Noël à tout prix : la guerre des sapins

This is one of those movies that just did not need a sequel. And rarely do I not love a Lacey Hallmark Christmas movie. This was just beyond disappointing. Loved the first one and was so excited to watch this when I saw the previews for the season, but it just did not deliver. The Jolly Johnson's left me anything but jolly after watching. I've watched hundreds of Hallmark movies and realize they are not trying to be Oscar worthy, but this is barely watchable. I have seen worse, but not with this cast. It was just incredibly disappointing and painful to watch. They can't all be winners, but this is a big pass for me.

I absolutely loved the original Haul Out the Holly. I watched it a zillion times last year, and was really looking forward to seeing this sequel. However, they completely changed the tone this time. The original was light and funny, any tension was minor, and you knew everything would be fine. This one introduced major tension right away with the very unpleasant new neighbors. I gave it about half an hour, couldn't find anything to like about it (other than the stellar performances from last year's cast), and then just fast-forwarded to the end, which was fine. They really missed the boat on this sequel.

I was hoping to enjoy this movie as much as Haul Out The Holly, but unfortunately I didn't. What made the first one funny, quirky and sort of charming was the easy chemistry of the cast. Lacey Chabert, Wes Brown, Stephen Tobolowsky, Melissa Peterman, Ellen Travolta, etc., all returned, which was great, but the addition of three new neighbors (a family who's made it big via a reality TV Xmas decoration contest, which sets up the premise of this movie) made me want to get in my car and drive away from Evergreen Lane. It wasn't the actors; it was the way they were written, over the top, self-absorbed and annoying. There was nothing endearing about any of the newbies and there needed to be in order for this movie to be semi-enjoyable, at least in my opinion.

Hallmark just might be able to redeem itself next year if it comes up with another sequel to this, one with much better dialogue and a return to the fun, whimsical feeling the first one brought. In contrast, I wasn't expecting too much from Holiday Road, another 2023 Hallmark holiday offering, but it's one of the best TV holiday movies this year. Skip HOTH: Lit Up and watch that one instead.

Caught this on the night it debuted. A few hours earlier, they played the original. I was at home with my mother and was not going to go out shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving. The original was inoffensive if not great. But this one. Let's just say that I am an atheist and I was longing for some spirituality or mentions of the real meaning of the holidays.

Instead, this is a very shallow look at a bunch of shallow people in a Homeowner's Association (HOA) who really don't think of much but decorations and cookie contests. Despite such a great cast like stalwart Lacey Chabert, Melissa Peterman, Ellen Travolta and Stephen Tobolowsky ( all returning from the original movie), there isn't much here to recommend it. Too bad. Not hoping for a third.

This movie was an utter disappointment The first movie was awesome, you saw the personal growth in the characters, they managed it very well, this one is just chaos and competition

They manage to get you annoyed from the get go at everything that goes on, feels like a bad attempt at showing HOAs in a good light(There is a reason they are slowly dying off) but at the same time it makes you so angry at the "famous"(Nowadays everyone is famous if they post the right thing online) people that are really only inconsiderate bullies that want to make other people feel bad

Usually in all of these movies(Battle of the bulbs, the christmas house. Deck the halls, etc) you see them realizing their mistakes and correcting them on the last leg of the movie, but this movie literally gives you a very lazy move from jerks to kind in the last 5 minutes, not 15, not 20, but 5.

The acting is all over the place, the main characters(Lacey, Wes, and the main HOA members) are as good as before(I mean, as good as can be expected for a Hallmark christmas movies, which are traditional but not top notch) but the rest is just bad and feels off

All in all it is just good to see as a continuation and in case there is a third one, but it does not hold on fine against the og nor other movies of its kind.