It is like my fifth or sixth Christmas film of the season and I must say that I'm not fully pleased. Sadly, this one stands at the last among those I have seen. I'm not bashing it, but the narration lacked the festival spirit. Everyone in the story seems kind of depressing. But that is how this tale was designed to be different from this theme that our television channels are crowded with at this time. So I enjoyed watching it, in the end, I did not like it much as an overall film.
A father, travelling around the North America in his RV had not seen his daughter for like a decade. But his surprise visit during the Christmas eve brings a mixed feeling to her. That's not the same with the rest of the town, who are very happy to see him again. When he adopts a dog, it causes even more trouble in a relationship with his daughter. But his granddaughter is very fond of him and together they do all the festival stuffs. The remaining is to cover how he's going to win his daughter back.
Expecting too much from a television film is very foolish, but that should not be a reason, even when a film is really does not stand up to the mark. The main plot was much better, and it was not fully exploited as it should have been. Especially, most of the parts were predictable and that's fine, but a couple of energetic and surprising events would have turned it around.
Still, I liked the actors, particularly the director in one of the main roles, and again in particular the little kid. She sounded like a very matured (child) actress, so I hope she makes big in the filmdom. Sorry to say, none others, including Mena Suvari looked like they are in the film. In some of the parts, the dog stole the show. So overall simply an okay film, but it can be watched once.
5/10
