A Dance In The Snow | 2024 Christmas Movies

So let me get this right - The Christmas Quest, a movie about an actual mystery, is on the main Hallmark Channel while A Dance In The Snow, a movie about an autistic girl and her mother, is on Hallmark Mystery. Make it make sense, Hallmark!

Jenny (Vanessa Burghardt) is an autistic high school senior. Her mother, Melanie (Erica Cerra), does everything she can to make Jenny’s life easier, including opening a center for autistic people. When the school’s winter dance rolls around, Jenny doesn’t want to go due to a bad experience the previous year. As a surprise for Jenny, Melanie, with some help from Jenny’s literature teacher Daniel (Mark Ghanimé), decides to join the dance planning committee in order to make the dance more accessible for everyone. Meanwhile, Jenny and her friends decide to plan their own winter dance as a surprise for Melanie. Love begins to bloom for both women but, thanks to the secrecy, their relationship falters a little.

This was a pretty sweet movie. It was nice to see an autistic actor (Burghardt) playing an autistic character. Usually the directors give some lame excuse about how difficult it is to find someone or work with them. A Dance In The Snow proves those excuses wrong.

With that said, I don’t know that this movie is for everyone. The plot does move pretty slowly and there isn’t a ton of action happening. However, it really is a nice break from the insanity that is the traditional Hallmark Christmas movie.

Rating: There’s no Christmas but there is snow

The Christmas Quest | 2024 Christmas Movies

The Christmas Questsounds like a movie that belongs on Hallmark Mystery. But since it stars Hallmark’s main leading lady, Lacey Chabert, it is on the main Hallmark channel. I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

Stefanie Baxter (Chabert) is an archeologist whose mother (Erin Cahill) spent most of Stefanie’s childhood searching for an Icelandic treasure. When Stefanie is approached by Victor (Derek Riddell) to help search for the treasure, she jumps on board. Unfortunately, she needs help from her ex-husband, Chase (Kristoffer Polaha), an expert in ancient Norse languages. Can they find the treasure before it ends up in the wrong hands?

I admit that I am a fan of the National Treasure-type movies. Give me some good puzzles (that I don’t have to solve myself) and a good adventure and I am happy. The Christmas Quest does bring in some Icelandic folklore, which was really cool to see. Unfortunately, that is the coolest thing in the movie. The puzzles didn’t seem particularly difficult if you know the folklore they are referencing (which most of the people in the movie seemed to know), the “bad guys” didn’t seem all that dangerous, and the end was a cop-out. This is, yet again, another movie that isn’t absolutely terrible but it isn’t particularly worth watching either. Maybe if you are a big fan of Lacey Chabert you’ll like it?

Rating: More Yule Lads, less of everything else

Make Or Bake Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

Ooh. I don’t think we’ve had any baking Christmas movies this year, have we? Make Or Bake Christmasshould fix that! Right?

Emma (Jasmine Aivaliotis) works for Leslie (Vivica A. Fox), a lifestyle business mogul. When she hears about up-and-coming family bakery Sugar Bakers, run by Denise Sugarbaker (Jackée Harry), Leslie sends Emma to go undercover as a seasonal employee to convince the family to sell the business.

Man, this movie isn’t about baking. It’s about corporate espionage. Well, on the bright side, it was a fairly interesting movie. I think my favorite part is when all of the employees went out for karaoke night and they all sang like normal people. They didn’t make anyone an outstanding singer. It gave the movie a touch of normalcy.

The worst part really was how awful Leslie was to Emma. We all know terrible corporate bosses. We don’t really need them in our Christmas movies. And we didn’t really get a “come to the light” moment for her. She seemed less awful at the end but we don’t know that she isn’t still a horrible boss to everyone else.

Overall, it’s not a terrible movie. I have seen worse. But I don’t think I would watch it a second time.

Rating: Come for the cookies, stay for the karaoke

The Finnish Line | 2024 Christmas Movies

Frequently, Christmas movies that heavily feature dogs are the worst Christmas movies out there. I’m not sure why. It can’t possibly be the fault of the dogs, right? Well, Hallmark is giving us another dog Christmas movie with The Finnish Line. Cross your paws that this will be better.

Anya (Kim Matula) learned dog sled racing from her father. After he passed, she decides to participate in the 40th annual Joulurauha race in Finland. When her lead dog gets injured in the qualifying race, she borrows a dog from dog-sled-racer-turned-reporter Cole (Beau Mirchoff). As if that isn’t bad enough, she also has to face her father’s racing rival, Monty (Páll Sigþór Pálsson). Will she be able to pull through and win the race or will she bring shame to her family?

