Un Noël tous ensemble

Excellent for this genre!

It is so nice to see a movie that has very little sensationalism. They have their struggles and deal with them. I did not feel my stomach going into knots or my adrenaline spiking! Thank you! It was sweet and touched me and I cried a little. I also guessed the girls had to be rl sisters, and they are.

I'll probably watch this one every year. I think it is good and a warm Christmas story even though Christmas is not really the Focus of the movie, but more the context.

I hope everyone enjoys it. The house is gorgeous and reminds me of my family home. I don't want movies pushing my buttons. I am happy to just sit back and relax and enjoy a good story.

Merry Christmas!

It's five years since Kate (Carly McKillip) walked out of her younger sister Melanie (Britt McKillip)'s wedding. She saw the groom flirting and tried to stop the wedding. Their parents (Amy Jo Johnson, George Canyon) are struggling financially and splitting up. They lost their family home which is bought by Mike (Ben Hollingsworth). Everybody is estranged and bitter. Melanie is hiding the fact that she's living alone in an empty house. Kate tries to reunite the family at the old house for Christmas.

This is a lower grade Christmas TV movie. There seems to be more of them every year. The bigger problem is that there is nothing here but an idea for a movie. The setup is somewhat interesting. The story isn't interesting enough. The actors try valiantly but there isn't anything more that they can do. This movie needs to start with a better script. Also the romance needs better chemistry and a better male lead for it to work. The sisters have a few good scenes but that's about it. They also sing which is their gig now.

At first, this has all the appearance of a low-budget Christmas movie and to be fair that is exactly what it is - however, it is a cut above some of the really bad ones like The Town that Cancelled Christmas. Some of the acting is fairly mediocre, the story though is quite engaging with likable enough characters and some nice scenery to enjoy. There are even a couple of well-known musical numbers to sing along to. You can tell that everyone involved in making the film has at least tried to produce something decent and if you give it a chance, it's quite watchable. One the younger members of the family will probably quite enjoy along with mum on a wet Sunday afternoon.

I wanted to like this movie, and I did like the heroine, played by Canadian vocalist and child actress Carly McKillip. She and her real-life sister, Britt McKillip (think "My Little Pony") play sisters who get back in touch after a long estrangement, spurred by their parents' separation.

In theory this is a moving tale of family reconciliation. In practice, it tried to do too much with too little, at least on the head of the lead character. Carly gave it a valiant effort, but there was very little story in her character; even for a more experienced actress to work with. This is an okay-enough, even dull, girl's attempt at bringing her family together, without much in the way of struggle or more effort than talking to a stranger (eye-candy Ben Hollingsworth) who is only too happy to make her acquaintance and agree to everything she asks.

It's a bad sign when the subsidiary characters are given deep, meaningful problems that cry out to be tackled head-on and overcome, and then those problems are simply ignored for the rest of the movie in favour of our dull girl's dull journey toward a foregone conclusion.

All that negativity aside, the romance was sweet and developed gradually. The movie sets have pretty holiday decorations that mostly look normal family scale. And there's some singing, though not of well-known carols for a change. The backdrop, of BC mountains masquerading as Oregonian ones, is lovely to look at although the weather is suspiciously low-snow for a mountain town coming up on Christmas.

If you are playing board games or wrapping presents and want some background holiday themed TV, this is fine. But even a holiday movie fanatic like me wouldn't seek it out again on purpose.

As another reviewer said, you can see the caring and cooperation that went into the movie. There's only moderate acting talent. I thought the young boy did well, but it seems he didn't act on screen again since then. Big props for a story that doesn't center around whether a couple gets together! Th film is a little painful to abide here and there, but I'm not sorry I watched it.

Since I can't add a Goof to the list, I'll add here one that I noticed! At 4:45 time she is walking into her office. The sign says Oceanwood publishers, her narration says Oceanside publishers. :)