Meu Sonho de Natal

Danica McKeller is one of our favorite actresses in these movies, based on first seeing her in the delighful and interesting Crown for Christmas.

Sadly, may of her other vehicles had not been so compelling. In this movie, her character is already the manager of a major department store, and her big ambition is to become the manager of a major department store in a different city, even if that city is Paris.

Then she's neglected her job of preparing for one the store's biggest events of the year, and has to get an unemployed and reluctant artist to save her bacon at the last minute. Just not that believable.

We've watched this three times over the years, but tonight was the last time.

Despite loving Christmas and having no bias against Hallmark Christmas films (far from it and this has been said before quite a number of times in other reviews of their work), the premise did not really excite me. Striking me as being too much of typical Hallmark and pretty old-hat. Saw 'My Christmas Dream' as part of my quest to see as many Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas films as possible, something that has been happening on and off for nearly a year.

'My Christmas Dream' is okay but for me despite good things not much more than that. Hallmark did do worse Christmas films that year and overall, they also did better. In ranking, 'My Christmas Dream' is around low middle on both counts and was actually quite close to being in the worst category (with the worst of the bad things being pretty awful). While not quite a nightmare, this was not near close to being a dream of a film in my humble opinion.

Am going to start with the good things about 'My Christmas Dream'. It looks nice, well shot with lovely scenery. Wasn't impressed by the music on the whole, not unusual for Hallmark, but there were some pleasant and nostalgically festive parts.

There were a couple of decent performances. David Haydn-Jones is a charming leading man and Deirdre Hall is classy support, brightening the film up when she appears.

Hallmark regular Danica McKellar however didn't do it for me, she has a cliched character that is not likeable or rootable at any point in the film. Really hate it when films and such exaggerate negative character traits, which Hallmark did a lot with their female lead characters, and that was the case with Christina and when you add McKellar's over-compensating she quickly became very annoying. More insufferable though was Christian Convery as the most irritating character in the film, due to his whining and such getting excessive. McKellar and Haydn-Jones don't have much chemistry together, they seem uncomfortable around each other and never felt their love, while the romance is very rushed and underdeveloped. Few of the characters are particularly interesting and more tried and tested Hallmark cliches done with more spark elsewhere.

Regarding the script, that was mostly very stilted and cheesy as well as dreary with too much blandness to have any sentimental value. The story never comes to life and because of doing absolutely nothing different with a premise already done to death is very predictable. It is also very thin, especially early on, there is a lot of credibility straining centering around the job and what effect it would have on the family (not very honest and somewhat mean-spirited) and there is a real lack of charm or anything to connect to.

In conclusion, has good things but just okay. 4/10

Yes, it's a little by the book in terms of the Hallmark formula, but I really liked this film, and it's always great to see Danica Mckellar.

With a nice storyline and some sweet moments, this was enjoyable and romantic enough to pass a cold night.

Lovely.

Christina (Danica McKellar) is the top manager in a midsize town for a department store called McDougalls. Christmas is approaching and this pretty exec is a bit stressed. For one, she has to develop their annual Xmas window display but has been unable to hatch a good idea. Then, she gets word that the chain store's founder, Victoria (Deirdre Hall) is coming to look things over. Ouch. Thank the Lord for her bright and cheery assistant, Holly (Christine Lee). Normally a workaholic, Christina has no time for a personal life. As Victoria is arriving, Chrissy has an unfortunate accident with a can of falling white paint. The culprit, single dad Kurt (David Haydn-Jones) has been a great worker and instantly apologizes. But, Christina is miffed. When Henry, the custodial manager, decides to let Kurt go, she does nothing to save Kurt's job. This is not the Christmas spirit at all! Two other matters occur at once. Victoria announces that they are seeking a head honcho for a new store in Paris. A Francophile, Christina soon yearns for this job. But, first, she has to deal with an unhappy six year old customer, Cooper (Christian Convery) who gets to Santa's throne a few minutes too late. What's the little boy's wish? To make his Dad happy this holiday season! Christina promises Cooper that she will relay the message to Santa but, ho ho ho, it turns out Cooper's father is the fired Kurt! By hook or by crook, Cooper arranges meetings for Christina and Kurt, for the little lad is smitten with the pretty manager himself. Can love snow down on a Christmas match? But, wait, what about Chrissy's Paris hopes? This lovely film is a new entry in the glorious Hallmark repertoire of Holiday movies. Very welcome it is! McKellar and Haydn-Jones make good love vibrations, being talented and attractive, while Convery is simply a doll. Deirdre Hall never ages and is also very fine as the kind but demanding boss. Other wishes fulfilled are nice sets, costumes, a sweet script and a sure direction. How many fans are there for Hallmark romantic movies? It must be in the billions by now and they will like this one, too!

Danica McKellar, a go-getter store manager for a big store needs the help of a single father handyman (David Haydn-Jones) who is currently struggling to make ends meet in order to help her realise a dream - a Christmas Dream, you might say - of managing the store's first international location.

Much better than Christmas at Grand Valley for Danica McKellar, though that isn't saying a whole lot.

Danica is a good actress and she has good chemistry with Haydn-Jones, who I previously enjoyed in 'A Cookie Cutter Christmas' with Erin Krakow. Danica and David work together. The script was pretty good, and although the Hallmark formula is followed to the T here, My Christmas Dream is still a good one.