So this movie isn’t really about the dogs. The dogs are there and they do take up some of the scenes but they aren’t really the focus. While I wished the movie was about the dogs more, I suppose it is a good thing it’s not because this movie wasn’t half bad. Sure, they completely botched the rules of dog sled racing (the racers don’t leave all at once…they are staggered starts and the winner is determined by time) but unless you are into dog sled racing, you wouldn’t know any different. Having them start at the same time heightens the stakes between Anya and Monty.

And while the romance between Anya and Cole is fine, I think the romance between Anya’s friend, Elyse (Nichole Sakura), and Anya’s cousin, Lavi (Benedikt Karl Gröndal), was much more interesting. They actually had a real conflict that stood in the way of their relationship. And I’m glad that it was secondary in the plot so we could really focus on Anya’s personal journey.

Rating: Can I pet that dog?

Home Sweet Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

Home Sweet Christmas is the second Candace Cameron Bure movie on Great American Family this year. I honestly didn’t realize this movie was on the schedule. When I referenced a second Cameron Bure movie this year, I was talking about Let It Snow, a Hallmark movie from 2013 that GAF somehow got their hands on. I’m not going to watch that one. But I will watch Home Sweet Christmas.

Sophie (Cameron Bure) is an acquisitions and mergers lawyer living in the big city. When her great uncle passes away, he leaves her a majority stake in Marlow Maple Meadows, a sugar maple farm. With only a few days before Christmas and a big merger, she must go back to the small town to decide what to do with the farm. Reliving her childhood memories with her old friend, Sam (Cameron Mathison), Sophie realizes that maybe she’s not ready to sell the farm after all.

Ugh. This is yet another boring movie. Her job is boring, his job is more boring, even the big montage of them fixing up the house is boring. I thought that maybe we would get a little intrigue when they realize that great uncle Henry had a mystery love when he was younger but, no, they left it for too late it the movie so that mystery is solved almost immediately. Home Sweet Christmas is another movie that doesn’t really have a point. They put two people together, tell us they are in love (or will fall in love), and that is it. There has to be more to a movie than just falling in love. But at least this movie had a dog?

Rating: Sell the whole thing and go away

Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story | 2024 Christmas Movies

I swear that Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story was marketed as a Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce movie. It’s not. Maybe I misunderstood because Donna Kelce is in it and it’s, obviously, very about the Kansas City Chiefs. I feel bamboozled.

Alana (Hunter King) and her family are big fans of the Kansas City Chiefs football team. They even own a shop that sells Chiefs merchandise. This year, they are finalists for the Fan of the Year award. Derrick (Tyler Hynes) is a member of the fan engagement team for the Chiefs. He gets assigned to meet the family to judge whether they should win the coveted title.

Sadly, I got very bored during this movie. King and Hynes never really seemed to connect with each other. Ed Begley Jr. as Alana’s grandfather felt very old, which made me sad. (As a side note, Richard Riehle plays Alana’s other grandfather. He is approximately the same age as Begley Jr. but doesn’t feel anywhere near as ancient.) They kept dropping Donna Kelce in to say random unnecessary lines. There just wasn’t anything fun or interesting here. I suppose maybe if you are a Chiefs fan since they showed Andy Reid and some retired players. But I’m not sure that was enough to save this.

Rating: Tackled at the 5 yard line

Believe In Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

It is quite possible that with Believe In , Hallmark has given us a Christmas romance movie with an entirely new plot. There are no business owners losing their shops or people trying to decorate/refurbish a house…there isn’t even an evil businessman trying to buy all of the shops on Main Street so he can build a giant mall. This may be something…gasp…new.

Beatrice (Meghan Ory) and Emilia (Lindura) are best friends. Beatrice dislikes Christmas and loves black coffee whereas Em adores Christmas and loves all things sweet. When Em wins two tickets to Christmasland in a contest, of course she has to bring her best friend with her. Who else would she spend Christmas with?

Yes, the plot of this is pretty basic. What the plot description leaves out is that Christmasland is a place where the townspeople become Christmas movie trope characters to give the tourists a “Christmas movie experience.” For example, the woman in the bakery who wins the Christmas baking contest every year gets beaten by the newbie in town and huffs about it a little bit…that is all fake. And that is what makes Believe In Christmas so interesting. We (and Bea) don’t know what is real and what is fake. There is a question around every turn and I think that is what makes this movie so great. Every time we, the audience, groan about something being cheesy, is it because it is cheesy or are the townspeople playing it cheesy because that is how it would be in the movie. I love it.

I only have one complaint about this movie: Em gets paired up with Porter (Kevin Hanchard), who looks like he is old enough to be her father. I don’t think we ever get actual ages for the characters but Hanchard is 50 years old and I can’t find any information about how old Lindura is. I can say that he looks like he’s in his 40s and she looks like she’s in her 20s. It may be great skin but it also may be super creepy. Thankfully, this is the one low point to a movie I otherwise enjoyed thoroughly.

