Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas

Somewhere I got the idea this was going to be a movie rather than a variety special. I guess it was both, because it was the sort of fictional story about preparing for a TV special which, for the most part, never actually aired.

Instead, we see rehearsals, taping of musical numbers which will not air live, fantasy segments where Dolly is by herself (but not really), and preparations, with fictional characters played by actors who were supposedly in charge. So we have all the elements that would have gone into a real special, without ever seeing most of what actually would be broadcast.

And if you ignore all the details about preparations and pretend all the musical numbers and other content were in an actual special, most of it is pretty good.

Now I won't say Dolly Parton can do no wrong. I say this about Willie Nelson, who did well but really showed his age. Of course I like Dolly. Everyone likes Dolly, right?

But I didn't care for all the songs she performed. Of course she's talented and despite her age still has lots of energy. I just don't like some of the styles of music she performs, and she has done just about every style there is. I prefer the more traditional style country or Americana, and the 70s country sound that wasn't really country. But the various pop styles and Christian music that she also performed just don't happen to be my taste. Southern gospel is fine, and of course the European classical composers and other traditional styles of Christian music. But for a Christmas special, I mainly like the more traditional styles of music. I like rock and roll from when it was still called that, but at Christmas?

And I certainly don't care for something called "Go to Hell", regardless. Don't you think kids will be watching? There were kids in it.

It was probably longer than it had to be, but there was a lot of good stuff here.

Lots of hating reviews on here, and I'll agree - don't expect a lot going in with storyline, character development, production quality, etc. But it's worth watching at Christmas. Get a glass of egg nog, a few cookies, and soak in some Dolly for a couple hours, it will warm your heart. When I visited Dollywood, my review was "Not enough Dolly." This is lots of Dolly. The parts with Miley, Jimmy Fallon, Willy, Billy Ray were kind of disjointed, but it was nice to see them perform with Dolly. And the closing number is still in my head the next day. I loved it, I'm glad I watched it, and you should too.

I cannot begin to say how disappointed I was in this Dolly Parton Christmas special. I could not even watch it all...scrolled through most of it after I asked my husband to record it for me. It was a hodge podge mess. Whoever wrote this and produced it should be groveling right now to keep their jobs. Mountain Magic Christmas was a total flop. It was just awful. So many twists and turns, did not flow, awful dancing, awful scenery, awful songs. This is supposed to be a Christmas special but it would seem that the producers have no idea of what Christmas is really all about. The costumes were also awful. Hopefully next year (if they do another one) it will be done with taste showing Dolly in a much more regal light rather than this trashy themed idea they did for this one. Ps Who put the "hell" song in there for a Christmas special? Ugh! It was hard to watch is the best I can say. Next year find someone who truly appreciates Christmas to run the show! Dolly deserves writing better than this!

I love Dollys movies and her music, but this one left me feeling depressed and flat. Not much in the way of really good Christmas music and the storyline left a lot to be desired.

I was looking forward to see and hear her and BRC sing a duet but please BRC, cut your hair. Half of your face was covered by your hair to the point that Dolly had to brush it a side.

I think the best thing in the special was Liam although I could not find out why he was there.

Please Dolly next year make it a real special and not a hodgepodge of whatever came to mind. This special was boring to the point that I felt I had a voice on one side telling me to change the channel and another telling me to wait maybe it will get better. I should have paid attention to first voice, it didn't get better.

I know everything on screen isn't expected to be real, but watching the Dolly stand-in dancer being flipped around & doing high kicks in Red's Diner was totally weird and comical. You can freeze frame at 21:39 and clearly see it's not even Dolly or Jimmy Fallon. Also, the Jimmy Fallon autotune was distracting when accompanied by Dolly's magical voice. Dolly has great success off playing both sides of the fence, i.e. Talking about Jesus and the Devil, but then singing about being whatever you feel like which this movie also does. She's made a point to cater to all audiences which after all, she is an entertainer, not a preacher. If it was not for the Dolly Parton singing, this would be a 1 star movie!