Un Noël sans fin

This is a uplifting, coming of age film. The story is about Pete (Zachary Gordon) a middle child who has the worst Christmas ever. He wakes up the next day and realizes...it's Christmas day again and again and again... Will Pete fix Christmas and have the best day of his life or will he be stuck in the same day forever?

What I love about this film is the cinematography. The Christmas decorations and snow look amazing. The sets create a great atmosphere for the film. I also like the story. At first it seems cliché - boy has a bad day and has a chance to fix it - standard issue. However, the pacing is different. Instead of it being just a few days of Pete reliving the same day, it feels like months before he realizes that he can affect the outcome of his Christmas. At first I didn't like this, but once I thought out it as a coming of age film I accepted the change. One think that was distracting to me is the writing. Don't get me wrong, the dialog is fine. I just think the set-up for the story is rushed. The writers wanted the story to go a certain way and forced it by placing the pieces together instead of writing as if the characters were living through this situation.

My favorite character is Grandpa (Bruce Dern). He's a grumpy man who doesn't want to get the cold shoulder this Christmas. I love how Bruce plays this role, how he wants to spend time with family. Sadly he wants Christmas to be like his dead wife's Christmases. In his mind, the family doesn't celebrate it right.

My favorite scene is when Pete tells his dad why Grandpa judges their Christmas. I pick this scene for one reason - the reaction on the father's face. He takes his time to roll through all the emotions and it's just perfect.

The moral here is, "It's not what you put in the box that matters. It's what you take out." No matter how much Pete recreates Christmas and gets what he wants, he stills feels that something is missing, something that is important in Christmas. Giving!

I rate this 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to 6 to 15-year-olds. Younger kids can enjoy the funny moments and the merriness. When you get a little bit older, you know the story is predictable but it is still a movie to get you into the Christmas spirit.

Reviewed by Keefer B, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. For more youth reviews, go to kidsfirst dot org.

Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime, Hallmark and UPTV. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. 'Pete's Christmas' had the sort of premise that had strong potential of being in the former category.

'Pete's Christmas' is somewhere in the top-in between batch. It is not a great film and could have done a lot more with the 'Groundhog Day'-like premise, but it is amusing and engaging enough and a pleasant enough as long as not too much is expected. Quite a lot is good, but it doesn't avoid the traps that a lot of festive films fall into. Though other festive films have fared far worse in what 'Pete's Christmas' has wrong with it in my personal view.

Beginning with the not so good, the story is formulaic and doesn't really have anything new or special to it to make it stand out, it also felt on the over-stretched side and felt like certain things that happened could easily have happened later or been elaborated upon more. Some of the dialogue doesn't sound very natural, and can be a bit corny and sappy like towards the end.

A better job could have been done making Pete more appealing, he does come over as too whiney and some of his antics are on the repetitive side. The music doesn't really fit and is rather syrupy.

The cast do do a very nice job, especially the adult cast. Bruce Dern has the most interesting and most colourful character and has the right crustiness and class. Bailee Maddison is also adorable and brings a lot of heart. While Pete could have been written better, the supporting characters are a zesty bunch and are fun.

It looks good, with some lovely festive scenery and touches clearly shot with care and love. It's amusingly light hearted and good natured, while also heartfelt in other places. The messaging is honest and easy to get behind, while not feeling preachy. Enough of the dialogue is good natured fun and the story has enough moments where there's charm and energy.

Concluding, above average fare. 6/10.

We've all been there, even in a loving family, regardless of gender :) It's nice to watch how Pete sorts out his teen angst, finds his maturity and deals with the dichotomies of family love. Bruce Dern is fantastic :) It's fun to watch these uptight, self-focused people - kids and grownups alike, become derailed and find themselves, each other, and their family again, not necessarily in that order. It's one of my favourite Christmas movies. First saw it one year when I was watching *all* the Christmas movies, and this was one of the best. A lot of them were coming out of Canada at that time. Another one I liked was "Father Christmas, Who?", with Leslie Nielsen. Anyway, it has a lot of fun moments, a lot of sweetness, with the disappointments of real life treated gently.

A very derivative but likeable Christmas TV movie, centring on Pete, the less-loved, put-upon middle child of three boys born to affable middle-aged American parents. After he has a nothing-else-could-surely-go-wrong Christmas Day with his family, a meteor shower occurs and hey presto, the young man wakens up the next day only to find he has rewound in time to relive his whole wretched Christmas Day experience all over again. So, amongst other things, he gets no present, gets the blame for ruining the family Christmas dinner, gets pelted with snowballs by the local heavies, also clobbered by same at the inter-neighbourhood festive American football game and joint worst of all, blows his chance of romance with the pretty new girl who arrives next door and sees his dad and grinchy old grandad argue to the point where gramps walks out on the family before the end of the day. Same day by same day, like a junior Bill Murray, he rights every wrong, closing on the real biggie, reconciling his dad and grandad to break the loop at last.

So it's pretty obviously a Christmas edition of "The Wonder Years" meets "Groundhog Day" the latter right down to young Pete using his repeat time to learn a musical instrument from scratch and find a way to his initially reluctant girl's heart, but it's all done so openly, inoffensively and amicably, plus it's only a Christmas T.V. show for pity's sake, your surname would have to be Scrooge for you not to be mildly entertained at the very least.

The two young male and female leads give nice performances in their Kevin and Winnie-type roles and Bruce Dern is the most recognisable cast member as the hard hearted old grandfather. The only really objectionable thing for me about this otherwise pleasant Christmas movie was the wishy-washy original music trilling away in the background but for fans of the two sources mentioned, this is a nice little film to while away the time if you're stuck indoors at Christmas with nothing much to do.

Family safe - no bad language or encouragement to lie, cheat, steal, or mock This is one Christmas movie that doesn't need fake snow (although there's enough of that too). Partly filmed in Ontario, Canada, on the shores of the Great Lakes, it's got plenty of the seasonal white stuff around in all the outdoor shots. The actors don't look too hot in their heavy winter clothing, and their breath sometimes frosts quite naturally. It's refreshing.

Zachary (Wimpy Kid) Gordon doesn't quite have the comedy chops of Bill Murray, but he's believable and sweet as a teen caught up in his own family's version of the day that keeps repeating until he gets it right. He's supported by some strong Canadian talent - Molly Parker as his overworked mom and Peter DaCunha as his too-perfect little brother - as well as Americans recognizable from a good range of decent television. Bruce Dern gives a solid performance as grouchy Grandpa.

Some slapstick and pratfalls but a lot of the humour is sweet rather than mocking. This is a series of small stories framed by, rather than tightly focusing on, Pete gaining maturity enough to see what he truly does want most for Christmas.