If you haven't watched the series Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist there simply is no reason to sit through Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas. It's a movie that builds on things you already know about the characters from the TV show, but if you liked the show then this is basically a must-watch. I love how the creative team behind this show/movie spends time working on matching songs to the moments and then choreographing great dance numbers to accompany them. It's the kind of thing you only see on stage nowadays, but I wish movie musicals would get back to the big toe-tapping numbers with great dancers. In fact, one of my biggest disappointments with Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas is the fact that they didn't close the movie with a big musical number with the whole cast despite the fact that they were all gathered together and could have shared one.
What truly sets Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas apart from all the other Christmas films out there, is exactly the same thing that I felt made the show special. This film caters to those who might be having a harder time at the holidays. It shows how complex grief can be, and how it can affect the way we feel around festive times of the year. Yet at the same time it still manages to be joyful and celebrate family. There were some of the subplots that got short shrift, and could have used more attention. If this were part of the show each of these little stories would probably get their own episode, but here they get minor screen-time only so we see all the familiar characters for a moment before getting back to Zoey's story. A bit more cleaning up of the plot would have been great, and a few more big bold choreographed numbers as well, but I still found enough to love that I could see myself watching Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas again in future years.
