Danica McKellar and Rupert Penry-Jones star as the maid turned governess and King that is fighting what his heart wants and what others are telling him his duties require.Enter the King's daughter, Princess Theodora. Teddy, who does not think she needs a governess nor does she care for the Countess who is eventually supposed to marry her father.The supporting cast is very, very charming as are the leads. A lovely movie - worth a watch.

Okay, where do I start. First of all it's a pleasant enough movie with the usual feel-good Hallmark ending, but there are some items that just poke at the continuity director instinct in me that make me fidget.Fergus, the king's assistant shows up at her apartment (how?), has had her investigated (how?), and nobody seems to notice or care. The next day she's in Europe, driving up a snow-covered road with Fergus, who asks, "Would it be fair to say you've never traveled abroad?" Her response? "Does Staten Island count?"... So, how exactly is she flying out of the country, the very next day without a passport? She obviously doesn't have one, and I'm guessing from her back story, never had a reason to have one. Just one of those minor details that should not have been overlooked. Fergus would have asked her if she had one, and there would be some plausible reason given as to why she did.... or, if not, he would have suggested his embassy (or consulate) would make a special request to speed up the process. Instead, it is not mentioned at all, leaving detail-oriented viewers like me shaking their heads. Speaking of continuity, what exactly are they doing in the greenhouse? Why are they putting worm-filled dirt in glass jars? I'm guessing that's just a vehicle to create a scene showing them getting to know each other, but it seems like an odd activity. Her character transition keeps shifting from the overwhelmed, out-of-her-league bewilderment to the aggressive super-confident women who stands up to the king yet cowers from the head of the household staff. Too many little things get in the way of the flow, that keep bringing up more questions than they answer.... Like where did she get the frames for the pictures she drew at the end? And the boxes she wrapped them in? She never left the castle. Anybody think about that? Where did she find the time to do them? You don't crank those out in a few minutes and it looks like she drew a dozen of them.The one bright light in the movie was the girl who played Theodora. She is an absolute delight, and hopefully, she will have a long and successful career. Hallmark is very good at casting thoroughly unlikable characters, like the fiancé and the king's councilor, and they played the role very well.Overall, it was and enjoyable diversion. The Hallmark Movie Channel Christmas spirit machine at work.

This is a standard Christmas TV movie by Hallmark so my expectations were not super-high, not super-low.However, I was pleased that all of the performances (with the exception I'll mention later) were actually pretty darn good. The actors did a very nice job -- from the actress who played the daughter, to the valet, to the cook in the kitchen ... even the housekeeper who, at the end, showed some real emotion. Rupert Penry-Jones (a very good British actor) was the standout: He did a great job with his limited material - he came off very authentic with just the right touch of reserve crumbling in the face of unexpected feelings.I was ready to accept this movie for what it was, and was pleasantly surprised. However, it was totally ruined for me by Danica McKellar's bad acting. Her range seemed to be limited to one facial expression (furrowed brow); that, coupled with the fake eyelashes (really distracting and who wears those nowadays?!) resulted in my actually enjoying the movie when she wasn't in the scenes! Too bad. This could have been much better with even a slightly higher caliber actress.

Great movie ruined A story of a struggling woman trying to provide for her family, she "accidentally" lands a dream job which will eventually lead to a dream marriage. This would've been the best movie among the 2015 Hallmark Christmas movies, the plot was good the director did an amazing job and the settings were beautiful, the acting was great too, i was thrilled to see Rupert Penry-Jones, everyone did a great job except Danica McKellar, she obviously overacted her role and that ruined the whole movie for me. Other than that it was a good movie and i liked it, it wasn't perfect but it wasn't bad either, the kind that you watch it once but never again.