screen a second time.

My rating of director Amy Force's 2024 movie "Unwrapping Christmas: Mia's Prince" lands on a four out of ten stars.

7.0 stars.

Now we are introduced to the second female of the four in the "unwrapping" series. Immediately, we feel this is completely different from the first. It is about a woman having dreams of a perfect man. In her dreams he is a prince from an old Christmas tale titled "Christmas in Derbyshire" (pronounced darbyshire). It's her favorite historical romance novel.

The ambience of fairy tale is palpable from the beginning. Not fantasy or anything akin to that, just a simple and whimsical feeling of a somewhat lonely woman who is tired of being a pushover. She is momentarily swept into a better place.

As the story unfolds, her imaginary prince is very similar to a new stranger in her life. As we become acquainted with him and his wealthy family, it's clear that the two are going to face some adversity in their fledgling relationship, because she does not belong in his affluent world.

I enjoyed the atmosphere created by the music and cinematography. The story is not unique whatsoever, but I feel some credit is well deserved for creating a particular mood. This is a decent movie overall. In contrast, there are many minor, yet bothersome errors, which speaks volumes as to the director's proficiency. Get the little details right, is my only advice.

The title implies it, but when I read the synopsis, suggesting Beau was like her book "prince", I thought no more about it. Until ... Turns out this story plays like any other Royal Christmas movie. Beau is part of a very rich family that acts like royalty right down to Mom picking her son's potential bride. Mom is strict and controlling just like the typical queen perhaps one of the meaner ones. (What American mother books the venue for her son's wedding without consulting him about the date?) The different worlds theme is also a big part of the story. And have you ever noticed that almost every Hallmark Christmas movie has suppliers who bail or don't deliver on commitments without any consequences? There is an interesting twist to the fake fiancé trope since the fake couple are not both the lead couple. Actually there are a couple twists in that, maybe a few.

This movie probably has the most serious romantic conflict of the 4 Unwrapping titles.

There is a side story with Mia's sister. I caught some early foreshadowing to something late in the story, but only because of the way it was presented in the story.

The acting is OK. Much better than in Olivia's Reunion. Mia's awkwardness was natural to the story and had nothing to do with Beau the man. There is some quiet chemistry between Kathryn Davis and Nathan White. The dialogue is a little too hyperbolic. So much of it revolves around idolizing the book Christmas in Derbyshire.

I'm not a fan of Royal movies. While this movie checks a lot of the Royal Christmas movie boxes, it adds some things that aren't quite so typical.