ronmanager

A very cheesy and harmless seasonal tale this may be. But the male lead is a strange choice as he's batting WAY above his average with his 'dates' in this film. They also have him wearing weird scruffy clothes throughout too. I assumed the actor must have financed the film or something and cast himself!

The lead actress is good as is the daughter but the rest are a little wooden especially the over familiar gas station grandad who comes across as a stalker at the start - little did we know what he was really up to...

Then they topped it all when the chef breaks out his synth and starts very badly lip syncing to an awful love song what he wrote. Quite funny actually though it's not supposed to be.

Switch your brain off and enjoy it though because it's Christmas ain't it?

I watched the film before reading the many 'how profound am I' withering user reviews on here. I disagree with them all. This film is a new take on the original story with a sprinkle of Pan's Labyrinth imagined magic thrown in.

I can only describe it as more of a fantasy version of the book with embellishment and exaggeration of the settings and characters. And a fine feelgood film is the result.

With the multitude of weak rushed films being turned out these days it was a pleasure to watch one as beautiful and escapist as this. I liked it!