Des souvenirs pour Noël

The main virtues - the flavors of childhood, the Rottweiler and the two kids.

The big problem - Jessica. She seems just psychotic, selfish at whole, absurd in too many senses. And the romance, unfortunately, forced.

But it is a beautiful film in essence, first for the fair use of the game with pieces of past. And for a fair definition of parenthood and lovely wisdom of children. And, sure, for the tree, lunch box and the man actor. And, I admitt - for Jason London and.................Their presence just works.

Yes, it is a Hallmark, with all sins and few drops of virtues. So, saved by nostalgic air. And by children.

Its Christmas and Jessica comes back home for Christmas. She comes back to the house she loved and that her dad built. Its been 3 years since she's been home. She is excited to tell her parents she decided she wants to give up her life as a lawyer and come back home. She was not ready for the devastating news her parents revealed. She reminisces about her childhood and the young boy she met one summer and the lunch box (time capsule) they buried. Its been rough since her husband passed away, 3 years ago. She meets Michael, a single father, who lives in town. After her parents tells her who he is, she automatically takes a disliking to him. A dog showed up at Michael's doorstep and he took her in. But, the dog always seems to find his way to Jessica's house. Could the dog be trying to get them together? Does the dog know something they don't know? All you have to do is give me a nice story with wonderful actors and I am a happy camper. And that is what this movie has.

My problem with this movie is that the cover shows a bunch of puppies so my daughter & I thought it was going to be ABOUT puppies at Christmas. It was in the kids section but it did not keep her entertained & we were both unhappy that we felt misled by the cover & where it was placed in the video rental store. The sticker on the DVD cover says Family Holiday which I guess is correct because there were no inappropriate themes, etc. so I can see why it is family & holiday. I guess my problem is more with where it was in the rental store because it was in the kids section, not family section. I think it is more of a family holiday romance though so I am glad that we get unlimited movie rentals for a flat fee with Blockbuster so I did not have to spend much on this lesson.

These comments will not summarize the plot; the reader will have to look elsewhere for that. This is more a meta-comment about aspects of the production.

This is the best holiday movie I've seen this year...and the second wherein a wandering golden retriever was cast as the catalyst for precipitating a happy ending. As today is given as the release date, the airing I just viewed on the ION channel must have been the premiere. Consequently, these comments might not be fully appreciated until somebody fills in the plot or synopsis.

I just want to say that special kudos should go to the casting director, Ricki Maslar. Every part was "perfectly" cast...the leads were ideal for their parts, the kids were cute (although their characters seemed a bit mature for their age, in the way they "advised" their respective parents about their love lives), and everyone playing a supporting role couldn't have been better.

But I want to mention two parts, in particular. It was so good to see Bruce Davison, as the family patriarch, in a sympathetic role (for once), that I wish his part could have been bigger. And Elisa Donovan as Anna, who pokes and prods and needles and knocks her big sister Jessica (Andrea Roth) toward romance is absolutely, positively delightful!

The tone and tenor of the production was uniformly appropriate throughout, *except* I didn't care much for the vocal backgrounds in the soundtrack during certain characters' pensive moments. I would have much preferred simple instrumentals.

I absolutely detested Jessica right off the bat so anything that came after that it was hard for me to forgive her. How can she be this stupid, and this is a federal prosecutor, apparently successful. Buying a house is not something you put off figuring you can grab it at the last minute. And then she was arrogant, stubborn and blind about it. So I really didn't want to see Michael end up with her.

I kept watching it for a few reasons. 1) I like Nicholas Brendon. 2) There are two cute kids and cute dog. 3) You have to know the childhood friendship is going to come back into play somehow.

The acting was decent though not exceptional. The story had definite possibilities if it could have toned down Jessica's psychotic behavior.

The two kids have the wisdom of the ages which is a bit much at times.

Of course nothing is a surprise, but that didn't mean it wasn't sweet.