A Horse Tail

Must be the season for watching Charisma Carpenter as this is the second film of hers I have seen on UK's Channel 5. The other being Obsession. Any ways did n't set out to watch this and I guess I persevered with it. Patrick Muldoon the accountant, arrives to sort out a farm whose owners have come into debt via poor financial management. Romance develops between our accountant and Charisma one of the farm owners. Obviously there are some baddies involved, who want a horse called Holly for some reason. The film goes along so-so. For once I thought the child acting was actually pretty good, not cringable which I find in US dramas. The acting I thought with all the major characters I found pretty good, I thought it was the writing or maybe direction which let it down in some way. At times I thought Muldoon/Carpenter/Swain were rescuing it. Well the film ended with a tiny surprise in one way. I could n't see me watching it again. It is a family film I guess and I suppose if I had children would watch it with them, but could nt see them rush to watch it again either.

This film is called A Christmas Promise in UK and a Horse Tail in US. Think perhaps Holly's Christmas Tail might have been better.

PS, Charisma Carpenter definitely needs to be on TV more.

This is a good family movie that promotes working together as a family. It also speaks to accepting help to save what is most important. The film also shows how hard it is sometimes to let our children grow up without being too over-protective. Fun for all ages. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 1/15/2021

Pretty horses and cute kids, the family loved it! Would watch this one again!

I have to admit the reason I watched this little film was for Charisma Carpenter - I've been a fan since she was in Buffy and especially when her character was allowed to grow in Angel. I thought that we may have seen more of her than we have. So every time I see she's in a movie I give a look see... and I wasn't disappointed here.

It's Christmastime and the stables are suffering. Less and less people are coming for riding lessons and the ones that do who are too poor to pay get them free. The riders who stable their horses are being tempted away. Things are looking bleak, so they bring in an accountant to try and help them out of the hole, which has started to grow after the death of the mother and wife. Enter Michael (Muldoon) and his troubled daughter Chloe (Carlson). Michael is the accountant come to help the family out, however, he is soon butting heads with Samantha (Carpenter) who is a strong single minded woman who has stepped in to run the stables while her father gets better after his fall.

Though you know where the relationship is going it's nice to have a little friction between them to spice up the story and add conflicts. This romance is on bumpy ground right from the start... and that is a nice thing as it's more realistic.

One thing that lets the story down is the ending; I really do dislike coincidental happenings that make everything okay - this is not too realistic or believable. As for the acting, Samantha is supposed to be hard-nosed though I thought she wasn't powerful enough in getting her messages across, she was meant to be a fearsome woman but it just didn't quite come across right. As for Muldoon, I've never been too much of a fan of his. For me he's a little two dimensional at times, which weakens the characters he's portraying. The strongest actors and actresses in the cast are Carlson who plays Chloe, Lewison who plays Jackson, Swain who plays Sydney, and though he's not on screen that often, Tilk who plays Ben. It's because they portray the family so well that it adds to the strength and enjoyability of the film.

This is worth a watch, though it may be a few years before I look at it again... if at all.

Known as 'A Christmas Promise' in the UK. Pretty average plot and storyline, but OK although predictable outcome.