La ballerina e il principe

Because of the timing it being right before Christmas, I thought this must've been a powerhouse movie and really was expecting that when I watched it. I was disappointed in my expectations. I did not believe they had good directing because the timing was off on so many things too slow or too fast. I liked both primary actors, but they didn't go together. Their chemistry just wasn't there. There was so much fake stuff where the Ballet played in and that's always unnecessary. When you know they've got people that they can talk to about storyline was boring. I wouldn't say it's not worth watching. I just don't think a movie you'll wanna watch again. I'm sorry.

The story is even more ridiculous than even most royal movies, but some of it is the acting. Carrie acts disappointed at being put off by the prince as if she might actually expect to catch his eye. The fact that she does catch his eye is obviously the norm in a royal movie, but for her to expect it takes the cliche to new levels. Her presumption is reinforced by how quickly she becomes familiar with him and treats him like she would a casual friend.

The story provides a pre-packaged villainess who is a cardboard cutout of the mean arrogant prima ballerina. She has no depth of character. She could not be more obvious about the prince if she actually turned green.

As implied above, the acting is bad almost across the board especially the main characters. Lines are delivered with little natural about them. And that dialogue is poor as well. Did I mention cheap sets?

One of the running gags is food, especially sweets. Calories galore. Brought by Carrie to a dance school. Carrie, a ballerina herself, eats her share of calories. And not to criticize Daniela Couso, but Medea does not have the frame of a professional ballerina (nor does her dancing double if there is one).

The setup for the conflict in the romance is clumsily contrived. As bad as that is, the movie only goes downhill from there, several notches.

This movie is a prime example of everything that is bad about so many royal Christmas movies. It also confirms a belief I have about quality of GAF in movies without their more popular stars.

Brittany Underwood does a beautiful job as she takes the lead in this movie after Jonathan Stoddard's dual role in their first Royal production 'A Prince and a Pauper Christmas'. This storyline is very different to that, but there are still a few familiar faces and some amusing moments. Generally, I am not a fan of any American-made monarchal movies because they are so unrealistic (eg no bodyguards etc) but this is less irritating because the ballerina isn't true to life either - just how many cookies does the lady snaffle?! Great running joke though. Best of all, the leads are just trying to support their widowed mothers, which is exactly the situation I found myself in this Christmas, and I could totally relate to these characters. Whilst I love the old-school zany 'Prince and Pauper' and their next (unrelated) movie 'A Royal Christmas Holiday', this production is very calming, so something for any mood now!