Noëlle

I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised. A tad cheesy, but most Christmas movies are. It was adorable, sweet and had lovable characters.

I was excited for Noelle despite the reviews, and after watching, I still don't understand all the ridiculously critical reviews. This is a Disney Christmas movie targeted for kids for goodness sake. The plot to me is a mix between Elf, and The Santa Clause, and it honestly is better than MOST of the Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. It is a light-hearted fun movie and I love what the movie conveys even though most of the negative reviews are based around the fact that its "too feminist". The movie is showing young girls that their capabilities are endless, and that being a girl shouldn't hold them back from being whatever they want. The fact that so many people take issue with that is sad and ridiculous.

Below average Christmas movie. Just watched it because of Anna Kendrick. Great actress and very funny. Some actors are really bad in this movie. And Bill hader is not given anything to do. What a waste. Story is very standard and offers nothing new to the Christmas movie world. IT Has the Christmas vibe big it alsof feels like a money grab. Everything rests on the talent of Kendrick.

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.

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.