Wish for Christmas

Wish for Christmas is a terrible festive movie in an ocean of already bad Christmas movies. Every year we see dozens of these low budget clones pounded out ready for television premieres but they aren't usually this bad.

Now the three words that tend to be used excessively and badly out of context are agenda, objectification and propaganda. I hate seeing them used in reviews because they usually aren't but conflict with a persons stance on something. I however for the first time will use one of them.

This is a propaganda film. It tells the story of a girl who not getting her own way makes a wish to make her Christian parents lose their faith. In doing so everything goes to hell (Pun intended and hilarious).

From there I'm sure you can work out exactly how the movie goes and I don't see how anyone could claim that isn't the definition of propaganda. I haven't seen a worse Christmas movie of this type since the embarassment that was Kirk Cameron Saves Christmas (2014).

Beyond that it's cheesy, poorly acted and the plot makes me hate this time of year more than ever.

The Good:

Nope

The Bad:

Cheesy

Dreadful acting from start to finish

Simply religious propaganda

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Christmas movies need more Santa and less Jesus to be even remotely bearable

My wish for Christmas is a year without Christmas movies

I'm a big fan of Joey Lawrence. It's a pretty good movie but have a real issue how it makes it look like you have to be a religious fanatic who expects a prayer to solve all of their problems instead of of making things happen yourself. That if you're an atheist you aren't caring, sympathetic, helpful. Which isn't true at all. Atheists are just as caring, sympathetic, and helpful as religious people if not more so as we do it because we care not because we fear a imaginary being. This movie makes it look like you either got to be a fanatic or a selfish, uncaring jerk. I wish they could have swung it with some kind of middle ground.

Wish for Christmas won't win any Oscars, but it is well made and has a thought-provoking premise. This story has been told many times, and better, but Wish for Christmas gets most things right. I'm a Christian, so it may sound ironic that my biggest complaint is concerning the faith message, or rather HOW it's told. It's always tough to work that message into a script so it flows naturally. Unfortunately it feels a tad forced here. The message isn't wrong, it's just told wrong. (Uncle Paul's big talk with Anna never feels real, even though he's speaking the truth.)

Overall, Wish for Christmas is well made, the acting pretty much holds up, and the message is clear. Reading through the comments here has been a hoot. Atheists seem to be highly triggered. That tells me the message is correct, even if the delivery is a little clunky. You could do a lot worse than Wish for Christmas.

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.

I want to make one thing clear at the beginning of this review. I am not a fan of "organized religion". I believe that there is a God and I thank him daily. I am not a fan of some of his fans. However this also doesn't prevent from not believing in Jesus. Again I thank him daily but I do not like some of his fans as well. They always seem to use The Bible and Jesus to pass laws and "Pass judgment on people they don't Know".

Now On to the review of this movie and in a nutshell I did like this. What I like is the fact when you put something first "Above your own needs" you do become humbled and you do see the need of your place in the universe. I also love the message that "Looking down on people" doesn't make you superior.

The plot however is that a high school senior finds out from her parents that she has to miss the town's winter dance to attend Christmas Eve service at church, she successfully wishes their faith away, bringing disastrous consequences to her family and community.

"Big Brother Fans" will get a kick that Jeff Shroeder has a major role in this.

Not my favorite Christmas movie. It is a plot stolen from "It's a Wonderful Life". What was different was this is the first time I seen the plot device used on a teenager. Now I bet you are thinking "Does she change her ways"? Let's just say "The ending is typical but enjoyable".

1) Not all atheists are evil. 2) Not all people who believe in god are nice people. 3) If you agree with either of those statements you will find this film vomit-inducing, I certainly did. 4) I wish you could rate a film zero