La casa de Navidad 2

6/10 - I will be the first to admit that I was not blown away by Hallmark'a first Christmas movie with an LGBTQ+ lead, but I actually felt this one really improved where it's predecessor lacked: some good old fashioned character development.

A fun to watch Christmas movie, it's light and doesn't follow the usual Hallmark formula. The usual formula is centered on a lone female looking for love, this is about three families and competition between two brothers. It's farcical, not full of hot cocoa, holiday sweets and gingerbread. I haven't seen gingerbread in grocery bakery sections for years, it's very dated.

This is better than the original movie, it has better writing and it moves at a fast clip so there aren't boringly slow conversations that bog down many Hallmark movies. And it's not full of nostalgia for the past like some of the Hallmark movies this year.

I hope Hallmark is planning on a 3rd Christmas House.

Handsome Justice is back and so are Mike, Andi, Noah, Bill, Phyllis, Brandon, Jake and the crazy magic guy!

Christmas House 2 could be called Dueling Christmas Houses or brother vs brother because Mike is asked to do a reality tv show that normally pits a contestant against some guy with great abs in a contest call "Deck the Halls". Unfortunately the great ab guy gets hurt and this sets up brother vs brother to save the show.

"The Christmas House isn't a Mike thing, it's a Mitchell thing."-Brandon.

The family gets divided in this ultimate Christmas challenge for the whole Mitchell family.

This movie got rid of all of the sad melancholy parts of the first Christmas House movie and upped the fun with the brotherly competition.

Not as good as the play that is "really pretty good"...that was such a great line.

Just as Mike is picking out a ring to propose to Andi...her ex, who is Noah's dad and a bit of a bragger, shows up. Noah is definitely growing up and he thinks he is too old for magic.

"I have these times when I think how great it would have been if we had just gotten together when we were young....and then, Noah."-Mike.

"No! Not a camera moment!"-Brandon.

It has all the premises to be exactly the charming Christmas film. And it is it. And the good premise is, not exactly, the memories about the first part, amusing and chaotic but the fair definition of essence of family in the "fire" of competition.

Sure, the acting is the key like the dialogue, but it is little more. I prefer define many Hallmark films as nice but in this case, the words has many meanings. First, good humor and provocative situations. Not the last, fair example of joy of life. The result, just better than the first part. And source of realistic, too realistic in few cases, situations. So, nice at whole.

Hallmark set the cat amongst the conservative pigeons back in 2020 when 'The Christmas House' (based in part on star/writer Robert Buckley's childhood Christmas memories) featured an openly gay couple in the main ensemble cast. Insane that people focus and obsess about that - good on Hallmark for (finally) depicting the real world in their Christmas movies.

The Christmas House was fantastic. And the sequel, with a high bar to clear, is just a skosh below the level of the original. That's not to say it's a bad film. Definitely not. The great cast is back, and this time here are TWO Christmas Houses to be decorated, with the Mitchell family in fine form once again.

How good are Sharon Lawrence and Treat Williams as parents Phillys and Bill? Fantastic in every scene.

The relationship between brothers TV star Mike (Buckley) and bakery owner Brandon (Jonathan Bennett) is explored more deeply in the second instalment. And Ana Ayora is back as Mike's childhood sweetheart, Andi Cruz. That relationship has it's speed bumps.

It was always going to be hard to top The Christmas House. As I said above, it doesn't quite match the original, but it's still a really fun film.

Here's hoping for The Christmas House III one of these years.