Northpole: Open for Christmas

Not long after the original Northpole film aired, Hallmark announced that a sequel to the film under the working title Northpole 2 before being now called by its current name Northpole: Open For Christmas was in production and like most Hallmark fans, I had an open mind to see it. To me, this has to be one of the best sequel films Hallmark ever made.

Now for the plot. Clementine the elf was given a new task by Santa to help a workaholic Real Estate agent (played by the ever wonderful Lori Loughlin) restore her late aunt's Inn which actually serves as beacon for Santa's sleigh while at the same time helping her regain her true spirit of Christmas she lost as a kid.

As far as we know, Bailee Madison was the only actress from the original film to reprise her role as our favorite lovable elf Clementine. Santa Clause unfortunately was no longer played by Robert Wagner as in the previous film and was replaced with Donovan Scott for this film and his role as Santa was actually equally as wonderful as how Robert portrayed him. All the actors did an amazing job in this film especially Ava Telek (April Telek's daughter) as the widowed carpenter's daughter. Like the original, the movie was shot in Montreal, Canada, but at a different part of the city.

All in all, this is a great sequel film. Wonderful acting, good plot though there were some flaws, and good special effects. Like the original film, some people may love it, some may not love it, but hey, everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

I love the chemistry between Lori Loughlin and Dermot Mulroney. I wish Hallmark paid better attention to pairing up couples in their movies because the more recent ones lack great chemistry. Though this is a family Christmas movie, it makes it more interesting when the actors "gel".

Watching these 2 fifty-somethings sleepwalk through the twilight of their career gives this movie a special place in the film school case studies of corporate, group think, cookie cutter productions. How do you fill 90 minutes with dialog without really saying anything? "Northpole: Open for Christmas" is your answer. My XMas advice? Get to bed early...

Lori Loughlin finds a sense of place, falls in love with handyman Dermot Mulroney and, oh yeah, saves her aunt's country hotel and Christmas while she's at it, in the second of Hallmark's annual "Northpole" series.

"Open for Christmas" grafts a standard Hallmark romantic comedy onto NORTHPOLE's elaborate magical thesis in a workmanlike fashion. However, there is little in the way of dramatic tension to make this worth watching. Ms. Loughlin inherits her aunt's hotel; it has no guests and no source of income. Even so, there is little sense of financial urgency about the outcome once Donovan Scott as Santa tells Ms.Louglin he is depending on her, despite the occasional histrionics.

The performances are fine. I won't claim that Donovan Scott has cornered the market on Santa, but he has performed the role once or twice a year for more than a decade. Pierre Jodoin's cinematography is excellent; he manages to capture that grey afternoon snowfall light that shows up around Christmas. Yet the script itself never manages to make the viewer think that the inevitable romcom happy ending is ever in doubt.

This Christmas Movie may be fun to watch for kids, but is really odd for adults. The romance plot could not be more linear and the part of reviving someones christmas spirit has been played exactly like this hundrets of times....also some of the dialogues and lots of coinsidences are really weird and just there to make up they had no clue how to give the plot a constant flow.