Wish for Christmas - Glaube an Weihnachten

Obviously taken from It's A Wonderful Life, it's turning out to be a bad wish for Christmas that young teen Anna Frick asks for and gets. Her father and mother Joey Lawrence and Leigh Allyn Baker are both attorneys and are most generous with time and money donating their services in a lot of pro bono work. But purportedly it's because of their faith. When their daughter begs off going to church Christmas Eve because she's on the dance committee for the Christmas school clambake also scheduled for Christmas Eve, they say no.

Like Jimmy Stewart who wishes he had never been born and gets an alternative universe, Frick's wish is that her parents never became Christians. Guess what, the next day they are money grubbing secularists and real shysters. Among other things they are retained as counsel to a bank that is busy throwing people out of their homes including the parents of a boy Frick has her eye on, Ryan Boudreau.

Gradually she comes to the conclusion she does not like how her world has changed. Given this is a Christian Christmas movie with certain parameters all of course gets righted in the end.

The cast is a likable one, a good ensemble has been assembled. Get the bathtowels ready folks though you're in for Johnstown Flood type crying jag.

1) Not all atheists are evil. 2) Not all people who believe in god are nice people. 3) If you agree with either of those statements you will find this film vomit-inducing, I certainly did. 4) I wish you could rate a film zero

Wish for Christmas is a terrible festive movie in an ocean of already bad Christmas movies. Every year we see dozens of these low budget clones pounded out ready for television premieres but they aren't usually this bad.

Now the three words that tend to be used excessively and badly out of context are agenda, objectification and propaganda. I hate seeing them used in reviews because they usually aren't but conflict with a persons stance on something. I however for the first time will use one of them.

This is a propaganda film. It tells the story of a girl who not getting her own way makes a wish to make her Christian parents lose their faith. In doing so everything goes to hell (Pun intended and hilarious).

From there I'm sure you can work out exactly how the movie goes and I don't see how anyone could claim that isn't the definition of propaganda. I haven't seen a worse Christmas movie of this type since the embarassment that was Kirk Cameron Saves Christmas (2014).

Beyond that it's cheesy, poorly acted and the plot makes me hate this time of year more than ever.

The Good:

Nope

The Bad:

Cheesy

Dreadful acting from start to finish

Simply religious propaganda

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Christmas movies need more Santa and less Jesus to be even remotely bearable

My wish for Christmas is a year without Christmas movies

Wish for Christmas won't win any Oscars, but it is well made and has a thought-provoking premise. This story has been told many times, and better, but Wish for Christmas gets most things right. I'm a Christian, so it may sound ironic that my biggest complaint is concerning the faith message, or rather HOW it's told. It's always tough to work that message into a script so it flows naturally. Unfortunately it feels a tad forced here. The message isn't wrong, it's just told wrong. (Uncle Paul's big talk with Anna never feels real, even though he's speaking the truth.)

Overall, Wish for Christmas is well made, the acting pretty much holds up, and the message is clear. Reading through the comments here has been a hoot. Atheists seem to be highly triggered. That tells me the message is correct, even if the delivery is a little clunky. You could do a lot worse than Wish for Christmas.

I agree with the other reviewer that it would be a shame to listen to religiously bigoted folks and miss this delightful movie. It may have elements slightly reminiscent of other films, but they are remotely similar, at most. A fabulous reminder that what the world truly needs all year long is less Santa and more Jesus. If you think that we're all here due to an illogically intricate bunch of cosmic randomness and genetic mistakes, you'll probably hate this movie. But if you're convinced there is eternal wisdom at work and it affects everyday life, enjoy!