Sleigh Bells Ring (2016)

That was an excellent one.

So much average

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This movie starts out slow and you think you are in for a clunker, but then the plot and romance picks up and it is far more interesting than you initially expected. They added a sleigh as a thoughtful plot device, and happily used it sparingly, only when needed. I liked that they added Santa magic to this movie. The couple was believable even if Laurel was frustrating to watch, always pushing back instead of just going with the flow. Overall however, this had all the classic themes and pacing of a classic Hallmark Christmas movie, which is why it gets 10 out of 10.

This is the typical Hallmark movie that had a lot of potential but goes down hill from the start. The two leads, Laurel and Alex, have little chemistry and the story is ridiculous: **Spoiler Alert** The Mayor suddenly tells the head of Parks & Rec that she has 2 weeks to plan a full-on Christmas Parade (including floats.) She spends very little time planning the parade but miraculously pulls it off with seemingly very little help from anyone and very little focus.**End Spoiler** The lead, Laurel, is also really crabby and boring, making you not care at all about her. The movie was clearly filmed in milder weather so it snows a lot with a bright blue sky. The snow that's falling from the sky never lands on the ground. (C'mon, if you're going to digitally add falling snow, can't you turn the skies just a little gray?) In the end I didn't care about either of these characters and I imagine the director and crew fell asleep during the ten (?) days of slapping this film together.

I watched "Christmas in the Smokies" the day before and realized that this movie has a similar story. A guy leaves town and a young love for fame and fortune then returns many years later. The story did not quite work in either movie. The two leads here were nice to watch. The guy reminds me of a young Gregory Peck. This was a pleasant movie but not a memorable one. The movie lagged in spots and I even dozed somewhere in the middle for a few scenes. I rate this one about the same as Matchmaker Santa in which the Santa Claus used that same finger on the nose for a magic thing- which I also saw at the end of this movie. Many scenes shot in an antique shop and a town office building were not inspiring. Why put anything about friend's husband restoring a car? Would not watch again.

First review I guess! This movie was beautiful! I think that these Christmas movies have to deliver a lot of things, plot, good characters, but specially that feeling like when we used to open the presents on Christmas morning. That feeling of magic and happiness. And this movie accomplished it!The characters were great, the child, fortunately, wasn't annoying. And even though there were a few things that I was like "Really?" I actually enjoyed this movie. This won't go into my favorite Hallmark movies list, but it is definitely worth the watch, while having a hot cocoa in hand and snuggling in the couch.