How Did We Rank Hallmark Channel’s Winter Escape 2026 Movies?. Hallmark Channel’s January movie event, Winter Escape, has wrapped up. Each Saturday night in January, a new movie premiered. The lineup was Lost in Paradise, A Melbourne Match, Love on the Amazon, Caught By Love, and finally Missing the Boat. Before we move on to February’s Loveuary event, let’s see how we felt about the Winter Escape movies.
The movies took us all over the globe with some favorite Hallmark stars. Lacey Chabert and Ian Harding got lost on a “deserted” island on their way to Fiji in ‘Lost in Paradise’. ‘A Melbourne Match’ brought Mallory Jensen to Australia with Ryan Corr. Jacie Elliot and Rafael de la Fuente took a boat ride in ‘Love on the Amazon. Rachel Leigh Cook and Luke Macfarlane went on a jewel caper at a resort in Malta in ‘Caught By Love’. And finally Emilie Ullerup and Kristoffer Polaha journeyed all over Italy to catch up with a cruise ship in ‘Missing The Boat’.
My initial review is that Winter Escape was a huge success. Each movie was enjoyable and full of beautiful scenery. The chemistry between most of the couples was fantastic. I believe that three of these movies were rewatchable and two were one-and-done watches. I’m going to give these popcorn buckets instead of stars in my ranking (we write an awful lot about popcorn buckets, just go with us here!) All movies can be streamed now on Hallmark+.
‘Missing The Boat’ 5/5 Popcorn Buckets – Get Back on the Boat and Watch Again
My top movie of the month was ‘Missing The Boat‘ starring Kristoffer Polaha and Emilie Ullerup. This is the second time that these two have starred opposite each other. The first time was in 2016’s Countdown to Christmas movie, ‘Hearts of Christmas’. The chemistry between them is fantastic. ‘Missing the Boat’ is about strangers Kelly and Parker, who both end up on the same Italian cruise, but after missing the boat during a stop, they’re forced to team up and race across southern Italy to catch up.
Parker is an attorney trying to land a merger deal for the Cruise line. He’s a bit uptight and on the cruise with his boss and his sister. His sister is fantastically played by Amy Louise Pemberton. Parker meets Kelly on the boat. What he doesn’t know initially is that she is a secret shopper doing quality control for the cruise line. On an excursion, Parker and Kelly end up getting waylaid and miss the boat. They go on a hilarious trek through Italy to rejoin their ship. We see the hit weather hurdles, a striking train system, a boat ride, and a Vespa ride to get to the cruise ship. The writers knew how to make these two shine. The comedy is perfect for Kristoffer and Emilie. My favorite line of the movie, among many other comical ones, Parker says to Kelly, “You could get the Newsies to stop dancing and sell papes for Pulitzer.”
‘A Melbourne Match’ 5/5 Popcorn Buckets – Need More Australia in My Life
‘A Melbourne Match‘ was next on my list. Until ‘Missing the Boat’, this was my favorite movie of the month. I wasn’t familiar with Ryan Corr but he was charming. I was already a fan of Mallory Jensen, especially since she was in the Countdown to Christmas movie ‘On the 12th Date of Christmas’. ‘A Melbourne Match’ is the story of Georgie, a travel writer, who travels to Melbourne for an assignment where she meets Zach, an ex-Australian footballer who agrees to be her tour guide and shows her that there’s more to life than work. When Georgie arrives in Melbourne, she’s greeted by Zach, who picks her up from the airport. Zach’s dad was meant to pick her up and be her driver, but he asked Zach to fill in, as he had a back injury. After a rocky start, Georgie asks Zach to be her guide and driver for her trip. Zach reluctantly agrees and takes her on an adventure to see the real Melbourne and be in the moment and slow down.
Along the way, Georgie finds out that Zach is a famous retired Australian footballer. Zach takes her to see real Melbourne things. They take a bike ride, go to the beach, see Koalas, and spend time with his friends down the coast, where they spend the night after a party. Zach’s friend Maeve is a popular singer. He joins her and her band on stage at the party and plays guitar. Zach calls Georgie, Georgie girl, throughout their time together. At the party, they play the song, “Georgy Girl.” Georgie oversleeps there and is awoken by her boss, who isn’t happy with her. She takes this out on Zach and calls their time together a huge waste of time. Of course, they end up back together after she realizes that she wants him. We see them after some time has passed, and Zach is now a coach, and Georgie came back from an assignment in Thailand. She relocated to Melbourne and works from there. There is just a sweetness throughout the time that Georgie and Zach spend together. This movie is another 5 out of 5 popcorn buckets for me. I have already watched it twice.
