Snow Bride

Hallmark's Christmas offerings have always been a mixed bag. Some are good, some are lacklustre or even bad and some are somewhere in between. 'Snow Bride's' premise could have gone either way in execution. It could either have been a heart-warming, feel-good sort of Christmas film with a real feel for the festive season and better than average acting or it could be charmless and mean-spirited with a lot of predictability and characters not easy to get behind.

'Snow Bride' fortunately is one of the good Hallmark offerings, definitely among the better ones seen as part of my festive Hallmark/Lifetime etc. quest that started around November last year with a lot of spare time on my hands. It is not perfect and reading the synopsis part of me was preparing to not like it as it didn't sound promising at the start and neither did the lead character. Am very glad about giving it a chance without too much prejudice.

It doesn't contain any surprises or much new, if you are familiar with the festive Hallmark formula you have a pretty good idea how things are going to go and map out.

Also didn't find Greta likeable at first, am aware that's the intention at first but she comes over initially as very obnoxious and representative of what really irks me regarding the media and journalism, what her job does is pretty much faithful to what that particular profession does in real life but somehow it didn't sit right with me and felt a little overplayed.

Once 'Snow Bride' gets going, being a film that also takes time to find its footing, and Greta starts to grow as a character, it becomes a better film with enough of what Christmas films should be like. The production values are very pleasing to look at, nice use of locations slickly shot. The music captures the Christmas feel very well and is not near as over-scored or intrusive as too many of later Hallmark films. The script has moments of cheese, but mostly flows nicely and has a light-hearted and sweet tone without being sugary.

Despite the predictability, the story does have a good deal of charm, is light on its feet and warms the heart. Much of the pace doesn't drag and the characters are generally not one that bored or irritated me, despite not warming to Greta straightaway. Nice to see characters that actually show growth. The acting is better than average, with solid supporting turns and very engaging lead performances in particularly Katrina Law, who essentially is the film. The chemistry between the actors has spark and the love and conflict are done believably.

Summing up, surprisingly good. 7/10

This is an amazing Hallmark movie and if you are looking for genuine chemistry between the two leads in this case look no further than Snow Bride with It's leads played by Katrina Law and Jordan Belfi.

Another Hallmark movie with genuine chemistry between the leads is A December Bride where the leads Layla and Seth are played by Jessica Lowndes and Daniel Lissing.

If you are looking for a good feel good Christmas movie try these out you won't be disappointed.

Hallmark mass-produces Christmas movies by the dozen and they are, for the most part, interchangeable. Although not particularly unique, it's still a charming and heartwarming story with two characters who just mesh well together. Katrina Law is unlike I've ever seen her before (I only know her from Arrow), and her expressive eyes and face and goofy nature steals the show. Patricia Richardson is wonderful as the male lead's mother, exuding a natural warmness that many other actors try too hard to convey. The chemistry between the two leads are what makes this film stand out from other holiday flicks. I definitely recommend this one.

The plot was nice, the chemistry was good. there was no awkwardness between the two main characters and there weren't many cliches in the movie. It's probably the best Hallmark movie for Katrina Law, and the same goes for Jordan Belfi, I can't remember seeing them doing better -or any other- Hallmark movie.

One common plot device is what I call the hanging lie, or the looming lie. Well instead of her having one and him having one, in this case, Greta is part of both of them.

Of course the reveal ruins everything in Greta's life, but there are a couple little twists yet to come.

Katrina Law is a talented actress and she does well in this movie. She and Jordan Belfi have some chemistry, although there is too much going on in the movie for them to spend enough screen time together to really sell it. Except for two people, all the supporting cast is good also. I suspect Susie Abromeit and the guy playing the boss did as they were directed, but I thought both were a little over the top and cliché in their parts. She was so transparent and he was more unreasonable than he had to be.

This movie did not exploit all the Christmas themes as much as most Hallmark Christmas movies do, so there was not so much of the heartwarming stuff I enjoy.

As I implied, I think this movie would have been better if they'd found a way for Katrina Law to show more of her talent and work it with Belfi more, but overall it was still enjoyable.