Don’t let anyone tell you that Great American Family doesn’t love nepotism. Many of the actors in Once Upon A Christmas Wish are from the same family. And the only other child with lines in the movie is related to the writer/director. This was a bad decision.
Brian Ortega (Mario Lopez) is the mayor of Long Grove. As he prepares the town for Christmas, he finds his 4th grade letter to Santa, complete with wish list. Surprisingly, the items on his wish list begin to come true. When his former classmate, Nina (Courtney Lopez), coming back to town, his wish list really can be complete.
In case you didn’t know, Mario and Courtney Lopez are married. Their son, Dominic, plays Joey, a writer for the school newspaper. And the director’s daughter plays Hannah, a girl at Joey’s school who made a box to gather letters for Santa. To be honest, none of that works. Even though their actors have been married for over a decade, Brian and Nina barely seem to like each other. They only hang out and talk because they haven’t seen each other in a long time. You wouldn’t think they are boring but they are.
Also, this movie is a musical. It’s not marketed as a musical but it is. Normally, I love musicals. But Mario’s dancing in this is so wooden that, every time he is given choreography, I am immediately taken out of the movie. Courtney, meanwhile, gets all of the singing that isn’t delegated to a children’s choir. She’s a decent enough singer but the song she sings over and over is bad. I will give her credit that she is a better dancer than Mario. But that isn’t saying much.
Rating: Santa wasted his powers on this wish list