The Nine Lives of Christmas (2014)

Just what I expected

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The Nine Lives of Christmas is an Hallmark festive themed romantic movie, in this case the presence of Brandon Routh made it one of its highest rated films of the year.Routh plays a hunky fireman, the kind that models for a fundraising calendar. He is going out with an attractive but shallow model, saves lives and even ends up adopting a tabby cat. An all round super guy one might say.Kimberly Sustad is studying to be a vet and holds down a job in a pet store which means she has no time for a love life.A chance meeting in a supermarket and an interest in cats means that both keep having random encounters which of course slowly leads to love even though Routh is happy to remain single and Sustad wishes to avoid commitments until she qualifies as a vet.The film only has a loose festive connection but it has plenty of easy charm even though the plot is slightly hokey.Almost 8 years after he played Superman for his one and only appearance Routh displays more charisma in this made for television film than Henry Cavill the present holder of the red cape.

I'm not quite a half hour into this movie, and I can hardly stand it anymore. The female lead looks like she should be pulling the Budweiser wagon. I actually have to avert my eyes when she's on screen. When I don't, I can't take my eyes off her jowls.And Brandon Routh must be really hard up for parts, but even so, why would the people responsible for this film insult him so badly by inflicting someone on him who weighs more than he does. Did he do something to offend a producer? Finally, I have to ask why it's so often the case that the female lead is a dog and her friend is way better looking to the point where it's a travesty that their roles aren't reversed.?

This is a typical Hallmark Christmas romance movie, but more captivating than most. Of course, you know how everything will turn out, but the process depends upon how attractive and appealing the main characters are. Both leads in this film, Brandon Routh as fireman Zachary Stone and Kimberly Sustad as veterinary student Marilee White, are A-one. They are both instantly likable (in Miss Sustad's case exceedingly lovable) and romance lovers will immediately be rooting for them and intrigued by how they will get together.OK, this may be enough, but then throw in the animal characters, and those who are pet owners or who love animals will find the two cats adorable. And the pets are not there just for their attraction, but they play essential roles in the plot. So what we have is indeed a warm and fuzzy (pun intentional) love story that is just fun to sit back and enjoy without expecting anything more than that--it is enough.My wife and I enjoyed the movie so much that we purchased a copy of the short novel by Sheila Roberts that it is based upon. The plot of the book has some major differences, but the adaptation for the screenplay was very well done and was true to the overall effect of the novel.I would love to see Kimberly Sustad featured in more Hallmark movies. She is such a talented and endearing actress, with a different kind of beauty all her own--a unique look that is far more interesting than that of the cookie-cutter Miss America types.

Here you have two nice, attractive people of the opposite gender bound for professional success. the problem is they're too busy for love and romance. The woman is a compassionate brunette pet store employee who's studying to become a veterinarian due to her love for animals. The man is a hunky and affable junior firefighter who upgrades and flips houses on the side. He does have a casual girlfriend, a glamorous but bitchy professional model who'll make the women viewers say, "Why can't he tell she's wrong for him?" Conveniently, he working on a beautiful Victorian dream house, while she's in a campus apartment that doesn't allow pets, and of course she loves cats and secretly keeps one. They live in a nice small town where most people know and are nice to each other. If you don't know how this story ends, than you've never watched Lifetime of the Hallmark Channel before. All that being said, it's completely painless to watch and it'll appeal to its target audience. The leads are likable, the supporting cast competent and the technical aspects are satisfactory. I enjoyed it enough and so will most people if the plot interests them.