Last Chance for Christmas

I don't like Santa Claus movies in general, but this one was a winner. Hilarie Burton was particularly appealing and sympathetic as the feisty no nonsense Annie who is eventually won over by the shy, fish-out-of- water stable-master, John. Jayne Eastwood as Mrs. Claus, was a hoot. Clearly the brains of the operation, She was the ruthless mob boss, willing to send her minions to steal a little girl's pet reindeer so millions of little children aren't disappointed on Christmas morning. Yes kids, sometimes the end does justify the means. Lots of laughs, a poor single mother trying to save her farm from evil big business, a sweet little romance. and some charming fantasy. Overlook the forced conflict between the two lovebirds, and the questionable ethical issues, and you'll have a good time with this one.

Mrs Claus thinks it is okay to steal a pet reindeer? That is not the idea of Mrs Claus I grew up with. She is a conniving thief as bad as Mr Buckley in the movie. Stealing is stealing no matter if it is for saving Christmas.

This was a Lifetime Christmas movie in 2015. Gabe Hogan (Heartland's Peter) and Hilarie Burton were a good pair for the leads and the little girl was adorable. They did a good job in matching the pair. The interaction of Hogan and the little girl was well done. Burton was in Christmas in the Bayou-2013 and I thought the black hair and outfits made her look better here. Great to see Jayne Eastwood playing a rather different kind of Mrs Claus (we've seen her in many shows and she's always good). Yes I spotted Derek McGrath (Dr Hebert on Doc) as Santa. Two elves and a pilot provided some great humor. There was not really a dull moment in this movie. Really didn't think the movie would be this good. It was funny in parts as well, even though it was not listed as a Comedy. Enjoyed the reindeer.

Here are a few criticisms. This is supposed to be taking place in Alaska at Christmas. I have never been there, but isn't daylight kind of scarce that time of year? We had lots of daylight in this movie. Yes, the great reindeer preserve is a small pen of 12 reindeer you feed a handful of hay to. It was OK though.

Right, well needless to say that I had never heard about the 2015 movie "Last Chance for Christmas", from writers Mike Bell and Gary Yates, with the latter also directing the movie. Still, I opted to sit down and watch the movie, as part of this years Christmas movie marathon throughout the month of December.

I have to say that I essentially just figured that I would be in for a standard generic sappy Christmas movie, as I sat down to watch "Last Chance for Christmas", given the movie's cover. Yeah, I know, you can't judge a book (or a movie) by it's cover, but it just seemed like an archetypical sappy Christmas movie, but still, I opted to give the movie a fair chance.

The writers actually put together a fair enough script, as it proved to be entertaining, although somewhat generic and predictable, for sure. But I was actually fairly entertained throughout the course of the 87 minutes that the movie ran for, and isn't that the sole purpose of watching a movie?

The only performer on the cast list that I was familiar with was Tim Matheson. Regardless, I will say that the acting performances in the movie were fair.

Watchable, for certain, however I think diehard fans of the sappy Christmas movies will enjoy "Last Chance for Christmas" far more than I did.

My rating of director Gary Yates's 2015 movie "Last Chance for Christmas" lands on a five out of ten stars.

I love me some Hilarie Burton which is the only reason I suffered through this entire movie but nit even she could save this. It was pretty bad but the nail in the coffin was Mrs. Claus. SHE STOLE A REINDEER! Mrs. Claus isn't supposed to act the way this one did. No, thank you. Lifetime usually hits it out of the park but this was a huge miss for me.