Hello, it’s Thursday Morning, and for many of us, the countdown is on. Eleven more days till Christmas. Rather than discuss my lack of readiness for the holidays, I’m going to take a break. Yes, I’ve been doing a lot of that, lately. It’s called “survival mode.”

On my latest break, I watched one of the new Christmas offerings on Netflix, A Christmas Prince. With many of the Christmas romance movies, you need to turn off your brain and not think too much. Overall, this movie delivered a pleasant experience. The scenery is beautiful, taking place in the fictional country of Aldovia (kind of reminded me of The Princess Diaries’ Genovia). There’s lots of snow, a couple of beautiful horses (I love horses), beautiful horses running on snow, and a prince. Who can resist a prince?

The main actors in A Christmas Prince are talented,  likable, and believable. Some of the secondary actors are not as skilled, but they’re not on screen very much, so it doesn’t matter. I enjoyed the amazing Alice Krige as the queen. I liked Princess Emily, too, played by Honor Kneafsey.

So, what’s the movie about? A young reporter (Rose McIver) is sent to Aldovia to cover the possible coronation of the new king (Ben Lamb, aka Prince Richard), if he decides to show up. When she’s mistaken for Emily’s new American tutor, she decides to use the opportunity to infiltrate the royal house and get the scoop on the situation. She meets the prince, falls in love (no wonder why), and gets caught up in intrigue.

As in most of the Christmas movies, love happens really fast. I can’t complain about that, because it happened to me forty-three years ago (Dec. 21 by the way). Still married to my guy, so I know it’s possible. Good to know.

What appealed to me most about this movie:

• the sweet romance
• the location and cinematography
• the good writing
• and whoever did the costumes (I didn’t find that listed), paid attention to detail. The queen and Prince Richard were always dressed tastefully–right down to their shoes–yes, I noticed his shoes. They looked the part of European royals. This lent reality to the scenes for me, and made it a joy to watch.

Another appealing quality: the humor infused throughout.I’m a fan of humor, it helps me “adult.”

Cons: I’m only mentioning one, though there were several: the lack of security in the castle. Again, we are often asked to leave our thinking caps on the hook when watching Christmas movies. The breach of security didn’t bother me, but I did see some complaints in other reviews. And, by the way, I chose to enjoy the good, and not be bothered by the schmaltz. Maybe Aldovia is such a peaceful place, they don’t need security? We are watching a fairy tale, after all.

A review of A Christmas Prince, from Netflix: Tasteful humor, sweet romance, an actual story with a plot, all combine to make this movie an overall pleasant experience. Read more [Click to Tweet]

Guess what? I’ll be watching this one again. I gave it a thumb’s up on Netflix. And a double “ahhh…”, right here on Hello, Thursday Morning.

What’s your favorite all-time Christmas movie? What makes it your favorite?