Daro Film Distribution, Hybrid, Monogram Pictures (II),
Ashley Scott, Patrick Muldoon, Kip Pardue, George Hamilton, Shelley Long, Jerry Lacy, Essence Atkins, Mo Gaffney, Donna Pescow, Christopher Rich, Susan Olsen, Wink Martindale, Mindy Cohn
Pat (Patrick Muldoon) is a young man, son of the owner of a major pet supply manufacturer and being groomed to take over the company some day. Pat is an overgrown child though and doesn’t seem to take anything seriously. Maya (Ashley Scott) is about as opposite as possible, and is loyal and hardworking to the company, and pretty much despises Pat. Company sales are sagging, and the company mascot, a highly recognized Jack Russel Terrier is invited to be Grand Marshall of the Beverly Hills Christmas Parade, owner Max (George Hamilton) decides to send his son Pat on a cross country road trip to Los Angeles so that their mascot Scoots can have photo opportunities with fans all across the country. Maya is asked to come along to keep eyes on both Pat and Scoots and to make sure they make it to Los Angeles in time for the parade. The company’s future hangs in the balance. But it seems unlikely that these strange travelers are going to kill each other before they cross the Mississippi.
This is a mediocre film that falls somewhat flat. There’s just not enough fun in this movie to grab and hold your interest. Pat Muldoon is really annoying as the man-child who is supposed to be quite the ladies man, but it doesn’t work, and I was not really impressed with Ashley’s performance either. although I do feel like it might be the script that is at fault rather than either of the lead actors. They can only perform the lines they are given. George Hamilton phones it in once again, and the dog, even though cute enough, doesn’t have anything to do but stand around. He could have been a stuffed dog for that matter. All in all, I just really didn’t get into this movie and thought it was badly executed all around.
Sophie (Allison Sweeny) inherited the mountain lodge from her parents. It is nestled in a great deal of land surrounded by beautiful snowy mountains, and the poeple who come to spend Christmas every year are like family when they arrive year after year for a really special Christmas. World traveler and real estate developer Evan (Jordan Bridges) arrives to see how easily they can take over the property and turn it into a luxury resort. Sophie is behind in the mortgage and she’s working herself to the bone to try to keep the doors open, but the options are getting slimmer and slimmer, and Evan knows what she needs.
This 2017 premier of Hallmark’s Christmas at Holly Lodge is almost a direct remake of the movie “Let it Snow” starring Candace Cameron Bure and Alan Thicke. The story is amazingly similar. They changed the roles so that it’s a man who arrives to fall in love with Christmas at this festive place, but it’s almost identical. A lot of Christmas films have similar story lines, but that’s not the only problem here. Probably the most damning problem is the rushed ending. It truly looks like whomever was editing this film looked at the clock and said, “Holy crap, we’ve only got 5 minutes left, and we gotta end this!” The rushed tacked on ending is surprising, mostly because of how awfully it was put together. Not cool at all. I never felt decent chemistry between the leads, and all in all it didn’t really seem believable. It is kind of like if Ebeneezer Scrooge had experienced his great redemption at the moment he saw the door knocker with Marley’s face. A little too abrupt, a little too soon, and basically no drama or suspense. It just was a bit too hurried and not a very good story, and though it’s festive enough, this is one that I would skip if it were up to me.
Rachel Boston, Beau Bridges, Bayley Corman, Paul Greene, Hattie Kragten, Michael James Regan
Gabby Messenger is a guardian angel. She has a bad habit of bending the rules a bit, and has been called down by her boss, Michael de Angeles (Beau Bridges) and given a new assignment. This time she’s guardian angel for the entire town of Angel Falls that has suffered badly and lost it’s Christmas spirit. Things have been hard as many folks have moved away, and those that stayed mostly had to find work out of town, and now spend too much time commuting, and everything has gotten worse and worse. It’s a hard challenge for Gabby to try to help the town, especially without breaking the rules, when the town doesn’t seem to want the help anyway. But Gabby is determined whatever it takes, but little does she know what she is missing in herself that may be the real reason for this assignment.
