"Wish Upon a Christmas" has a plot that could have made a very good movie. All it needed was a good screenplay, a couple of leads who could act beyond the high school level, a director who could get the leads to act and who would catch and correct the terrible annoying habit of the lead actress, and a much better set and assemblage of the ornament company workshop. But, with those obvious shortcomings, this film is terrible. The best I can give it is three stars, and that's for the fantasy aspect. That was a good idea for a "magical" touch, but this film did everything but kill it.
After the lousy screenplay, the next biggest and most noticeable shortcoming of this film is its almost across the board wooden acting. Most of these people are stiff. One can understand a couple of the employees in the ornament shop being a little hesitant - which would convey the suspicion about a corporate person coming to check out the business. But just about everyone appears wooden. The worst are the two leads, who play Amelia and Jesse. And the biggest distraction and detraction from the movie is Amelia, with her weird facial expression and darting, suspicious eyes. Was she expecting a monster to jump out at her at any moment? Was there a killer on the loose whom she was afraid would nab her? That behavior was something right out of a B level horror flick - the kind that used to get laughs from our audiences a ways back. Or something one might see in a silent film.
What an annoying and distracting habit to keep up on the screen. Couldn't the director see that? But there was one more gaping flaw in this film and its casting. One would have to be under heavy sedation to be able to imagine that there was any chemistry at all between Amelia and Jesse, or any possibility of romance. They just showed nothing. Although his pushing her was obvious.
I'm not down on this film because it had a negative overtone of a big corporation closing down a mom and pop business of many years, with so many dear people tossed out on their ears. If anything, the set for this company made it appear like an operation that was probably about dead. It looked as though these people were working in a rundown building, with poor lighting, a dull setting, and a messy place. The fake cheery atmosphere was supposed to be there in the people humming a Christmas carol together. No one smiled. It wasn't a happy atmosphere. Who would want to work there? Unbelievable - and really bad. But that was supposed to get one's sympathy for them?
Although the 11-year old Danny seemed a bit big, and old, for believing so intently in Santa Claus, the young actor was about the only cast member who was animated enough to seem real and believable. And there's a strange thread in this film with Amelia calling her dad, Mr. Pierce, once in a while and getting advice from him - which is usually out in space somewhere.
Just before watching this movie, I watched another on the same DVD disc. I gave that one, "The Christmas Contract," eight stars. It was one of the freshest and most original plots I've seen for Christmas films in some time. And, it was superbly acted and made. So, I'm not a Grinch about Christmas movies overall. But, just as with a barrel of apples, when one sometimes finds a rotten one, so is this a lousy film, amidst others that ranged from fair to very good.
This film had a few flickers of promise in the script, but unfortunately, that's all there was. Here they are.
Danny, "What do you want for Christmas, dad?" Jesse, "I got you - what could I want?" Danny, "A puppy?" Jesse, Nice try."
Rachel, "So, when your daddy comes to pick you up and can't find you, I'm supposed to tell him that you wandered off into the woods alone to see a hole?" Danny "Yyyesss."
Mr. Pierce, "You shouldn't talk yourself out of a solution before you even start."
Amelia, "How big are the cockroaches?" Jesse, "The size of your fist."
Jesse, "Nothing is a waste if it brings you joy." Amelia, "Were you this corny when we dated?"
Amelia, "What do you do when you start to hate the thing you're good at?"
