Noelle

I'm not one to write reviews often. Disney has captured a cute and enjoyable amount of Christmas spirit with this movie that was helped along way by Anna Kendrick. A Christmas movie should do one simple thing ... give you the feels ... The feels are delivered here.

I actually really enjoyed this movie. Anna Kendrick is charming as always and Bill Hader is just awesome! The movie reminded me a little of Elf (which is my favorite Christmas movie). I'm sure I'll be watching Noelle every Christmas now.

In Noelle, Bill Hader and Anna Kendrick play Santa Claus's children, Nick and Noelle. When they're father dies, Nick reluctantly takes the family job of Santa, and yet ...

If you don't know where this movie is going in the first 10 minutes then you've never watched a movie before. The whole thing is a predictable mash-up of previous Christmas movies, taking elements of Elf's fish-out-of-water concept and mixing it in with a standard "save Christmas" plot.

So yeah, it's easy to criticize. And honestly, when a friend recommended it I only watched it begrudgingly. But it's actually tremendously fun.

Kendrick is adorable as the wide-eyed innocent, Hader is excellent as the freaked-out son, and there's a hilarious bit about the problems of using predictive analytics to determine whether children are naughty or nice.

The main issue with the movie is a certain laziness, with plot points thrown in and then ignored and with Shirley MacLaine's character never quite coming to life. It's a shame, because with a somewhat tighter, more thoughtful script this could have been every bit as good as Elf.

Anyway, ignore the haters, this is a solid Xmas movie.

Noelle is like "Elf Light." It's the same basic fish-out-of-water premise, but it's not as clever of a story. Plus, Anna Kendrick doesn't quite have the same childlike innocence & energy of Will Ferrell. The heart of this movie is more successful than its humor. It hits the emotional notes well, even when the jokes are landing flat. However, it tends to get heavy-handed at times and seems to make up rules as it goes. It kept me entertained, but I'm not going to re-watch this movie each Christmas.

I thought it was decent for a Disney Christmas movie. It has some pretty good humor. It also has originality. I saw it on Disney+ on Nov. 13, 2019 a day after they just launched it for streaming and good graphics. I enjoyed it, but it's not on my list of favorites for holiday movies. I would recommend watching it once for sure. I gave it a solid 7 because of the humor. It made me laugh and laughing is therapeutic for me.