‘Lost in Paradise’ 4.5 out of 5 Popcorn Buckets – I’d Get Lost on the Island and Watch this Again
‘Lost in Paradise‘ started the month off with the Hallmark queen herself, Lacey Chabert, teaming up with Ian Harding. There aren’t many Lacey Chabert movies that I won’t revisit often, and this is no exception. This is about when Sophia, the founder of a high-end fashion company, Tierra, gets marooned on an “deserted” island with Max, a chef, and romance blossoms as they work together to survive. Sophia has to get to Fiji to meet with a shareholder of her fashion company. Sophia’s ex-husband, Mario, who’s still on the board at Tierra, lets her know that he plans to sell the business if he can get the rest of the company’s shareholders on board. Sophia charters a private plane to get her to Fiji to try to convince the shareholder not to vote for the sale.
Meanwhile, Max is a chef who has always wanted his own restaurant but can’t seem to get away from the celebrity chef he works for. He had a failed pop-up and is a little afraid to try again. His friend, Julian, tells him that he met a billionaire who wants to invest in a new restaurant. Max agrees to go to Fiji to meet him. The catch? He has to pretend to be a flight attendant on the private jet that he is flying with, you guessed it, Sophia aboard. Somewhere along the flight path, the plane malfunctions and crashes onto a seemingly deserted island. Julian and his copilot, Lance, take a raft and try to find help, leaving Max and Sophia, and Sophia’s little dog, on the island to fend for themselves. Max and Sophia learn a lot about each other and how resourceful they are. She crafts a sun hat out of leaves for Max, and Max cooks wonderful meals for Sophia. What trip to an island wouldn’t be complete without a little pirate caper? Max and Sophia think that there are pirates on the island chasing them. Turns out that they are not pirates and that the other side of the island is a beautiful resort. Sophia and Max are rescued and get to their meetings in Fiji. This movie is fun, and the leads are always great to watch.
‘Love on The Amazon’ 3 out of 5 Popcorn Buckets – Worth the Trip on the River
‘Love on The Amazon‘ brings Jaicy Elliot and Rafael de la Fuente to the Amazon River in the story of Claire, who travels to Brazil and hires Danny, a riverboat captain, to help her deliver an important message for her sister Amelia, a marine biologist studying pink dolphins on the Amazon River. Claire is a school vice principal and bookworm sister of Amelia, a marie biologist. Amelia has won a research grant but the catch is that it has to be signed and time is running out to accept it. Claire goes way outside of her comfort zone and books a trip to Brazil to get the grant to Amelia in time. When she arrives, she hires Danny to get her there in time. Danny’s crew on his boat do not want to help.
It’s too dangerous a trip but they eventually make the trip and get Claire to Amelia with little time to spare. Along the way, there are storms and other challenges. Claire rises to them and learns to help Danny with the travel. They stop in a town and Claire assists with teaching English there. After some time and effort, they find Amelia and get the grant signed in time. Danny tells Claire that it has been a privledge to watch her come alive on this trip. Amelia tells Claire she should stay and become an English teacher in the area. She ends up staying, deferring her vice principal contract for a year. This movie was very pleasant to watch. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I am a huge fan of Jaicy Elliot and this one was no different. It’s a bit slow in places but we get where we need to and I’d probably take the trip again!
‘Caught By Love’ 2 out of 5 Popcorn Buckets – Caught It and Sent It Back
‘Caught By Love‘ was the movie I was most looking forward to. This is the story of Annie, while on a journey of self-discovery, gets swept into an undercover investigation with PI Jake, for stolen jewels that turns into an unexpected and adventurous romance. I couldn’t wait to see this Rachel Leigh Cook and Luke Macfarlane caper movie. I love both of these actors. This movie was just not it for me. Annie shows up at a luxurious resort in Malta and checks in under her friend, Joanna Mitchum’s name. Turns out that Joanna gifted the trip to Annie.
Jake is a PI posing as a resort guest. His partner, Lara, is undercover posing as a resort staff member. They are on the hunt for a stolen necklace. There was a museum break-in and there’s a reward for the necklace stolen. The PIs have six days to figure out who the buyer of the necklace they’re looking for is. Annie gets clued in and helps with the investigation. There are lots of colorful resort guests and antics. This movie was slow for me. Luke Macfarlane’s ‘Catch Me if You Claus’ was a super successful caper romcom. This movie just missed the mark. Seeing these two powerhouses team up was on paper the best part of Winter Escape. There was little to no chemistry on this one, sadly.
