When I first starting writing these Christmas reviews so long ago, I decided that the MarVisa Entertainment production company was my nemesis. They make a lot of awful Christmas movies. I hadn’t noticed their company logo lately so I thought maybe they gave up. I was wrong. Their movies are still bad but either they aren’t as bad as they used to be or I have grown more tolerant of them. I hope it’s not the latter.
Natalie (Kristina Cole) runs a family Christmas tree farm/home goods store. When she lands a large order from Mr. Prentice (John McKerrow), she is forced to pretend that the company is owned by blood relations or she risks losing the order. In addition, magazine journalist Josh (Andrew Biernat) wants to write an extremely truthful article on the company. Can Natalie and the gang pull off pretending to be a real family instead of a chosen family?
Christmas In Pine Valley is, and I am not kidding about this, the stupidest Christmas movie I have seen this season. Mr. Prentice insists on only buying from family-run companies. He admits that he cancels orders if he finds out the companies are not run by actual family members. Then he places an order for 500(!) pieces of their soap, candles, handmade wooden ornaments, and essential oils. Does he really think a small family-run company has the capacity to make 500 pieces of product in just a few days? Or that their company wouldn’t be completely ruined if he cancelled the order after they already started production? Yet at no point is he made out to be the villain in the story.
In addition, we have stupid Josh. He randomly shows up on their doorstep without calling ahead to schedule a time to talk to the family about his article. Then he follows them around, even after they tell him how busy they are. And he has the gall to tell Natalie that he’ll write a bad article if he finds out that they aren’t a family?
Apparently none of these people know about branding. They straight up say the farm was started in 1937. The people that originally owned that farm would either be very elderly or dead in 2022. Even if they left the farm to their children and those children left the farm to their children, they would need more than only their relatives to run the farm. It’s unreasonable to think that everyone in a company with “Family” in the name are actual blood family members.
Absolutely do not watch Christmas In Pine Valley. As a matter of fact, don’t watch anything from MarVista Entertainment. I think I might boycott them again.