A Country Christmas

I don't like to slam movies in such a harsh way, but the reasoning is clear enough.

Let's start with the fact that they are trying to put Santa is the place of God, in many different areas. Not cool.

Next to all of that hogwash is the horrible acting. They have even used popular actors, but next to them is poor performances. The acting could have been straightened up, but it was pretty bad. It really reminds me of One Magic Christmas. Someone could die and no one acts like it matters.

If you like watching Christmas movies, you may want to skip this on your list. However, I am willing enough to say that it's at least worth watching to judge for yourself.

It's a low budget movie. You can see that based on the few locations and sets. Also, it's a very childish movie for adults. There's no deep message on it. It's just for children's entertainment. And there's no much of comedy on it either. I love Christmas movies but I almost gave up on this one. But it's not that bad. But as I bought it, I wanted to see it. Surprisingly, the acting is not bad at all. Kevin Pollack is the usual bad guy here. And there's no much of "country" on it although it was produced by Kix Brooks of "Brooks and Dunn" and Tracey Atkins made a very small appearance on it. It will go directly to my local community library.

I guess I'm not a skeptic as so many of these reviewers seem to be! I loved this movie. Just take it for what it is - a cute, cuddly Christmas movie that makes kids (and adults!) believe in the magic of Santa. Totally harmless. Yes the acting is not "sterling" but I love the story line. I love the part where Santa says "now you see it; now you don't". At first it works. Then it doesn't! DOH! I just found that humorous. The child actors are "precious" but appealing in their portrayals of the kids who must save Christmas.And I must say I'm a sucker for movies with talking animals, even though their mouths aren't even moving. (See "My Dad is Scrooge") I really enjoyed watching this. Good for all of the family.

What they fail to mention in the plot summary and trailer is that this movie takes a serious turn when the mother tells the kids she has cancer. The little girls starts crying and asks if she's going to die. We watched this with our three daughters, 11, 5, and 3. My husband has been battling lymphoma this year and we would not have watched this movie if we had known about this topic. Not only did is seriously upset our girls but also struck a nerve with my husband and I. If you're going to rate something for children you should be considerate enough to let parents know all of the topics discussed in the movie.

This is a mostly pleasant movie, funny and appropriate for kids with the usual challenges that they must overcome. But it does get really serious at times.

The young actors do a great job, for this type of movie. Abraham Benrubi really stands out with his booming voice, sort of Donald Sutherland trying to be Darth Vader. And Mikey Post offers a contrast with his sour attitude.

The edgy "Dr. Quinn" bartender becomes a kind and loving father, and Joey Lauren Adams is so sweet as usual. But there are some difficult scenes, because Renae has to explain her situation to the kids, and the kids have to cope with the problem.

Trace Adkins has a cameo as an intimidating cop. He's pretty much what you'd expect.

When the kids try to hide the secret, it is made quite challenging when some of the animals get into the reindeer feed, which leads to some entertaining visual effects.

I didn't see how this ended so I can't evaluate how everything turned out. I was recording two movies at once and they both got cut off about 30 minutes early, including commercials. In both cases, a magical fantasy figure who entertains children was in danger of going away, and a child held the key to making things better. A year later I saw the ending of this one but now I don't remember it.

But you have to believe everything turned out all right. This was rated TV-G when I saw it, so surely some miracle occurred before the end.

From what I saw, this was a nice Christmas movie to entertain the entire family.