Am not somebody who hates Christmas or has a bias against made for television Christmas films. The complete opposite on both counts. Christmas is actually my favourite time of year and always has been for as long as can be remembered. Also love musicals, or at least films music-oriented, and Dolly Parton is always a treat to listen to (deserving of her reputation as a country music legend) and watch. The premise sounded nice enough, though there was the worry of it being cheesy.

'Christmas on the Square' was badly misconceived unfortunately from start to finish in my view. Any potential it had is completely wasted and there are far better representations of Parton, who deserved much better than this, on film and anywhere. Have seen worse Christmas films and overall than 'Christmas on the Square' and it has a couple of small good things, but nearly everything fails badly and am saying this with much regret. Speaking as someone who doesn't like being critical.

The best thing about 'Christmas on the Square' is the spirited performance of Christine Baranski.

It started quite nicely and the closest the film got to evoking seeing Parton in concert.

Sadly cannot say anything good about everything else. On the whole, the acting is too campy and it was like a vast majority of the cast were over-compensating. A case of a cast with solid singing ability but don't have the goods dramatically. Even Parton doesn't charm as much as she usually does, although she does look and sound amazing. Being a musician, music is very important for me to talk about and that is lacking here. Ranging from very forgettable to borderline embarrassing with very cheesy and soppy lyrics.

Will agree with those that didn't care for the choreography or dancing, to me it was too manic and overdone. In fact, pretty much everything about 'Christmas on the Square' is manic and has no subtlety whatsoever. The dialogue is very awkward and cheesy, while almost none of the characters are interesting in personality and actually irritate (excepting Baranski's and that is more to do with her performance). The story is paper thin and suffers from excessive predictability, a hectic to the point of chaos pace and overuse of cheese and froth.

Overall, misconceived and charmless. 2/10.

Now, who doesn't like a bit of Dolly at Christmas? Well, add a little Treat Williams and make Christine Baranski a baddie, and that should have been a recipe for success. Well - it isn't. The whole thing is so sentimentally cheesy that it's almost excruciating to watch. The plot - insofar as that remotely matters - is a sort of "A Christmas Carol" affair, with Baranski deciding to sell her town to some property developers - and so she decides to deliver eviction notices to the populace with only days to go until Santa arrives. Dolly, complete with angel dust, decides to step in and stop the mean and wicked lady from carrying out her plan and... well, you can guess the rest. The whole thing reminded me of a cannibalisation of a school performance of "Godspell" I was in, in 1974 - the production and dance routines are staged to within an inch of their life - and a couple of episodes of "Glee". I doubt even at this time of year, this can resonate with anyone who isn't under ten years old - and I'm afraid Treat Williams just can't sing. One, perhaps, to leave the kids in front of the telly for, whilst you wrestle with the turkey but otherwise, even the schmaltzy lyric doesn't help. It might be borderline sacrilegious to say this but sorry, Dolly - this is terrible.

It tries, I guess.

I can't say I enjoyed 'Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square' at any moment, though it does have (minor) peaks and (major) troughs. Some parts are OK, a couple of the songs fit and there's one nice scene between Christine Baranski (Regina) and Selah Kimbro Jones (Violet). Parton, meanwhile, is fine in her role.

However, the rest is a slog to watch. Far too much emphasis is put on the musical numbers. Yes, it obviously needs them but you must also have more meat on the bones if you're going to make a film out of it. The plot is tedious to watch unfold, as you know what's coming and it doesn't do anything to throw you off the scent.

If you just want a music-filled film then head this way, if not it's probably best to avoid.