The Spruces and the Pines

This is a seasonal take on the Romeo and Juliet story, though without the tragic ending - oh come on it's a Christmas film, you cannot call that a spoiler - though I for one would think a tragic ending would be more interesting... but hey, I have a dark side.

So there are two families who own Christmas Tree farms next to each other and due to a fire that took out seven years worth of crops they've been at each other's throats for as long as the kids can remember. It's been a year after Julie Pine's (Walsh) mother's death and she's decided to come home for the Christmas period to help her father in his busiest time... and it is the first Christmas without his wife.

It doesn't take long to find out the feud is still going strong and appears to have gotten a little harsher in the time she's been away. On her first day home, she is asked by the local baker to drop off Dave Spruce's order, while there she helps a man to tie a tree to a car roof. Unbeknown to her, he is actually Rick Spruce, Dave's nephew. There is a chemistry between them right from the start and Rick decides to chase her with the intention of courtship. It's not until later that his true identity is revealed, though by that time Julie has fallen for him.

There are some good lighthearted and heartwarming moments in the film and the relationship between Julie and Rick is engrossing and entertaining to watch. Add to this the character of the bear of a man Josh, perfectly portrayed by John MacGregor and the sweet, sassy, and beautiful Holly, nicely acted by Sarah Fischer, then you have strong character base to keep you interested. The writers have also given all of these some of the more wittier lines and it works well to keep the viewers entertained.

The only drawback I had with this story was the climax of the feud. This should have been thought out a little better and made stronger and more believable. There wasn't enough emotion when showing how the wife and mother's passing had really affected her family, especially her husband - this would have added to the climax. I know that this is primarily a love story but it would have been so much better to have a stronger resolve and make it a two-story film.

This is another one to cuddle up with your loved one beside a fire on a cold night.

Although a simple story line, I am quite sure that there are literally millions of men and women who have lived the rest of their lives regrettably for listening to their closest loved ones (fathers, mothers, aunts, or uncles) and for years wondered to themselves "...if only I had listened to my heart" and not to my relatives about that one true love of my life.

The family surnames are really hokey (the Spruces and the Pines) and much like the Hatfields and McCoys who owned adjoining farms, so do the Spruces and the Pines whose livelihood depends on the Christmas season when their Christmas trees bring in the majority of their annual income. Gradually the audience finds out what the two male tree farm owners Dave Spruce, (Ken Cheeseman) and James Pine (Tom Kemp) decades old dispute is about. Darn it if James daughter Julie Pine (Jonna Walsh) and her new found love in Rick Spruce (Nick Ballard) who is Dave Spruce's nephew is going to be ignored merely on a decades old dispute between the two (2) tree farm owners.

How the decades age old feud is finally put to an end becomes emotional (at least it was for Mrs. Shullivan and I) and for the next few scenes this Christmas themed film is worth watching.

I rate it a a solid 7 out of 10 rating.

6.4 stars.

This is a very rudimentary film from start to finish. It's about two families. One family has the last name of Spruce. The other family with the last name of Pine. These two families have had an old rivalry going back decades. They are at odds with one another, yet they live on adjacent properties. The whole town is aware of this unsettled dispute of some sort between the families. This sort of movie has been done many times. Inevitably one child of a family falls in love with a child of the other family, and they are under a lot of pressure to break up due to old grudges. Some films have displayed this theme in an entertaining and fun way, this one is not so fun.

Sure, the emotion is in few crumbs form. But, for a predictable love story using Christmas as pretext and Romeo and Juliet as tool. A long conflict. The love of children and the letters afterlife. A Christmas tree . The wedding after an year of concilation. Nothing new, nothing original - the title is the best proof-. But working in decent manner. And , in essence, that remains the most important detail. So, the emotion as lead virtue. Sure, not so real but ...nice.

The movie was predictable and it was trying too hard to associate the well known story with the christmas spirit of the movie.