Il tuo Natale o il mio? 2

I didn't care much for the first 'Your Christmas Or Mine?' so was surprised to see there was a follow up. This is quite poor with dodgy acting and a stupid, and I do mean stupid, storyline. As if Geoff would have booked them in to somewhere so awful in the first place. Oh wait, the posh family has gone there by mistake. Lazy, lazy writing and not convincing at all. It is at this stage that I have admit that I bailed out on this about half way through as it was doing my head in.

I know it's a feelgood Christmas movie but this feels contrived, desperate and in the end it's just plain annoying. Give it a wide berth.

This is a real family Christmas film and has a comedy heart. It is formulaic but there are notable comedic performances by Daniel Mays and Jane Krakowski and the locations are fantastic. Having been to the Tyrolean region, the production team really captured the ethos of the place and it felt authentic. Asa Butterfield's performance however is slightly lacking and overshadowed, I found the pacing of the film to be odd too. It is set over 2 days predominately and yet so much happens. It would have benefitted from being a week for example to show more realistic development. It is up there with other ski themed films like chalet girl so if you're reminiscing of the alps it may be the film for you.

Your Christmas or mine surrounded the loneliness of the holidays with two different family archetypes - the feuding British upper crust and the working class pub warmth. Despite occasionally playing to stereotypes, the film did a deep dive into both families, while fleshing out each of the characters. The final 20 minutes created Christmas magic when both came together.

The sequel has a bigger budget but less heart. It played with every single obnoxious stereotype imaginable with the loud lower class family. Occasionally, it also conflated race with class. Existing characters like the grandfathers on both sides and the sassy aunt received even less acknowledgment and maybe had five lines each in the film. There were newer characters added that did absolutely nothing for the plot including Jane Krakowski's American authoress.

This was such an absolute waste of talent. The original cast had so much chemistry I wanted to see the grandfathers playing off of each other, more honest intimacy between the young couple and the parents fleshing out their own relationships.

Whenever the script quieted down we got the magic intimate moments from the original. There were even times when the script let the characters grow and we learn that everyone in the working class family can ski rather than playing to stereotypes.

However, the strength of the original script surrounded the feelings of the family members and the honest communication.

But this felt more like let's take two different British family archetypes and put them into a big budget Hollywood movie and see what happens ... Sadly,none of the original magic ....

Ok where do I start with this dull sequel to a movie which is lacking any decent story telling in the process?

Right the two main love characters have zero chemistry in terms of connection. They both looked bored in terms of the awful dialogue they are given but there is just no spark between them for the whole movie length.

The other side characters are just wasted in terms of development.

It was an lacksture affair with a script from the 1970's comedy genre of that time.

Personally I am at a lost why they made a sequel as the original wasn't much to write home about in truth.

If your at a loose end watch something else on a Xmas movie list as this movie is just a pile of Donkey dung!

I don't get the bad reviews. It's a Christmas movie...what the heck do people expect??? Its like Hallmark movie but British, with great acting, and with no fake snow. If you don't want a formulaic movie, stay away from almost ever Christmas movie ever made including this one. But, if by chance, you want a good Christmas movie please give it a shot. But make sure you watch the first movie before this one.

The reason I watch Christmas movies is for the warm fuzzies and to "learn" the true meaning of Christmas again. This fits the bill. It also has enough laughs to keep you entertained until the end. Not the best movie ever made, but well worth your time and hopefully a smile at the end.

Merry Christmas.