This is a light romantic comedy that has a lot of characters each with their own stories. There are so many side stories going on that it’s really magic to watch as they try to resolve each individual’s problems one by one. This is a typical Christmas angel story of which there are dozens, mostly pretty well done, and the quality of the acting makes it worthwhile, even though it’s naturally similar to lots of other stories. Still I enjoyed it very much and was able to feel involved with all the stories. I found this movie very worthwhile and very glad I put this one on my watch list. Very enjoyable.
Ashley Williams, Teddy Sears, Holly Robinson Peete, Jaeda Lily Miller, Marcus Rosner, Barbara Niven, Malcolm Stewart, Keith Martin Gordey
Allie Shaw (Ashley Williams) is from a little town in Vermont named Evergreen. Evergreen is another one of those little towns that just loves Christmas. Allie is a veterinarian and has always run the town’s Christmas Pageant. But she passed this year as she plans to move to Washington to be with her long time boyfriend Spencer (Marcus Rosner) and to a new job in a large clinic. Meanwhile, Ryan, (Teddy Sears) and his little girl Zoe (Jaeda Lily Miller) are on their way to Florida for a Christmas cruise to get away from the pain of losing Zoe’s Mom on the previous Christmas. Ryan and Zoe are also stranded, so Allie offers to bring them back to Evergreen as there are no rooms open in the city since the airport is closed. When things begin to warm up between Allie and Ryan, Spencer joins them to convince Allie to come to Washington. All this and a magical snow globe bring us the merriest of Christmas movies.
This is a very well done Christmas film with just about everything you could ask for. If you love Christmas romance movies, then you can’t miss with this one, that’s for sure. Ashley Williams is really good and gives a great performance. The rivalry between the guys is well played out too, but Jaeda Lily Miller really steals the show with a wonderful performance as a little girl who just wants to remember Christmas as it was instead of running away like her father is trying to do. She is really charming and an excellent little actress with a bright future. But the cast is rounded out by a number of other interesting characters. The downside of this film is that it is very predictable, but that’s as it has to be. If you’re looking with something with a bit more challenge, then this probably isn’t for you, but if you’re looking for another extremely well done Christmas movie with all the movie cliche’s, this is perhaps the best one I’ve seen this year.
Candace Cameron Bure, Eion Bailey, Mark Deklin, Natasha Bure, Walter Platz
Twins, Kate and Chris (Candace Cameron Bure) are identical twins, but are very different from each other in many ways. To please their father, and to honor their tradition, they agree to meet for a pre-Christmas lunch together, though it’s only been a year since their mother died. While visiting each other, they find they are both really fed up with their lives and problems, and very envious of the glamorous life the other lives, so even though it’s been years since they last switched places. Could they pull it off again? They decided to give it a try until something goes wrong and they can bail before they get caught. But though there are not a shortage of problems, the two sisters learn a lot about each other, but even more an appreciation for the wonderful things in their own lives.
Every year we wait for Candace Cameron’s Christmas movie. This year is no exception. Candace is a really sweet person and certainly does her best. This move wasn’t overly spectacular, though I did like it a lot more than last years Time Travel WWII to the present film. The let down is probably because the three years previous to 2016 were extremely well done. Candace takes on the Patty Duke/Lindsay Lohan role of playing both twins and trying to make them different. The biggest problem is that they were really not that different, and it was hard to tell who was who was who throughout. This caused a bit of confusion for me from time to time. By the time it ended, I got the Country Mouse/City Mouse thing and the ending was happy times for all, but it wasn’t nearly as great of some of the other ones. Still it was an interesting story, and Candace, as always, was charming and witty and a pleasure to watch. This film is definitely worth looking out for, but I’m hoping a little better script next year to really win back the crown as queen of the Christmas Movies once again.
