Noël au pays des jouets

I like the movies that Melissa Joan Hart and Mario Lopez act in. Sure, they are usually cheesy romantic comedies, but still offer substance. A Very Merry Toy Store has a light romance between the two leads, Connie and Will. They don't have the instant chemistry and connection that you see in some movies. Their feelings for each other grow, change, and blossom as they work together to combat a common enemy: a rival toy store. There is a problem in their relationship at one point, just like all of these tv romances. However, the reason for Connie's pain is completely understandable and Will recognizes his lapse in judgment and quickly fixes the situation.

This movie moves along pretty slowly and is boring in some scenes. There isn't that much comedic relief, but they attempted to add it with Connie's idiot brother. But to be honest, the brother is just too clueless. No grown man would actually be that way. It's definitely off putting and a big reason I didn't give more stars. Funny thing is that the brother inadvertently saves the day because of a mistake he made. Lol

I like Connie's quick wit and the way she says what's on her mind. Both Will and Connie have huge hearts and care deeply for their town and neighbors, which is comforting. There is still something lacking though. I didn't feel a huge connection to any of the protagonists. I don't know how else to describe it except for bland. A lot of the movie didn't feel natural. And nothing really stayed with me after. I still enjoyed it though. But I'm not sure it'll be one that I'll rewatch.

It's a cute holiday film, and enjoyable to watch. But the plot is basisally You've Got Mail, just with toy stores instead of book stores. Enjoyable nonetheless.

Throughout my whole Lifetime (am going to be another person to reiterate that this is not Hallmark) Christmas film completest quest undertaken namely late last year, an interesting quest but very hit and miss, there was never the mentality of expecting a classic or the film in question to be flawless. Something that was never managed with Lifetime's output. There was always the expectation of seeing a film where one can see at least some effort rather than merely cash-in level. One could see that with enough of Lifetime's work.

Lifetime did however do a lot better than 'A Very Merry Toy Store'. It has its moments and is not complete dross, but it is to me one of the worst of their festive output that year and overall and really does not show that they are capable of something that is above mediocrity. Despite such a cute and appetising title, there is not an awful lot of merriment in this toy store or much merry about the film. 'A Very Merry Toy Store' isn't awful, it's just rather mediocre.

'A Very Merry Toy Store' has good things. Melissa Joan Hart, best known to me as the titular character in 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch' (have always been very fond of that) appeals in the lead role. Beth Broderick, who also was in 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch', stands out of the cast. A cast that on the most part is not bad at all, and Brian Dennehy is reliably good value. Some of the scenery is nice and attractive.

Same can be said for some of the soundtrack too and there were some genuinely cute, charming moments.

It is unfortunate though that they are too few and between, to me on the most part 'A Very Merry Toy Store' was rather bland as well as falling into most of the traps present in a lot of Lifetime's Christmas output. There is an exception to the cast, Mario Lopez was on the dull and charmless side as the male lead character and his chemistry with Hart doesn't quite gel and is more lukewarm than on fire. While the cast give their all, the characters are very thinly sketched with no real variation on what has been seen before in other Lifetime work. The villain especially is too much of a cartoon. The relationships never develop and the conflict is too predictable and thin to resonate all that much.

Production values-wise, Lifetime films usually fare much better than this. Apart from the exterior scenery, 'A Very Merry Toy Store' is among their cheaper looking films and it was like it was made in even more of a rush than usual. While the music has its moments, it tended to feel over-scored and over-emphasised the mood at times. The script can be stilted and the cheese and sentimentality get too much. The story is rather formulaic and can be rather uneventful and dragged out from being too slightly plotted.

Concluding, not awful but pretty mediocre. 4/10

I'm a little bias because I grew up on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The storyline is fine and it's a good movie to casually watch.

A Very Merry Toy Store (2017) Available on Prime Video (Freevee)

Here I am again reviewing a movie several years after its release, but I try to be thorough, and often don't see that in other reviews. The cast drew me to this one. I was curious to see a rom-com where the leads are not the usual 20-somethings or young 30-somethings. It was nice to see a 40-year-old Melissa Joan Hart and 43-year-old Mario Lopez (ages at that time) as the stars. That said, I didn't see or feel a great deal of chemistry between the lead actors--and I almost never complain about chemistry--I am usually one to that is open to the subtle signs. I'm not saying these two were bad together, I just don't think they are likely to have viewers on the edge of their seats, hoping they get together at the end--which is part and parcel of romance movies. (But hey, Lifetime is not as good at this as a few other romance movie networks).

The storyline here was interesting, and it was different from many rom-coms. The acting from everyone was more than adequate. I DON'T have the complaints many reviewers did concerning "fake snow," "cheap sets," etc. With rom-coms, I'm always willing to suspend disbelief and not waste my time analyzing peripherals that don't mean anything.

I do have one complaint about the movie--there were simply too many subplots, and there really wasn't enough time to develop them all. It's as if the script only touched the surface of many different stories within the film. Mostly, the subplots were resolved, but poorly, with a disturbing lack of details. We the viewers are left to imagine how the resolution took place, what happened to the people involved? I blame all of this on simply trying to cram too many little stories into an 87 minute movie--there just wasn't time. The result? Too much happened that simply was not satisfactorily explained.

This is not a bad movie. It's an okay movie that entertains, but those MANY subplots dragged the film down to a six for me. With perhaps 2.5 hours to work with and an expanded script, the film might have really shined.