Crown for Christmas

We've all seen this film a million times, most notably, "The Sound of Music." But this is the Hallmark Channel, a network to see clean films featuring actors from soap operas, 90210, Dancing with the Stars, and that ilk.

It's the kind of thing you'd watch if your parents were in the room rather than, say, Boardwalk Empire.

Allie (Danica McKellar) is fired from her job as a maid in a fancy hotel in New York. She takes a job in Europe as a governess to a king's daughter and moves into the castle.

The king is played by MI-5's Rupert Penry-Jones, actually kind of a big actor to be in a film like this. Nevertheless, as soon as we see his handsome face and hear that accent, we know what's going to happen.

Of course, there's the fiancée (Alexandra Evans) that he doesn't love but must marry for dynastic reasons and some good character actors.

Danica McKellar is well known from "The Wonder Years." She's very pretty and I was shocked to find out she that she's forty! She easily can pass for someone in her twenties. She gives a lovely performance. Penry-Jones is always good and does the dignified, formal kingly bit very well.

This is an enjoyable movie to be taken just as it is, sweet and romantic.

After I watched the movie I discovered the actress played Winnie in the Wonder Years 1988-1993 she is now about 40. She plays a 31 year old in this film which was fine. I enjoyed it and it was fairly well done but I probably would not watch it again because it got a bit too predictable at the end.

The lead actress was great and yes there was a purposeful imitation to the Sound of Music. Her character was to be adored by all. When asked to give a toast "here's to those who have seen us at our best and at our worst but cannot tell the difference" Enjoyed seeing the King being taken with her "speaking her mind" manner. Loved the King's daughter. Much was very well done in the movie. The horse scene with the King was excellent.

Well this film is another Hallmark Movie that steel an idea from theatrical releases. This one happens to steel from "Maid in Manhattan" and "Sound of Music". In this film a young woman is a maid in hotel when she and her sister get fired from. Before you know she is "Spotted" by a Royal House Manager and she is finds herself a governess to a bratty Princess. The film is with Wonder Years Star Danica McKellar. Now I was not a fan of the "Wonder Years" but Danica McKellar is growing on me. I saw her in another Christmas Theme film last year called "Love at the Christmas Table" and that is a better film but this one is still worth watching. This is family safe. It has a Fairy Tale Vibe to it and the film makes you root for true love. On Hallmark Channel. Watch and enjoy!

Christmas movies can be really stupid and schmaltzy and most of them I can't stand.

I ended up looking for something to watch this afternoon and came across this movie and decided to give it a try.

This was very well done. Yes, you have some typical things going on that many feel good happy-ending type movies have in common, but this is one of the ones to not miss.

Great cast all-around with great casting nods especially to the actor who played the king and the actor who portrayed his executive assistant.

Even though you see many similar things in the story line that can be found in other similar films, this one was a bit more complex and well rounded and just overall, well done.

I enjoyed this very much and will probably watch again. Loved it!!!

Whilst it is a stereotypical Christmas film it is an archetypal example of what a Christmas film should be. Anyone sitting down with their notepads out analyzing a film like this is just a Scrooge. It doesn't need to be over-thought, it is a Hallmark production which follows a strict guideline as to what a feel-good Hallmark production has to be (family).

To criticize Danica McKellar in the lead-role seems an odd thing to do. You know what to expect from a family film. Any other actor would have had to act the part in exactly the same way. There isn't room in the role or in the movie as a whole to be experimenting with method-acting or "what's my motivation?" and getting deep and dark with the character - again - it's a Hallmark film.

As well as an actor, Danica is a mathematician (or the other-way- around?) and would suggest her accepting this role was purely for fun and to have Christmas months in advance! She chooses roles that won't clash with her scholastic career too adversely and must balance these two very different careers.

The interaction between herself and the young lead comes from a genuine place. Being so bound to a past role when a child is the bane of all actors - the character she is eternally manacled to is an anagram of "epic inner woo". Danica is epic as an example of how to avoid finding too much of your inner woo and going of the rails when vulnerable and young. She survived early-fame, looks even more attractive now and can wryly smile to herself that she has the credentials to play a part like this without any fear of any dented Porsches coming back to haunt her. For this reason alone, the film is just that much more charming and is what gives it the propulsion it would have lacked had just about anyone else played her part.

It has a start, a middle and a fairytale ending...but we already knew that!