Once Upon a Holiday

I dabble in the Hallmark Christmas movies, but they do have to meet certain strict criteria: appealing and not too affected female lead, male lead who's not a total doofus, not too complicated a story line, or too overly contrived or unpleasant. This hit the spot very nicely, Evigan is a particularly attractive lead and Campbell does quite well as the humble, honest worker who happens upon Evigan on the run from her position of European princess. Okay, so this owes a lot to Roman Holiday and other runaway royalty movies, but you might notice originality isn't on my criteria list. Both Evigan and Campbell seem very into their roles and very natural, this sort of fits the Hallmark romantic comedy format to a "t". Even Briana's dad gets a role as royal retainer. Enjoy.

Every once in a while, the usual Cinderella genre gets a new twist, so if you're tired of an average, common young woman falling for a royal prince, check out Once Upon a Holiday. In this one, an average, common young man falls for a princess!

Briana Evigan is a royal princess visiting New York, and she's pretty tired of the rules and schedules, so she runs away from her assistants and guardians to see what life is like as a regular person. This isn't exactly Roman Holiday, but it's the same basic concept. Paul Campbell is the non-royal person she meets, but unlike Gregory Peck, he's not a journalist vying for a story about her. He really doesn't know who she is, and he thinks they're just two people experiencing holiday magic.

Not to sound like a snob, but if Hallmark had cast another of their actresses, I would have like this movie much better. Briana was very pretty, but she didn't for one minute seem like a royal princess. Her speech and mannerisms were very contemporary and common. Paul was a total cutie, so if you can get past a princess who doesn't seem like a princess, you'll definitely be rooting for her to snag the guy. He's not only sweet and cute, but he does lots of good deeds that show her a good example. Next up, check him out in either A Godwink Christmas or Window Wonderland!

Not sure why there is so much hate for this charming and pleasant Hallmark movie.

As long as you understand what you're going to see going into one of these made-for-TV movies, and overlook some of the obvious discrepancies, Once Upon a Holiday is a nice Christmas movie, featuring Briana Evigan as Katie a princess who finds herself on royal duty in New York City in the lead-up to December twenty-five, and Paul Campbell (who is always excellent) as Jack, your NYC Average Joe, who - rather precipitously - runs into Katie on a couple of occasions and shows her around the city, at first now knowing who she really is...and you probably have a pretty good idea of how the movie will end.

Absolutely a movie with plot holes and inconsistences, but it is saved by the performances of Campbell and Evigan, who have a warm and easy chemistry. Once Upon a Holiday is an above average Hallmark royal film.

What a nice surprise! I sat down with my Cat and some Cabernet and let roll. Sure, there have been countless Christmas movies in 2015 and I didn't expect to like this as much but I did. Early on it pulled me in and there is no shortage of (spoiler) a Princess and Commoner hooking up. Yet this took a mature and believable route. Nothing overhanded. Nothing unbelievable (as TV goes). The big reveal was actually subtle and loving! In short I really did enjoy this film! In the middle I actually said to myself out loud- "This is a good movie"! Which doesn't happen very often and I take note when it does. That and I wrote a whole better review before Firefox dumped it before I could post it! D'Ohhh!

I love hallmark movie but wow was this one bad. The main girl is terrible. Every time she talks I feel like she is trying to sexually seduce the other character. I did not feel they had any connection... instead I'm sitting at home feeling awkward for them. Very uncomfortable and super unfortunate bc this is the first Hallmark I have yet to not like!