Christmas Angel [DVD] [2012]

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This is not a story about an angel from heaven, or an actual Santa who makes wishes come true through miracles. It is more of a secret Santa trope. But even that doesn't cover it all. There is also a very precocious yet extremely lovable elementary school girl who refuses to stand by and let others suffer if there is anything she can do about it. In the story, a little girl and her friend, Izabela Vidovic and Tyler Humphrey, believe an old, abandoned house in their neighborhood has the power to grant wishes. Before long, everyone in school is shouting their wishes outside the house, hoping they'll be granted by the Christmas Angel. In the meantime, Izabela's mom, Teri Polo, meets the owner of the house, Kevin Sorbo, and sparks fly. I watched this on UP Channel last nice. The story is about a little girl named Olivia played by Izabela Vidovic who wants to help people that need help. She was raised by a single parent. Christmas movies, while not strictly a genre of their own, have certainly become a distinct subset of films. Since the late 20th century, Hallmark and more than one other television channel have run movies set around Christmas for the holidays. And, Hollywood produces an occasional Christmas time film. They can cover the full range of genres - comedy, drama, musical, mystery, tragedy, war and Western. The most prolific are the romantic dramas that often include some light comedy. The latter are so formulaic that one after another of such films seems a repeat or copy with just slight changes from the previous one. Many of these can seem like daytime soap operas, and after a while the films of this type become mundane and hardly interesting. The challenge for these films, to hold interest of viewers is to provide something new and different enough - still keeping their romance theme.

Christmas Angel is one of my favorite modern Christmas movies, one I look forward to watching with my family every year. It's charming, heartwarming, and uses one of the main characteristics of Christmas as the plot: giving.I almost hate to bring this up because of the antagonism it may generate, but this is a movie that talks about God, with characters, especially Elsie, who know that some of life's problems must ultimately be dealt with by God, whether we like the answers or not. Still, I would not consider the movie to be heavy on the preaching. But of course "Christmas Angel" features something else, in fact a few things else but what I am on about is the God side as Elsie shows Olivia that some things only God can do no matter how much you want things to work out the way you think are best. And whilst "Christmas Angel" does have a religious side it isn't preachy but instead has a more of a wholesome nature as through Olivia's friendship with Elsie she learns how to be smart but also thoughtful when it comes to others.

Now usually when it comes to Christmas movies there is usually a stand out performance, one actor who delivers and carries the movie but in "Christmas Angel" all the actors play their parts well. Teri Polo and Kevin Sorbo bring plenty of warmth and charm to their roles, typically appealing, but they also bring just enough emotional depth when it comes to their character's emotional baggage. And of course there is Della Reese who fills her role with warmth, beauty, wisdom and generosity making Elsie the sort of grandmother you would love every child to know. But there is also Izabela Vidovic who makes Olivia cheeky but also kind and she lights up the screen with her smile. CHRISTMAS ANGEL has a predictable ending and it ends happy across the board. Although this is a movie with religious undertones, it’s not overbearing. They are not shoving the message up your ass every two minutes. The focus of the film was to show that giving is better than receiving and has some very good performances from the cast that they brought in. The writer, Andrea Gyertson Nasfell, also wrote SILVER BELLS, which I was not very fond of. This was a much better, less preachy film. She does not know what to do and she meets a older female neighbor who she befriends. The neighbor Elsie Waybright is played by Della Reese. Elsie has a basket to put in written requesting asking for God's help for these request. They are prayer request and Olivia puts her request in Elsie's basket. They talk about God and his love. Christmas Angel (working title: The Angel Next Door , and titled as Angel at Christmas in the UK) is a GMC original movie that premiered on November 24, 2012. At times, the acting with the two children, Olivia and Lucas, seems a bit forced and overly done. So, it doesn't come across quite real for kids. Maybe the producers were trying to impress on viewers that this was really a Christmas movie about kids.This film is full of good cheer and believable performances. The late Della Reese gives a stan out performance.