Les Souliers de Noël

Rob Lowe plays a lawyer who is so obsessed with work that he misses a school concert where his daughter has a solo. He is also having problems with his marriage. Kimberly Williams is the volunteer choral director who finds out she has a fatal condition requiring a heart transplant for a cure to take place. Two families cross paths in a number of instances. Lowe's wife takes over for Williams, canceling an important job interview her husband worked hard to arrange. Williams' husband is the mechanic who ends up working on Lowe's car. Later in the movie, Williams' son, fearing his mother will be having her last Christmas, seeks to buy Williams a pair of special shoes which Lowe earlier found lying in the street, mysteriously intended to be delivered to a department store which did not order them. Lowe gets the shoes to the store (eventually) and later plays a role in helping the boy buy the shoes. The boy's teacher rents a room from Lowe's mother, who we know will probably die during the movie, since Lowe is visiting her grave at the movie's start, 15 years after her death. The boy faces numerous obstacles in his quest for the shoes, and while miracles do happen in the movie, not everything comes out the way you would hope.

By the title and movie description, I thought I was in for two hours of a sweet heartwarming Christmas story. I was close. While this film is a heartwarming one, it's also quite tragic. The only thing missing was a warning about how sad and depressing some parts in the movie are. Kimberly Williams gives a stellar performance, and Max Morrow and Amber Marshall are perfect for the roles of the cute kids, much needed for the story. Although Rob Lowe was disappointing for the first time, in my opinion, I think this movie is a great one for families to see together. I think that there are many tough issues addressed in "The Christmas Shoes," giving parents an easy opening to talk to their kids about some of the harder things in life. This movie is realistic. Normally, it's easy to laugh at so-called "sad" movies, because in the end, everyone's happy, all ends well, and they do live happily ever after. Movie characters! But this film has a real-life feel to it. It's sweet, bitterly sad, heartwarming, and family-oriented. Definitely see this the next time it's on TV!

Before watching this movie, I was aware of the great song but not aware that the movie was based on a book.

I thought the movie was OK for a TV movie and the acting only average (although Hugh Thompson and Max Morrow stood out for me) so why the 7 star rating? Gosh darn it, sometimes there's a movie out there that comes along that just gets to me emotionally and reaching for the tissue box. It's very rare for a guy like me that doesn't shed a lot of tears but this is one of those movies. It offers up to us just what is important in life and we should all be aware of that message. Parental guidance recommended for those with small children.

Too sickly for me I'm afraid. From reading the other comments I sense that many of the other users had read the book and obviously loved the story. I don't enjoy this type of film whenever it's set but to set it at Christmas time with a beautiful, angelic dying mother was just too much.

I'll be avoiding this one in the future.

I absolutly loved this movie. All of the acting was great, every single character was well done! I have only heard the song on the film though, so I cannot compare it to that! But I loved this movie, and it will defeniatly be added to my Christmas movies list for the holiday season!!!