El reno mágico

I have to say, as for the quality of the movie, I am a bit biased, because if was filmed largely in my home town. A small town like ours (LaPorte, IN) doesn't get national attention (except for the movie "Daylight" where Sly asks Amy Brenneman's character where she's from), so it was exciting to have all the celebrities in town. Still, I think it is a great family movie that was well done.

And on the topic of celebrities, I don't think you could have assembled a nicer, more gracious group. Chloris Leachman came and spoke at our high school, Rebecca Harrell and Ariana Richards visited with kids at one of our elementary schools, and all of them met with fans at an autograph session. In addition, the producers showed their thanks in several ways. They had a giant mural painted that was autographed by the celebrities and placed in our mall during Christmas time. Also, they bought all new light post Christmas decorations for the city's main streets.

Check this movie out!!! Don't listen to those people who say it's for little girls only...

Prancer is one of those special movies that come along every once in a great while that truly touches your heart. It doesn't rely on gimmicks or special effects, but relies on the characters themselves. Jesse, the central character in the story, finds an injured reindeer near her home, and believes it to be Prancer. And she nurses the reindeer back to health in order to deliver him back to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. The true meaning of the movie is said by the preacher in the church during the Christmas service. Today's kids grow up so fast, and loose the child-like faith that Jesse has in a few short years. They then don't believe in anything that science doesn't prove. But Jesse, against impossible odds, sticks to her beliefs, and in the end brings back the faith of those who lost theirs long ago. Prancer is one of those holiday movies to buy for both your kids and yourself.

While not without a couple of problems [like pacing], PRANCER is one of the better family/holiday movies I've seen. I didn't see this until after I saw PRANCER RETURNS about a week ago on cable. After PRANCER RETURNS [the sequel to this] was over, I went to the video store and rented this. Now while this one seemed to have a lower budget than PRANCER RETURNS, it still is just as well-acted and heartwarming [if not even more so]. Most holiday movies tend to show the holidays as times where everything is perfect, but this one shows that the holidays aren't as perfect as we'd like them to be. It's able to capture the ups and downs of the holidays while keeping everything pretty close to reality. Though I really enjoyed the film, CHRISTMAS VACATION remains to be my favorite holiday flick.

To me the movie captures the "love" that is so much apart of the reason we celebrate Christmas. It makes me laugh and cry. How great is that!

There's two things I can say about this Christmas movie. One: It made me cry. Not just tear up but gush in an Oprahesque out pouring of emotion. That hasn't happened since I watched 'Old Yeller' when I was nine. Two: I watched it in July. It's that good. Heartfelt, credible performances (especially by Sam Elliot) and great direction and strong script turn this sentimental Christmas story (that could have easily been another one of those horrible Christmas themed 'Lifetime' channel TV movies) into a rich and uncompromising story. It makes my short list of top 75 movies of all times!