Movie Review: A Royal Christmas Ballet (2024)

Title: A Royal Christmas Ballet

Summary: A retired ballerina is pressed into service working with a visiting team of royal ambassadors to put on the season's performance of "The Nutcracker" and finds herself center stage in an unexpected Christmas romance.

Stars: Brittany Underwood, Jonathan Stoddard, Daniela Couso, Allen Guy Wilcox

Platform: Tubi

Rating: 2.5/5

My Review:

Take one bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young heroine, a middle-aged prince from an ambiguous European country, add in a scheming temptress, some ballet dancing, a dash of humor, and set it amidst a small-town production of “The Nutcracker”, and you’ve got the basic premise for this cheesy Christmas movie.

This definitely is not Shakespeare, but then none of the sappy Hallmark and Hallmark-esque movies I love to watch are ever going to win any Academy Awards. And I don’t need them to. I am honestly just looking for a sappy love story, two cute leads with halfway decent chemistry and some acting skills, a little mistletoe magic, and lots of (fake) snow falling prettily beyond a frosted windowpane. Did this movie deliver on any of those fronts? Let us examine, shall we?

Does it contain a sappy love story? ✔

It’s sappy, alright, but not so syrupy you’ll have to reach for the insulin. Ballet makes a good backdrop for the action, what action there is to speak of. A well-choreographed pirouette or plié is lovely to watch. Especially for someone born with two left feet, completely incapable of slipping on a tutu to dance across a lit-up stage under the watchful gaze of many pairs of eyes. Not that I am not saying I’m that person (okay, I am saying I’m that person. I truly have zero dancing abilities!).

We find out that our heroine Carrie (played by the always beautiful Brittany Underwood) was a famous ballet dancer who left the big city to take a teaching job at a small-time dancing academy for reasons. The dancing school needs a serious Hail Mary if it’s going to stay in business. Enter William (Jonathan Stoddard), a somewhat stern but kindly prince, who travels all the way across the globe from his home country of Videnburg (note: Google Docs autocorrects that to Hindenburg, which is exactly what the strange name makes me think of) to America to save our beleaguered - but still always smiling her Crest toothpaste smile - Cinderella and the academy she works for.

Prince William is the escort for the world-famous ballerina named Medea (Daniela Couso), who will be dancing as part of a country-to-country performance art exchange program. Medea is appropriately devious and schemes to make the prince her own. Too bad he fell into insta-love with Carrie. Holiday hijinks ensue.

The writing is weak, particularly at the beginning, and there is some stilted dialogue. However, I do appreciate the occasional bits of humor, both intentional and otherwise. I liked how the writers incorporated an old-fashioned carousel into the storyline. It was a beautiful set and played a key moment in a romantic scene.

There were a couple of cutesy, totally G-rated romantic moments in the movie, but we all know that to really sell a holiday romance, the leads need chemistry.

So do they have chemistry? ✔

Not the kind that jumps out and slaps you across the face, but it was there, and the actors became more convincing as romantic partners as the movie progressed.

But can they act? ❓

That’s debatable. I’ve had a soft spot for Brittany Underwood ever since she appeared on the late, great daytime soap, One Life to Live, but her performance, while earnest, is a little OTT. Alternately, I’ve never seen Jonathan Stoddard in anything before this, but he wasn’t stellar. The best word I can think of to describe him is capable.

The real star of the movie is actually Medea. Daniela Couso played a very convincing vixen and scenestealer, who I believe will go on to bigger and better things.

Is there any mistletoe magic? ❌

There was a little kissing, but unfortunately, no mistletoe was used in the making of this film.

Is there a lot of (fake) snow falling prettily? ✔

There was indeed. It was a veritable winter wonderland. Yes, the snow looked fake, but the sets were slightly above-average condition for one of these low-budget movies, so it all looked quite cinematic.

Final thoughts? 🤔

• I’m not saying this to be ageist, but why did Carrie’s mom look older than Father Time? Seriously, did she give birth to her daughter when she was in her seventies?
• This movie wasn’t all bad, but there are far better sappy holiday films out there, so I say skip it and find something better to watch.
• Speaking of, I will be posting a list of awesome holiday movies on my blog soon, so please subscribe to be notified when it drops. (You can ‘follow me’ via the dropdown menu on the left top of the homepage. Now how’s that for a plug?!)

Happy Holidays!