Jingle Belle (2018) -
This was one of those films of this genre that I put on expecting to hate and turn off straight away, purely based on the fact that I've seen the story before and I was worried that it would just be an excuse for a 'Cosby Show/Fresh Prince Of Bel Air' reunion, but it made the cut after all and I found that I did enjoy it.
Belle returned to her hometown to find inspiration for a biscuit jingle and assist with writing a song to celebrate the towns 50th Christmas celebration. When she got there she found that she would be paired up with her ex boyfriend and as the story progressed, each had to thaw out to let the other one back in. It was incredibly clear what would happen to upset things once they had started to become friends again, but it was done in a way that flowed sensibly at least. And there were no "What? Why would they do that?" moments where I would have to scream at the TV "Don't be an idiot" which I have repeatedly done this year for other films.
My criticisms would be that it was a bit short on extras for the tree lighting and it was a shame that at times it was incredibly obvious that the film was recorded in the height of summer.
Also some of the chronology was a bit off with them going out for the night, whilst others were still working, etc or the sun was out when it was supposed to be an early winter evening.
As a positive though it was nice that at least all of the singers could actually sing for a change. There's nothing worse than a film about an amazing singer and how great they are that turns out to be someone nice to look at, but with only a basic knowledge of what makes a tune or even worse they're ugly too.
Not my favourite of the films I've seen this year, but at least I didn't feel the need to turn it off at any point. Although it probably won't make it to my immediate rewatch list, I might come back to it again in my autumn days at the old folks home.
6.45/10.
