User Reviews

When this movie opened with a series of fake newspapers, zooming in on various poorly-written articles designed to whip far-right-wing Christian dominionists into an angry lather about The Nanny State, we knew we were in for a long two hours. And we were right! The acting is really, REALLY bad. The only vaguely likeable character is the B&B keeper, who is completely unhinged-she keeps yelling at an offscreen "husband" whom we never hear nor see, and who I'm pretty sure doesn't exist, and her opening dialogue is about how many bees she has, and would the protagonist like to see her additional bees out back? As we watched this atrocity of a film, I clung to her few appearances, waiting for her to say something clearly intended to be sweet-but-quirky but inevitably landing as she-should-see-a-doctor-for-a-neurodegenerative-disorder-screening.

Now. The entire premise of this movie appears to be that the creators, who I would strongly suspect are a particularly persecution-obsessed couple of Christian dominionists, are real, REAL mad about the United Nations' 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child. "But," you protest, "that sounds like a terrible premise for a Christmas movie!"

You are correct! It is! The creators have badly misunderstood the CRC, assuming that it means that children are no longer beholden by laws or rules set forth by adults of any stripe, and thus kids, no longer allowed by international law to be punished by any adults, are becoming NAUGHTY. Santa, and the film's creators, are very upset about this, and think that parents should be allowed to discipline their children. I cannot stress enough that the CRC does not in any way prevent parents from disciplining their children. It does lay out the fundamental human rights of children to not be beaten, trafficked, or otherwise exploited; maybe the creators think it's their God-given right to abuse their children? (Notably, this movie takes place in the USA, which has signed but not ratified the CRC, making the premise somehow even less plausible.)

On a less-meta level, the movie attempts a few distinct plotlines which it picks up and drops at whim, failing completely to tie them together. They carried on with the irrelevant Nativity Play plotline uninterrupted for so long that I was actually a little surprised when the elves, presumably the protagonists, came back into the picture. The two slightly more weighty plotlines, about all the children misbehaving and the confusing attempt at reviving an industrial small-town economy (with...berries that taste like Christmas...?), never get resolved on-screen, but are, respectively, pseudo-implied to be resolved at the end and written off as so infallible that it's obviously going to work out fine, no further explanation necessary. Note: this is not true, and their explanation for how they were going to leverage a neighbor with unworked land who had "always wanted to run a vineyard" (for berries?) to create jobs for the entire town is concerningly nonsensical, the type of thing people who think they understand agriculture/fetishize the Rural American Farmer (TM) would find plausible. That's bad writing, y'all!

Anyways, I love bad Christmas movies, but at nearly two hours long and with the worst writing and acting I have ever witnessed, I would skip this one. The occasional and unintentional comedy of the B&B lady is not worth it.

Happy holidays to everyone except the jerks who made this movie.

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.

In this film Santa's elves (Joshua Roy, Monica Eder) are trying to save Christmas. The plot line of this film is that the majority of the worlds children are now on the naughty list! Santa is about to cancel his annual ride. So our hero elves befriend a girl. Slowly there presence makes huge in her life and ripple effect takes place! The elves also learn what Christmas truly is.

There is several other minor stories that are not needed and on top of that they didn't work. So that makes this film a creative mess. It doesn't know where to focus the story line. Some people will hate the "Christian" message but hello "Christmas is a Celebration of the birth of Jesus". I am not very religious but, I don't mind a religious message. I expect them.

25 minutes of this film that could easily been cut. The dialog at times was laughable.

What I like about this film was that "Money is not needed for Christmas". "Christmas is not about gifts".

Not a bad film but not a film I would want to watch again. Safe for children but they might get bored! The film runs almost 2 hours

This film is for a young demographic (probably 6-15), however it did have some legitimate laughs anyone could appreciate. It thrives on heart and honesty set against a backdrop of small town charm. Two elves, away on assignment, team with a local Christian girl to re-establish good principled behavior within the town's cast of trouble-making children.

As far a production value, the film is carried by it's cinematography, sound, and locations, all of which are grade-A and top-tier for indie film making. Other pluses include wardrobe, make-up, and bits and pieces of the acting and dialogue. Based strictly on these elements combined, I give the film a 9++.

What holds this film back are some weak areas in the script, acting, and editing. Some scenes and dialogue dragged, causing the film to (uncomfortably) lose tempo. Based strictly on these elements combined, I give the film a 4. A lot of the real qualities came from certain departments and that is evident. Sadly, the script, tempo, and amateur acting just countered much of the positives. In evaluating the film for its total attributes, I give a rating of 6+. The lack of completeness was damaging but to the film's credit, it had many high-value elements that most low-budget indie films can only dream about.

A great feature for students/fans of indie film (lessons to learn/lessons to gain). A nice DVD for all of the kids in your extended family.

It was mainly filmed in Shelby, Ohio, which is an ACTUAL "small town" in Ohio. Yes it had a "preachy" element that some don't like - but I thought everyone knew that it was going to be an ultra low budget "Christian" film about the true meaning of Christmas and people banding together in hard times to help each other. It used real events - like the closing of the General Motors plant in Mansfield causing massive job losses in the area. Actual depressing times in Shelby, were given this film about looking for new business ideas inspiration and how that can get people through tough times. It was fun enough to watch and "sweet".