Rating: I want to go to Christmasland and play pretend.

A Cinderella Christmas Ball | 2024 Christmas Movies

It feels like a lot of Danica McKellar’s Christmas movies involve either a prince or dancing. Well, A Cinderella Christmas Ball has both! Though I’m not sure why they titled the movie that way. This has nothing to do with the Cinderella story at all. (After some research, it was originally titled A Royal Christmas Ball and they changed it.)

Chelsea (McKellar) owns a dance studio in Chicago. When she finds a photo that may be of her birth mother, who was also a dancer, in Havenshire, her students fly her out so she can find out more. Once in Havenshire, she gets hired to teach Phillip (Oliver Rice), the prince, how to dance a very specific variation of the waltz. However, he is very unwilling to learn. That is a lot on her plate for her short four day trip.

I think Great American Family’s theme for this year’s movies is “A couple steps below Hallmark.” The plot for A Cinderella Christmas Ball is stupid. Chelsea’s mother died in an accident when she was five years old yet she doesn’t know who her mother is. I don’t remember her ever saying that her mother gave her up for adoption before that so her mother’s identity would be information that is available to her. This movie would have been a whole lot better if she was like “I want to emotionally connect with my mother more” and just made the whole visit to Havenshire a sight-seeing vacation to maybe visit the same places her mother did. Instead, this is all about Chelsea getting information about her birth parents.

In the end, it’s fine to watch. I think the Hallmark and Lifetime movies are way more interesting than anything GAF has put out so far this year but I’m also not really their target audience.

Rating: Can I look away like Chelsea does when she’s dancing with Phillip?

BeBe Winans' We Three Kings | 2024 Christmas Movies

In past years, the Lifetime Christmas movie offerings have been awful. Somehow they have really been coming around this season. BeBe Winans' We Three Kings is another hit for the channel. I am definitely surprised.

Three years after their mother’s death, the three King sisters - Lydia (Lisa Berry), Gracie (Faith Wright), and Abigail (Bethany Brown) - have lost their connection with each other. After their father, musical legend Lincoln King (BeBe Winans), gets into a car accident on an icy road, the sisters are forced back together to deal with their grief and heal their family wounds.

This was such a touching movie. I’m overlooking the minor flaws in the script because everything else was so good. I loved the way the sisters argued, the way sisters do, and were able to look back and apologize properly for the terrible things they said. If I needed to say something bad about the movie, honestly, it would be that it wasn’t long enough. I would have liked them to spend a little more time healing the sisterly bond instead of it simply being an apology with helping out at the store. But nothing was really lost without seeing that. It just felt short, that’s all.

Rating: I would like a sequel but I’m not sure how they would do it

Deck The Walls | 2024 Christmas Movies

Next up is Hallmark’s Deck The Walls, a movie about house flippers that is so laden with product placement it made me audibly groan. It may be a little cheesy when movies make up fake companies as vendors for the characters but it is so much better than real company logos and stores being front and center.

Rose (Ashley Greene) is an interior designer that gets tasked to help her brother, Sal (Danny Pellegrino), with a charity house flip in her hometown. Contractor Brysen (Wes Brown) is also on the job. Can Brysen get “Runaway Rosie” to stop running away from her problems and face them?

For the most part, Deck The Walls is a fine movie. The acting is fine, the plot is fine, the script is fine. What is not fine is the amount of time that Home Goods takes up. (Also Nutella but that has far less screen time than Home Goods.) This movie really should have been called Deck The Walls With Home Goods. I get that movies sometimes need product placement to help with the budget. But here is how much Home Goods is in this movie:

1. Rose does a web search for “stores in solon.” (Solon being where the movie takes place.) The first result is a giant Home Goods logo. The second result is mostly covered up by Rose’s hand.

2. Rose goes into Home Goods to look around for inspiration and has a rather long conversation with associate Oliver about how she’s going to look around for inspiration and how many aisles full of stuff they have.

3. After the gang gets more money for their project, Rose goes back to Home Goods to buy more stuff. We see her walking out of the store carrying at least five Home Goods bags with the logo in full view and the giant logo on the store itself behind her.

The Nutella place is bad but not as bad. Aunt Gigi (Carolyn Hennesy) says she’s going to make Christmas cookies with Nutella. Then they cut to everyone in the kitchen smearing Nutella on cookies as the camera pans past an open jar of Nutella. ‘Tis the season to be advertising.

There are a few other instances where the characters name products but I’m not sure how much product placement it really is since they are talking about products from the late 90s-early 2000s. (Pogs, Tamagotchi...things like that.) So, yeah, the movie is watchable if you can get past all of the product placement. There are even a few cute moments between characters. I just wish they didn’t try to market stuff to us so hard.

Rating: GO AWAY HOME GOODS!