Every year, we get at least one take on the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. This year, Hallmark gives us Ghosts of Christmas Always. Let’s hope it’s better than some of their other versions of the story.
Arlene (Lori Tan Chinn), Katherine (Kim Matula), and Roy (Reginald VelJohnson) are the ghosts of Past, Present, and Future, respectively. They get assigned to help Peter (Ian Harding) recover his Christmas spirit. After the trio finishes their task, they realize there was a mistake. Peter is not the one that needed their help. It turns out the one needing their help is a little closer to home.
Usually, these remakes of A Christmas Carol are terrible. They are uninspired and boring. Not this time around. Ghosts of Christmas Always is entertaining and somehow manages to keep the audience guessing about what will happen next, even though everyone knows the classic story. Chinn as Arlene is magic to watch. She may not be the main character but I would watch a million movies featuring Arlene and Roy traveling around time helping people. As for Katherine and Peter, it was really refreshing to see the two leads honestly have a will-they/won’t-they relationship where you know they will because it’s a Hallmark movie but HOW will they? They had the right amount of flirting and the right amount of “we shouldn’t do this” overtones without being creepy.
But I think my favorite part of the movie is how humble the writers made Peter. He is a wealthy man who has grown up in a wealthy family. Yet every step he takes, without his father’s condescending looks, is to try to make other people’s lives better. Even when Arlene takes him in the past, he responds with “I should have given away more of my presents” instead of any sentiment that should have landed him the Scrooge role. Again, it is a very nice twist on Dickens.
If you are still asking me if you should watch this, yes, absolutely, definitely. It is still early in the Christmas movie season but I can see this making this year’s top Christmas movie list. This may actually be a movie I actually watch again at some point. And that almost never happens!