Winter's Dream

7.6 stars.

Cain is not bad, Swanson is believable. That was all I was concerned about when I started this film. Will he be able to act normally? Sometimes he gets in the way of his own performances. I haven't seen Swanson in a while, but I was impressed by her ability to convey a very personable and likable character.

'Winter's Dream' is not about a dream per se, unless a young girl's desire to be the best competitor in downhill skiing is the "dream" alluded to. But I don't get the impression that her dream of being a phenom is the theme.

The obvious point of this story is it's about a woman who has given up on her potential. She has not pursued any new goals or attempted to find success in years. She was an Olympic skier years ago, now is helping her father operate a ski shop at a mountain resort. They must overcome many obstacles, as there is another ski resort nearby, threatening to steal all of their business.

Chain's character is of a father who supports his daughter's aspirations to be in the Olympics someday. He does his best to stay out of her way. In the middle of all of this activity, there is a very subtle romance. In the end, this movie is not about romance as much as it's about a woman (Swanson) trying to excel in spite of insecurities and the forgotten confidence of her youth.

A former competitive skier who now runs a shop coaches a young girl who comes for a short while. Her widower father is the romantic interest. The good thing about this show is that the lead actors are quite alright. Kristy Swanson is looking better again and she doesn't play it cute. Dean Cain looks a bit puffy. Some Hallmark movies are annoyingly cute and perky. This one is more down to earth. Another good thing is it doesn't look like it was all filmed on a sound stage like some other Hallmark movies.

Worth one watch

Busy widower dad Ty Decker (Dean Cain) has brought her daughter Anna (Lizzie Boys) to train with world famous champion skier Maddy Morrison. Kat Miller (Kristy Swanson) is a former teammate of Maddy who failed at the Olympic trials. Kat is now a local instructor on the bunny hills and working at her father's shop. Their small resort is under pressure from the big rival corporate resort.

This is a fine Hallmark movie. It's really only missing a Christmas theme and they would have checked the whole list. I mostly wanted to see this for Laura Bertram. Cain and Swanson have the pedigree as former stars of sorts. They have a functional chemistry. There is also the rival girl and the rival resort. It's a low level rivalry. It's all a bit low level which is fine for this type of movie. It's the bunny slope of movies and that's fine.

Hallmark has come up with a wonderful new formula for romance movies. There is no ex boyfriend or "jerk" boyfriend to deal with, and There is no villain. There are two people who meet, develop a friendship, and slowly begin to have feelings for each other. It was perfect.

The only flaw in the movie was Dean Caine being such a klutz at the beginning. That was probably intended for humor but it failed to be amusing, and was detrimental to the story. All the acting was superb and made each character believable. Outdoor scenes were beautiful and had real snow.

I have over 380 Hallmark type romance movies in my collection and this one is in the top 10. I have watched this movie 5 times. My rating 9.5

If you enjoy movies set on the slopes, then this movie is for you. Not a sappy romance, the emphasis is on training young daughter to have confidence in her abilities. This movie has a couple of my favourites, great skiing sequences + fireworks at the end.