I'm a person who tends to like a lot of made for tv Christmas movies. Admittedly plenty of those I have liked have had low production values or have even been excessively cheesy. So I really had to think through why this movie seemed so off to me. There were Christmas decorations in the sets. There was talk of Christmas and the use of it in the timing of things. And somehow the movie felt as though it wasn't really a Christmas movie at all. With the exception of the singing of a charming "old carol" there was an incredibly odd feel of it not really being Christmas at all. The actor who was supposed to be touched by the singing of the older carol did a nice job in hearing it and responding. At least there was that.
As for the rest of the movie: They had a unique twist with the carousel but then they did little to nothing with it. They started with the "unveiling" of a carousel that was actually not unveiled but that the children had to get inside the tent and ride with no view. No explanation or reason to educate the audience if that would be a real thing, just a very unsatisfying unveiling that didn't make any sense. They moved on to a project in another country which had the same carousel horses rather than the historical idea of carousel horse that were each individually hand carved pieces of art. They gave the restoration project a ridiculously unrealistic timeframe even for proving they were great or that magic seeming things happen at Christmas then really basically ignored it throughout the majority of the movie, to their own detriment because it had nothing to do with the real conflict they wanted to use in the story, which was a very cliche I-don't-want-duty- I -want-art thing that a million works of pulpy type fiction do when using royalty. They introduced the odd element of a wishing horse but also mostly ignored that, gave it no fantastical support elements, and then just used it in one very flat moment for a few seconds at the end of the movie. Cheesy on purpose I can get behind sometimes. I'm pretty great at suspending my disbelief and going with it, if a movie maker gives me any excuse to do so. Sometimes cheesy is a lot of fun. But they just made that a cheesy or odd thing and then left you hanging with an initial moment of not really liking the idea, rather than playing it up to be fun in any way, shape, or form. The main romantic lead was a man with a great voice but otherwise was somehow wrong in the role. The costuming was unnecessarily weak. Like I said, I'm sometimes ok with low budget but there were some fairly serious problems in the costuming here and there, especially the prince's formal uniform mockup he wore at the end of the movie which fit him terribly and gave him, or emphasized, the weakest and most sloped shoulders ever filmed as royal shoulders.
It is ok for some elements to be subtle in a movie, of course. It can even be great. But I think they maybe went for subtle where they should not have. The father's subtle romance flickering to light was the better romance in the story and I wish they had given it its own ending moment towards the end of the film more than they actually did just alluding to the idea a little. In any case, I suspect the problems ran all the way through the writing, directing, editing, everything. This was a wholesome, clean movie with a few good ideas that could have been much better. At least it wasn't full of the nastiness of people who hate decency and goodness. I'd have ended up marking it with a couple of stars less, if that were the case. But as it was, it deserved some real critique. I know there were some people involved who can do much better. I think they should have separated the carousel idea from their need to do another royal romance at Christmas thing and made a good, solid movie about the restoration of the carousel. It might have even been great, though they first need to do some real research and learn a little about that topic.
As for the rest of the movie: They had a unique twist with the carousel but then they did little to nothing with it. They started with the "unveiling" of a carousel that was actually not unveiled but that the children had to get inside the tent and ride with no view. No explanation or reason to educate the audience if that would be a real thing, just a very unsatisfying unveiling that didn't make any sense. They moved on to a project in another country which had the same carousel horses rather than the historical idea of carousel horse that were each individually hand carved pieces of art. They gave the restoration project a ridiculously unrealistic timeframe even for proving they were great or that magic seeming things happen at Christmas then really basically ignored it throughout the majority of the movie, to their own detriment because it had nothing to do with the real conflict they wanted to use in the story, which was a very cliche I-don't-want-duty- I -want-art thing that a million works of pulpy type fiction do when using royalty. They introduced the odd element of a wishing horse but also mostly ignored that, gave it no fantastical support elements, and then just used it in one very flat moment for a few seconds at the end of the movie. Cheesy on purpose I can get behind sometimes. I'm pretty great at suspending my disbelief and going with it, if a movie maker gives me any excuse to do so. Sometimes cheesy is a lot of fun. But they just made that a cheesy or odd thing and then left you hanging with an initial moment of not really liking the idea, rather than playing it up to be fun in any way, shape, or form. The main romantic lead was a man with a great voice but otherwise was somehow wrong in the role. The costuming was unnecessarily weak. Like I said, I'm sometimes ok with low budget but there were some fairly serious problems in the costuming here and there, especially the prince's formal uniform mockup he wore at the end of the movie which fit him terribly and gave him, or emphasized, the weakest and most sloped shoulders ever filmed as royal shoulders.
It is ok for some elements to be subtle in a movie, of course. It can even be great. But I think they maybe went for subtle where they should not have. The father's subtle romance flickering to light was the better romance in the story and I wish they had given it its own ending moment towards the end of the film more than they actually did just alluding to the idea a little. In any case, I suspect the problems ran all the way through the writing, directing, editing, everything. This was a wholesome, clean movie with a few good ideas that could have been much better. At least it wasn't full of the nastiness of people who hate decency and goodness. I'd have ended up marking it with a couple of stars less, if that were the case. But as it was, it deserved some real critique. I know there were some people involved who can do much better. I think they should have separated the carousel idea from their need to do another royal romance at Christmas thing and made a good, solid movie about the restoration of the carousel. It might have even been great, though they first need to do some real research and learn a little about that topic.