Une nounou au service de Sa Majesté

I always cringe when my wife puts on a Hallmark Christmas movie that involves English royalty or a prince or a princess or a countess or a lord or a king or a queen - etc.

There hasn't been a good one since 2014's "A Royal Christmas" with Lacey Chabert and Jane Seymour.

Until now. This was surprisingly different and quite entertaining. Rachel Skarsten is perfect as the nanny of Royalty children - who isn't really a nanny at all. There's a nice blend of mystery, humor, and yuletide cheer here that keeps your attention throughout. The supporting cast is very good, too, particularly Katie Sheridan as the children's princess mother. Plus, there's the added feature of an unrecognizable Greta Scacchi as the owner of a nanny service company. She is delightful in a role that is sort of a nice tribute to the late Angela Lansbury.

Filmed partly in Belgium, the production values and sets are nice to look at, but it's really the little surprises in the story and the fine performances of the entire cast that makes this worthwhile. Well done.

'The Royal Nanny' (2022)

Opening thoughts: Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime and Hallmark. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. And ''The Royal Nanny' did have the sort of premise where the execution could have gone either way.

Am generally not a fan of the royalty-themed Hallmark films. There have definitely been some pleasant surprises, but they tend to be very more of the same, with cliches galore done badly and very cheesy, a lot with bad acting and lacking in intedeating or/and likeable characters. 'The Royal Nanny' is one of the pleasant surprises, and as far as the royalty-themed Hallmark films go (especially for the ones ser at Christmas) it is for me easily one of the best. With it feeling fresh and that it was a lot less formulaic than usual.

Bad things: 'The Royal Nanny' isn't perfect. It did feel too short and also a bit over-crowded, which made the film feel rushed. Particularly in the final act.

Good things: Everything else is fine. The two leads carry 'The Royal Nanny' with down to earth charm and wit, looking as if they were having fun while not over-compensating. Their chemistry is good natured and sweet, and it looked natural. The supporting cast are fine, with a nice dignified turn from Greta Scacchi. The characters are familiar in type but they have a lot of fresh personality and are not annoying.

Furthermore, the film is attractive and slick looking, the locations are beautiful to look at. The music fits well and didn't sound over-bearing or intrusive. The script is witty and doesn't ramble or come over as awkward and cheesy, the latter extreme has been the case with a lot of Hallmark's royal themed films. The story felt fresh and is a lot less formulaic than usual, while also going at a pace that has liveliness in some places and gentility in others. It is very cosy and feel good, with a lot of heart and charm, while not being over serious or too spoof-like.

Closing thoughts: Concluding, very well done.

8/10.

The Royal Nanny is an easy to watch Christmas movie from the 2022 holiday batch. The acting is solid and the storyline has a different twist, departing from the usual commoner-among-royalty theme, mixing in a bit of British secret service with some who-done-it (in lieu of the standard "misunderstanding" trope) as well as some Mary Poppins and a lot of British Royal mystique. It doesn't follow the usual Royal cookie-cutter formula, making for a unique story that is complicated only by the G rating. It would be interesting to see the caper fully developed outside of Hallmark. The Royal Nanny is definitely worthy of 90 minutes of attention.

This movie is as much a cloak and dagger story as a Christmas Romance, perhaps even more so. The suspense of a plot against the royal family runs throughout the movie with the climax being focused entirely on that. There are clues and red herrings sprinkled into the story.

I was surprised to see Rachel Skarsten as the lead, Claire, because I almost didn't recognize her. I was totally impressed with her in Marry Me at Christmas and her performance here shows a different side of her, although both characters have a reserved personality. Skarsten establishes a good working relationship with all the major actors playing characters in the royal family including Dan Jeannotte as Prince Colin.

Given that to all appearance, this Royal story is set in a country we know to be real, it was distracting to me trying to keep putting down that nagging demand for some reality check especially regarding romance between an orphan and a Prince. I kept thinking "No way", but any viewer already knows that such expectations don't apply in this kind of movie. Most Royal stories are set in a way that the prince or princess is not from a real country.

In the beginning there are several practical jokes attempted both against Claire and even by Claire which help create a light heartedness in the atmosphere. (I am irritated once again by network previews showing a little too much, not in terms of spoiling the plot, but taking the impact out of at least one of the funnier scenes.) Getting deeper into the movie, the tone moves more to the sentimental as Claire bonds with the family, especially the children. I already mentioned the cloak and dagger suspense.

I will keep my review short and sweet, I enjoyed this Christmas movie probably the most I've enjoyed any other over the last 10 years!! Every once in a while Hallmark throws in an unsuspecting gem. I had no expectations for this movie as I do any other because in my humble opinion, Hallmark has become so drab and formulaic but to my surprise, The Royal Nanny proved to be fun, charming, just a little suspenseful and downright likable! I found I wasn't rolling my eyes, yawning or talking to myself out loud saying "oh please, give me a break" To all involved in this adorable movie I say, well done and thank you!