The Good Witch - Un amore di strega

This was your run of the mill Hallmark channel movie but that certainly didn't stop me from enjoying it. It was great to just sit on the couch with my popcorn and watch a good, clean, movie. The acting was good and all the characters were believable. I enjoyed watching Catherine Bell the most. She was perfect for the part. I MIGHT watch this movie again but nevertheless, it was still good to just sit and watch something without violence, sex, etc. It's definitely worth your time and it'll keep your interest 'til the end. 'Witches' don't exactly coincide with my beliefs but knowing it was a Hallmark movie, it didn't make me standoffish at all.

I'll admit, I was predisposed to like this movie -- Catherine Bell and Chris Potter, two of TV's most telegenic actors, and two of my favorites, in the same feel-good family movie -- what could be better! (The grandfather and granddaughter are particularly well-cast as well.)

Although the script follows a typical stranger-in-town plot, combining mystery, conflict, and redemption, the whole thing is very well executed with nary a misstep. The explanations regarding the title character's background make total sense when revealed, and can even let viewers who don't analyze by thinking ahead enjoy a surprise or two.

If TV movies were all there were, I'd rate this a 10, but in the larger context -- after all, it's not "great art" -- I gave it an 8.

(Note: When I originally wrote this comment, the running time for this movie was not yet listed, so I noted here that, as shown on the Hallmark Channel, it runs for 89 minutes, plus commercials to fill out the two-hour time slot. The running time has since been added where it belongs.)

Addendum: Rewatching this movie two years later, I find it has lost none of its charm, and indeed is even more endearing upon second viewing.

I didn't know about this movie until I noticed the 3d part of it on this site. And I thought that it will be interesting. So, today I watched the first part of the "Good Witch". It is a story of a beautiful woman, who came to live in the Grey House. Everybody around thought that she was a witch, because once she talked with dog, who scared children, and after that the dog has changed a lot. She had friends, but she had enemies. We can see how this woman tried to survive in this small town. It was very well-done, very bright, colorful and kind. A very good story with love and rivalry. I think that you can watch it with your family if you want to rest. The acting was brilliant, the plot is not very difficult to understand. Watch it! You will love it!

Let me say at the start that this film is about as far from "normal" as it gets for me. I don't have a family, I don't watch afternoon TV (and this film *definitely* fits both those bills), and I generally avoid Hallmark movies like the plague. But, you know what? I liked this one.

It is VERY low-key - perhaps even overly so at times - but it's the very "ordinaryness" of the characters that makes Cassie stand out, and the languid pace of the story fits well with the small-town atmosphere.

Everyone, the kids included, do their jobs well; and the upshot is a very pleasant hour and a half immersion in a children's story, with just enough to keep the adults amused. It's not J.M. Barrie, but it's not pap either, and it has the good sense not to overstay its welcome.

And for someone who likes Seagal and Willis and Pacino (when he can't find a "Casablanca" or a "Shawshank") that's pretty high praise.

Old-fashioned, never-never-land fable about a mysterious woman who comes to a small town to claim an inheritance, specifically, the town's notorious haunted house. She sets up a shop full of potions and gemstones and charms, which does not go down well with the mayor's pompous wife (and tellingly, the only fat woman in the entire cast). This chubby busybody, straight out of a 1940s comedy, is convinced the new arrival is a witch (she does own a black cat and an antique broom) and spends the rest of the film trying to drive her out of town. Meanwhile, the newcomer performs a series of subtle good deeds that help various town folk with problems ranging from sterility to bullies. This Hallmark movie bears more than a passing resemblance to "Bell Book and Candle," and in fact the reputed witch names her New Age-y store Bell Book and Candle. The delectable Catherine Bell plays the mysterious woman, a woman similar to the character played by Kim Novak in "Bell Book and Candle." Since this is a Hallmark TV movie, Bell has to rein in her incredible sensuality, but she's still quite a dish even while playing more of a Mary Poppins character. I got a kick out of the cover for this one, which shows Bell grasping what appears to be a long, black phallic object, while giving us a knowing smile. The object, if you look hard enough, is actually a very long broomstick. Familiar TV actor Chris Potter plays the local sheriff, a widower with two small children who is smitten by Bell at first sight. Spending an evening alone on a couch in front of a roaring fireplace, wineglasses in hand, Bell and Potter manage one chaste kiss -- no tussling in the sheets for these two. This is a Hallmark movie, after all. So a chaste kiss is all we get. Entertaining, low-key family movie that was shot in Canada.