La Fille du père Noël

Such an amazing Christmas movie that my family and I look forward to watching every year!

You've heard of "King Midas In Reverse"? Kathy Ireland is Orson Welles in reverse - meaning to say the swimsuit model-cum-actress-cum-designer-cum-Christian's never done a movie as BAD as her debut ("Alien From L.A."). "Once Upon A Christmas" continues this tradition, though not alas for lack of trying.

This TV movie is based on the premise that Santa Claus has become disillusioned with his day job, what with so many naughty people in the world and anti-Kringle websites ("Jingle bells, Santa smells..."); but his good-hearted daughter Kristin (Kathy, but who else?) still feels there's a chance for December 25, so she agrees to try and change the mind of the Morgans, with the future of Yuletide at stake. But the father (John Dye) is business-minded, his children are avaricious and intent on getting rid of every potential substitute mum, and their uncle (Wayne Thomas Yorke, in the movie's best performance) is hardly the ideal guardian. Plus our heroine's sister is little more than the Grinch in human form...

All of which could, in better hands, have proven to be a decent little seasonal movie; it certainly has good intentions on its side, and isn't too shameless in its pitch for the "Touched By An Angel" audience (I knew John Dye had been on it, and I bet myself that Kathy had also been alongside Roma Downey at one point. I was right). But better writing and directing (Steven H. Berman and Tibor Takacs respectively) would have helped, with the amusing earlier scenes at the North Pole wiped out by the poorly handled climax; decent special effects - Kathy's sleigh ride makes "Superboy" look good - and child actors who can actually act wouldn't have gone amiss either. For a movie that's supposed to be about restoring the Christmas spirit, this is fairly low on spirit itself; it's never really as heartwarming as it should be, and depressingly short on humour as well (the villain gets surprisingly little time, with the emphasis on the family).

Kathy Ireland is, however, endearing (as well as looking a treat throughout - as the credits point out, "Special Thanks to The Kathy Ireland Signature Collection"), and the movie is more bearable than "Ernest Saves Christmas" or the "Miracle on 34th Street" remake. It would be nice to think that the sequel ("Twice Upon A Christmas") is an improvement, but I'm not holding my breath. (For those wondering why this is good for royalists, a certain Edward Wessex is one of the executive producers. Well, he has to do something...)

In this movie we meet Kristen (Kathy Ireland) who is the daughter of Santa Claus. And when Kristen, her father, and other magical creatures begin the Christmas season with the reading of the naughty and nice list things don't go well. After seeing that there are more people on the naughty list than on the nice list Santa loses hope in mankind, so he decides to quit. Kristen makes a deal that if she can get one of the families back on the nice list then it will prove that there is hope for mankind and Santa won't quit, but she has to do this before midnight on Christmas Eve so she has to work fast. She soon comes into the lives of the Morgans. As the father is a workaholic, his son is always in trouble, his passed-wife's brother has no job so hes staying with them, while his daughter is more like an adult than a kid. So now Kristen's got her work cut out for her. As she starts getting closer to success her older sister Rudolfa (Mary Donnelly-Haskell) is trying to stop her so she can take control of Christmas and ruin it forever. Soon Kristen starts to realize that everything isn't as easy as she thought it was in the beginning and will soon learn the one part of the Christmas Spirit that she never knew.

This is a fun movie to watch with your family especially on Christmas. It can truly get you into the Christmas Spirit.

This movie involves Santa and his family, Santa magic, and Christmas spirit. It is a bit preachy, or at least Kristen Claus is, about faith and love and peace and trust, etc. There is a definite evil antagonist, Rudolpha, Kristen's sister. She isn't merely greedy, but mean.

Kristen, and this movie, are syrupy sweet, overly optimistic, and pathetically naïve. Since this is obviously a movie aimed at kids, these traits may be somewhat acceptable, but I found it overdone and annoying.

The acting is not good, except possibly for the kids. Again, some of the overdone acting may be for a kid audience. Special effects and production were also below par. Outdoor sets had absolutely no feel of being outdoors.

The story wasn't bad for Christmas fantasy, even if the Santa's child saves Christmas is not a new idea. Some of the other plot devices are equally unoriginal, but as a whole, the story works as long as you don't look too close at any specific detail or expect reality.

Christmas has been put on hold! Santa's decided that since the majority of the kids in the world are "Naughty" and not "Nice," he's quitting. Unfortunately, this will leave his nasty elder daughter, Rudolfa, in charge, something for which his sweet younger child, Kristin, dislikes. And so, she makes a deal with pop - if she can return one family's name to the "Nice" list, Christmas is on. Except, this family's not going to be a piece of cake. A workaholic father and two spoiled children who desperately miss their mother, as well as a lay about uncle, make up for a charming and sweet Christmas comedy. Be sure and catch it on TV whenever you can! It's worth it.

The acting's excellent (what else can you expect from Kathy Ireland & John Dye?), the plot's pretty good, and it has some comical moments. The special effects are kind of fake, but that's all right. It doesn't take away too much from the storyline, and will even give you a good chuckle over flying reindeer. Enjoy!