Help for the Holidays

At last! Hallmark presented a GOOD, new Christmas movie!...so rare anymore! I watched this movie several times and enjoyed it each time...and look forward to watching it again.

I like that it really stays focused on Christmas in all aspects: all the scenes...apparel...and make-up ...has magic...Christmas décor...and has a delightful, optimistic plot...with talented players. And the plot flowed very nicely!

"Christine" is absolutely delightful and believable...and she is what made the movie so extra nice to watch!

Santa looked, acted, and dressed as we expect a "real" Santa to be. (unlike some other movies.)

The little boy played his part very well!...not annoying at all.

Only slight downer: "Dave" ("Sara's" brother) was a bit too forward, too pushy trying to woo "Christine"...since he only knew her briefly. His approach should not have been over-bearing, but left to the viewer's imagination instead.

But anyway, I think the way this movie is...a Christmas movie with magic... is the way they should be...

...while some other Hallmark "Christmas" movies make attempts to combine Christmas and magic, they fall very, very short (one ex: the overly-hyped "Northpole")...as they stray from the point...to the point of annoying and boring since they include unrelated inner plots...while others have very annoying characters and/or unfit untalented players....and basically, have a lousy plot.

Review Date 3/9/2018

PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. I HAVE OVER 400 REVIEWS OF "CHRISTMAS RELATED FILMS & SPECIALS" WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY " C H R I S T M A S " MOVIES AS I CAN.

Now Someone keeps reporting my reviews. I guess they are jealous because I do tell the truth. I want to point out that I never make snide remarks about actors weight or real life sexual orientation. If there acting is terrible or limited "I talk about that". If a story is bad "I will mention that" So why am I being "picked on"? IMDB? When one of my reviews gets deleted IMDB will not even tell me what someone found offensive. Well on to this review.

Although she loves Christmas, Santa's elf Christine (Summer Glau) wonders if there could be more to life than making toys in the North Pole. When Santa receives an emergency wish from a little boy in Los Angeles, he puts Christine on a special assignment, sending her to L.A. to give the VanCamp family-mom Sara (Eva La Rue), dad Scott (Dan Gauthier), and their two kids Ally (Izabela Vidovic) and Will (Mason Cook)-a holiday wake-up call.

Great family film. Children will enjoy and parents will not bored. The film has a nice pace and decent actors.

I have this odd semi-obsession with seeing, about once-a-week, another Christmas... and this happens year round no matter what month it is. My obsession continued with this Made-for-TV movie from the Hallmark Channel. Santa sends an Elf to bring the spirit of Christmas back to a family who has lost it. Summer Glau stars and as she brings Christmas to the screen she is simply a delight to watch. Overall, an average, but still one of the better, Made-for-TV Christmas movies from the past several years, methinks. Definitely worth it for those who love that Christmasy feeling... even if it does take place in Southern California.

5.6 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

I'm a little late with my review, but still ... To be honest, I watched the movie exclusively because of Summer Glau. Otherwise I'm really not in Christmas movies. So, I started watching the movie with no expectations but to see another good performance of gorgeous Summer Glau. But, who would have thought ... I actually liked a movie! A lot! Not only that Summer's performance was excellent, also other actors delivered very good performances and even the story was good. I actually liked Santa in this one. Sure, you can't expect deep psychological studies, elaborate relationships, social criticism from a Christmas movies. They're here to entertain, to cheer us up and this movie succeeded in each and every aspect. The story's nice, the actors good but what overwhelms the most is really Summer's outstanding performance. It's simply amazing, how she manages to capture the viewer with only a smile and makes even the worse dialogues good (not that there were any bad or stupid dialogues in this movie). I think that she's one of the most underused actresses in this business. It's really funny that she even manages to curb the ratings of the episodes where she has guest appearance. Eva LaRue was also excellent. i know her from CSI:Miami and this was something completely different but she managed it with flying colors. Well done Eva! The other actors were not quite so good (at least for my taste), but still far better than 90% of performances in other movies. Pity that we don't get a sequel this year. It would be nice to see how Christine and Dave managed to fit in into real life or if Vancamps managed to keep the Christmas spirit. Nice movie, meant to entertain and it managed it perfectly.

This is one of the best new Christmas movies I have seen in quite awhile. I think Steve Larkin is the best Santa I have seen since "Miracle on 34th Street"! His laugh is contagious! I felt a more touching side of Santa. The fact that Santa also knew what his Elf wanted helped to bring the whole story up to a more of a loving caring level. Summer Glau (Christine Prancer) is a very cute Elf. I like the whole Elf ear thing, but don't want to include any spoilers here :) Christine Prancer's Elf friend Gabby (played by Jessie Lande) filled the best friend roll well. The story line is well written, and not just a typical Scrooge changing, Christmas, Love Story. The plot brings to light that Christmas is an important family time and that the spirit and enthusiasm for Christmas can be changed by even the smallest of the family members.