Christmas Angel

What a pleasant surprise amidst the onset of Christmas TV movies which appear this time of year without much substance or that are just plain silly. A gem of a story, well acted and filled with truthful moments about the true meaning of Christmas. Great entertainment for the whole family. Kevin Sorbo as well as Teri Polo, Della Reese and young Izabela Vidovic gave wonderful performances. I foresee a bright future for young Miss Vidovic. Hats off to writer Andrea Gyertson Nasfell for a heartwarming script. Two scene standout moments for me occurred first, with Ms. Reese's character, Elsie Waybright and Izabela Vidovic's character, Olivia Meade, as Elsie's character opens up to her young, new and very inquisitive friend Olivia about her daughter. The second scene was when Kevin Sorbo's character shares his story with young Olivia in the church. The thoughtful writing of both scenes and honest performances moved me very much. Well done and thank you as a viewer.

Christmas movies, while not strictly a genre of their own, have certainly become a distinct subset of films. Since the late 20th century, Hallmark and more than one other television channel have run movies set around Christmas for the holidays. And, Hollywood produces an occasional Christmas time film. They can cover the full range of genres - comedy, drama, musical, mystery, tragedy, war and Western. The most prolific are the romantic dramas that often include some light comedy.

The latter are so formulaic that one after another of such films seems a repeat or copy with just slight changes from the previous one. Many of these can seem like daytime soap operas, and after a while the films of this type become mundane and hardly interesting. The challenge for these films, to hold interest of viewers is to provide something new and different enough - still keeping their romance theme.

This TV movie for 2012, "Christmas Angel," fits that bill. There is enough difference in it, that it's almost too complicated a story to tell well in just under 90 minutes. A single mom and a daughter live next door to an old abandoned house with boarded windows. Melinda works as an events coordinator for a bakery, bistro and catering shop owned by her friends, Jeb and Daphney Conroy. The setting is in Louisiana. Daughter Olivia's best friend is the son of the Conroy's, Lucas. One day, he throws a stone at the old house and makes a wish as some sort of superstition that I never heard of.

Soon, Olivia sees blue light shining through a window of the old house at night. She is curious and goes snooping. An old lady lives there - Elsie Waybright, a one-time famous singer, Olivia discovers, who chooses to live in seclusion. Olivia also bumps into Dr. Nathan Davis leaving the house one day. She and her mom learn that he owns the house and had lived there at one time. As they all gradually get to know one another over time, and Olivia and Elsie hatch a sort of Christmas angel plan to answer wishes that people drop by in a box they put at the front gate, the mystery of who this woman is, who Dr. Nathan is, who Olivia's teacher is, and the unusual relationship of all of those people, unravels. And that is the key to this film keeping one's interest up. The romance between Melinda and Nathan is a foregone conclusion and is a small part of the story.

There are some plot holes in this film - there's no accounting for Olivia's father at all. Did he die? There's no mention if Melinda was a widow or divorcee. Or, was Olivia born out of wedlock? In time, one learns that Nathan is divorced and that his wife left him several years earlier because he couldn't have children. He wanted to adopt but she wanted to have her own children, so she left him and was now married and had three children.

There are more surprises about Elsie and a heart-rending moment for her toward the end. Izabela Vidovic is very good as the young Olivia - about 11 or 12 years old. Her persona with her quickness, smarts and frankness reminds one of that young girl, Addie Miles, in what has become a Christmas classic, "The House Without a Christmas Tree" of 1972.

At times, the acting with the two children, Olivia and Lucas, seems a bit forced and overly done. So, it doesn't come across quite real for kids. Maybe the producers were trying to impress on viewers that this was really a Christmas movie about kids.

Well, the story is different and interesting enough, and the cast and acting for the most part are good enough. So, this turns out to be a notch above the average film of this type.

Most of the time Christmas movies tend to he a little silly...albeit I still enjoy watching them. This movie was not silly at all! It even got me to tear up a little. I really enjoyed Della Reese's character but I thought all the acting was pretty good compared to most of the "made for TV" productions out there. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good family movie with good values...which is not something I often say because I don't enjoy most of the attempts at it and belonging in the younger generation not something I'm usually looking for. A solid 10 for me and towards the top of any movie I've seen in a while, Christmas or not.

PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY " C H R I S T M A S " MOVIES AS I CAN.

Now Someone keeps reporting my reviews. I guess they are jealous because I do tell the truth. I want to point out that I never make snide remarks about actors weight or real life sexual orientation. If there acting is terrible or limited "I talk about that". If a story is bad "I will mention that" So why am I being "picked on"? IMDB? When one of my reviews gets deleted IMDB will not even tell me what someone found offensive. Well on to this review This is the 3rd Time I am posting this review

In this film Olivia Mead has one wish: that her single mom (Teri Polo) would find someone that she can call dad. She and her classmates soon discover that the answer to all their wishes lies inside a mysterious abandoned house.

This film is full of good cheer and believable performances. The late Della Reese gives a stan out performance.

What was nice about this film was is was about "respecting others" and "learning when to help when you can help".

This film does take place at Christmas but its one of those films that is perfect to watch any time of the year. It is very enjoyable and one of those films that makes you feel good about life.

Now that is a film worth seeing in my book!

The girl Olivia Mead (Izabela Vidovic) is raised by her mother Melinda Davis (Teri Polo) alone. Her best friend is the boy Lucas (Tyler Humphrey), who is the son of Daphney (Tamera Mowry-Housley) and Jeb Conroy (Jaiden Kaine) that work with Melinda in a bakery of their own. Near Christmas, Olivia's class has to present each Christmas wish and Olivia and Lucas believe that the abandoned house next door to Melinda's house grants the wishes provided they throw a rock at it. Soon the owner Dr. Nathan Davis (Kevin Sorbo) wants to stop the children from throwing rocks at his house and the snoopy Olivia discovers that he is the landlord of an old lady that lives in the house. Her further investigation shows that the neighbor is Elsie Waybright (Della Reese), a successful jazz singer that interrupted her career and vanished. When a couple of Olivia's schoolmates fulfill their Christmas wishes, the girl believes that Elsie is an angel and she wishes a husband for her lonely mother. Meanwhile Dr. Davis gets close to Melinda, but Olivia prefers her substitute school teacher for her mother while she gets close to Elsie. What will happen until Christmas Eve?

"Christmas Angel" is a beautiful and heartwarming TV movie, with a pleasant history of family, love, faith, sympathy and other values that are at least neglected or forgotten in the present days. The lack of chemistry between the gorgeous Teri Polo and Kevin Sorbo is impressive. The girl Izabela Vidovic steals the show with her performance. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Anjo Mora ao Lado" ("The Angel Lives on the Next Door")