This past weekend, I too watched, for the first time, ‘Passport to Love.’ It was Great American Family’s first-ever premiere show of the year. Hallmark, on the other hand, has already had 6 new releases this year. Was it really worth waiting for? Was it something I would call magical? Well, let’s not waste any more time and get to the discussion!
Shae Robins, who happens to be one of the central protagonists of the film, had the honor of hosting the premiere on Great American Family Saturday night. Besides this, she is one of the actors in the movie Destined at Christmas and its follow-up, Destined 2. I have to apologize that up to this point, I have managed to see neither of the movies, but I went back and taped them both so now they are on my To Watch list. Mason D. Davis is a new name for me so I looked him up and learned that he and Shae Robins starred together several years ago in a film called Identical Love. What are the odds that Brian Brough directed that movie too?
As he tries out Mo’rea’s charms (the gorgeous French Polynesia island),
Nicole, a travel blogger played by Shae Robins, is already there. It’s amazing how beautiful the ocean is in this film, which is filmed in a mesmerizing location.
We began to witness breathtaking views of the exotic locales that the character visited all over the world. I mean, I have never heard of Mo’rea, but check this out!
Kade, portrayed by Mason D. Davis, is working in a travel magazine, publishing and marketing department. Nicole and Kade bump into each other after each of them discovers that they have reserved the same rental property on the island. Naturally, they argue about who should have the privilege of occupying the same place.
On a more positive note, I must mention that I found the initial portion where the two of them were bickering rather amusing. It was entertaining but not over the top. We got to see who the characters were and how they were associated with each other. But one thing I noticed right out the gate, and which I did not anticipate would affect my judgment of the film as a whole, the acting, or rather lack of it was rather sorely lacking.
Now I understand that I am not a performer, and I am even at the moment trying to improve my own performance in my editing of YouTube videos (trust me, it’s a challenge), but when I start wanting other actors to deliver the same lines because I do not think the actor portraying the role has done a good job, that is not a great sign.
That being said, however, I will not talk about the acting for the rest of this review. I will say, that they did not really impress me at any one point in the movie, but there are some other highlights I want to focus on from henceforth.
Kade’s Bossi actually thought the story itself was quite good. Kade’s boss accuses the travel bloggers of being a cause for the decline in their readership and sales and impresses Kade that he should target Nicole and her blog. He wishes to pay her off so that they can remove her from the equation entirely.
Throughout the film Kade, in spite of the sorrow, is somewhat satisfied because he is backed by a travel magazine where he has never traveled apart from the visual and looking photo shoots, however, now he goes on different adventures which we seem to do vicariously through him.
Come the beginning it’s practically the same theme, he’s too nervous and we see it when they go to kayak out and Nicole goes out off the boat and swims with stingrays and sharks. They journeyed on camels in Turkey and made their way through a perplexing labyrinth in Scotland. And at the very end, he was driving a snowmobile in Finland looking for Nicole who was there for the northern lights, such a romantic scene!
Other things we also saw were the islands of tropical French Polynesia, such as the beautiful balloons in Turkey or Turkish water, and unforgettable green patches of Scottish lawn.
To make matters worse, he falls for her but has to cater to the big lie concerning the true intentions of his boss for the rest of the movie.
This played into the overall narrative as it provided a perfect opportunity to grow into that particular moment where we all knew for sure that the reality would be revealed sooner or later. Therefore, when Nicole learned what Kade was doing, and Kade didn’t even tell herself that this was the case, her reaction was quite appropriate and did not appear to be strained.
Bramble House Christmas VerticalThe story went a little over my head and it reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Hallmark Christmas movies, A Bramble House Christmas. Perhaps the circumstances are different but stay with me and I will tell you where I find the similarities to be!
In Bramble House Christmas, our leading man, Finn decides to accompany Willa to a resort B&B, where he assumes that the lady is a fraud trying to rob him of his late father’s money. He is able to learn more about her and soon discovers that she is in fact NOT a fraud and he ends up loving her. Things get complicated as we know he has ulterior motives and has not disclosed the truth to her. Now do you see the enmity similarities?
Well, the biggest difference between these two movies with respect to which one is better in my opinion is the acting. I lost myself in A Bramble House Christmas when Willa and Finn had to suffer when she learned the truth about him. Such a wonderful and intriguing story and a perfect example of the reason I have such a passion for these types of movies.
Although I can relate to a similar storyline, in the end, I felt no emotional lunge towards it in ‘Passport to Love’. And I feel that if the acting was slightly better, I would have in this case. It had its share of good moments, but if I am being honest, I think they have some work to do on the execution.
It is actually very difficult for me to rate this one. It starts with a good story, it has some good locations and there is travel in the middle. But, in addition to the unattractive staging, were these enough to overshadow the entire movie? Probably. It is more magical than one or two others that I have seen recently. And yes, if it were on again, I would watch it. And so, with all these in mind, I think I will give it a 3 and a half marks. I am giving this extra ½ because even with the poor acting which was evident throughout, it was a very clear love story.
What did you think? The only problem is, while the Great American Family movie app does allow people to leave reviews, I have yet to see any myself.
As always, let this film’s speakers be turned off and please feel free to post your own impressions of the film in the comments below. I\’m quite curious how many of you would share my views this time and how many of you would have quite an opposing opinion this time. I enjoy having a fun argument!
I think that’s enough for me on Passport to Love. Thank you all for watching me and for your support on this week’s episode, it really means a lot. See you next week when we discuss more of our favorite Magical Movies!
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