Le Pacte secret de Noël

This was confusing. The idea of twins switching is probably as old as mankind. It's certainly been done in books and movies. But it isn't done in Christmas movies as often as so many of the other devices. And this one was done pretty well.

The story had all kinds of possibilities and made good use of some of them. If nothing else, the movie kept you on your toes trying to remember which one you were looking at as the settings switched back and forth. I think we knew that in the end we weren't going to be very surprised.

So often in reviews we talk about the chemistry of the leads. Candace Cameron-Bure had chemistry, with two men. Eion Bailey and Adam Sinclair each clicked with Candace.

Production and scenery were good. It had mountain view and exterior Christmas decorations and interior Christmas decorations which were all beautiful.

As is often true with Hallmark, family was a big theme. And many of the other traditional themes were present as well including some sappiness. However, overall, I think this movie presents it all in a little different way.

The movie itself is cute, but as a Denver native, the inaccuracies are ridiculous. First, some of the aerial shots weren't even of Denver. Second, while Littleton does have some outlying areas and a Main Street, it's a suburb of Denver. When one of the twins mentions wanting to get out of Littleton as a child - you hop in the car and are in downtown in 15-20 minutes, not an hour. It's not some small town an hour out of the city.

The best part of this film is it was not your typical Christmas film. When it says 'Switched', that seems not interesting. There are many films on that theme, so you might think you are exhausted to take a chance on this. But this is a good, a decent one at least. Even though, it revolved on a silly concept, everything was told in a much better way. I meant very maturely, without any fuss.

Chris and Kate a twin drifted away while growing into adults. Now on one Christmas eve they are brought together by their loving father. They envied each others lives, which led them to switch the place just for like a day as they did a long ago. But the following events made them stay a bit longer. For such deed, there's always waits a serious consequence to explode and how that affects these sisters are revealed in the climax.

Only recently I've checked out Candance Cameron's 'Aurora Teagarde Mystery' film series and liked them. So I was excited for this to see her one more time. A much better Christmas film I've seen in this season. Because usually Christmas themed films are overwhelmed with nothing but Christmas elements. This one happened in the backdrop of Christmas, but the preference was given to other than that. Forget about the cliches, but still it is worth a watch. Nothing like children's films you've seen on the same theme.

6.5/10

...not for the story itself but for nice and useful moral. An interesting twist, lovely performances, the atmosphere of Christmas, the answer to envy and the simple solutions to the desire to be the other. And, sure, a great film about family. Simple, touching, precise message. And good performances . A sort, maybe only at the first sigh, of "The Prince and the Pauper". Working in admirable manner.

Candace Cameron Bure is one of those Hallmark ladies that I'm always excited to see on the Christmas Line-Up. Maybe it's because I grew up with Full House or I enjoy the cheese she brings to the party.

I love The Parent Trap (the superior one with Lindsey Lohan. Sorry, the old one is SO LONG AND SO BORING). So this premise is already enjoyable with the twin sisters trading places. Thank goodness there's no husband/boyfriends so there isn't any *cover your eyes* bedtime weirdness. The only thing I'm disappointed in is that they didn't make one the twins British somehow, I know, I know it doesn't make sense but it would have been fun to see Candace Cameron Bure try. (yes, you must say her name as a whole, its required)

What is with her and her damn Dream Board? I'm not opposed but this is the second movie I've seen her have one.

Overall, the premise is fun and familiar, the acting is decent and the music is perfectly seasonal. I'll be putting this on my rotation for next year.