Un Noël qui vient du cœur

I saw the title and expected something goofy. The beginning with the early scenes at the community center didn't convince me otherwise. But soon after it becomes apparent that this is basically the Nanny premise, even though I don't think that word ever came up. I'm glad the writers didn't use up a lot of screen time establishing Allie's unemployment. So many movies spend time setting up the unemployment, the-dumped-by-boyfriend, or up-for-promotion premise. The scene at the community center was needed to establish relationships that come into play later.

The tone of the movie is quite upbeat with a couple of minor exceptions. The rival girlfriend is gone fairly quickly. Once the premise of the nanny at Christmas is established, the plot is predictable with one exception. Clearly there is going to be a conflict just before the climax, but this conflict was a poor choice. Personally, I don't see how anyone with Allie's experience with kids could have allowed it to happen.

Rebecca Dalton and Aaron Ashmore has a nice chemistry. I've seen Dalton before a few times and I thought this role was good for her. She does the optimistic artistic woman very well. She is also a very beautiful woman which probably causes some people to dismiss her acting.

I thought this was pretty good, sort of a Sound of Music without the music. I have to admit, when I look at Rebecca Dalton, I think, "Wow!" She's really gorgeous, but she also did a nice job in this movie. I was a little bit thrown by both of the leads being the same race and sexual preference. You don't see that a lot anymore (sarc). It's a slow starter, but it gets better and in the end, it's yet another heart-warming Lifetime Christmas movie. Give it a watch...

This movie is not original per se, there have been other hallmark movies that are similar, but it was still a good idea.

I was expecting a lot from this movie, having Jayne Eastwood and Aaron Ashmore in it, but it failed to deliver, it is entertaining, but it lacks... finesse?

The idea, as I said is not original, but tries to take a different avenue, that being said, the writing goes from mediocre to very bad, and the acting is sub-par, Jayne, Aaron and Rebecca do not manage to pull the movie up

Everyone else overacts, or is just too bad at acting, I know the girls are young, but there have been plenty of kids in Hallmark or other productions that are very good actors so age is not really an excuse.

The movie really sets an expectation that it fails to deliver, it is good to watch if there is nothing else but it is not going to be even a the most basic of classics, let alone a shining star.

How could you not love a simple love story -lonely children, hard working dad, beautiful help. Forget about picking the storyline to pieces and sit back and enjoy it - it's a Xmas movie! Bring it on.....

Throughout my whole Lifetime Christmas film completest quest undertaken namely late 2019 and still ongoing, an interesting quest but very mixed one, there was never the mentality of expecting a classic or the film in question to be flawless. Something that was never managed with Lifetime's output. There was always the expectation of seeing a film where one can see at least some effort rather than merely cash-in level. One could see that with most of Lifetime's output but not all.

Lifetime's 2020 Christmas output was very variable, with not many terrible ones but none properly great at the same time. 'Santa's Squad' left me a bit mixed and is neither one of the best or worst films from the batch. A middling effort if anything. 'Santa's Squad' is another one of those films that leaves one unsure whether to continue or not initially, but on the most part gets better if given a chance and not bailed out on no matter how large the temptation is.

'Santa's Squad' doesn't start off great, it is a slow starter and has some painfully awkward dialogue, a lack of energy and acting that doesn't seem particularly assured or engaged (Aaron Ashmore for example is ill at ease at first). The conflict could have done with more tension and didn't need to try so hard, the conflict in the final quarter or so is on the forced side. The music is too constant, too cheaply recorded and it was like it was scored for something else entirely.

Really did wish that the central relationship featured more in the story, the chemistry is a genuine one but the relationship itself is underused and doesn't get enough time to grow. Not much new is done with a tried and tested formula, so there is a lot of prematurely foreseeable predictability and everything is resolved too neatly and for agreed one of the lamest reasons one can think of.

As said though, 'Santa's Squad' does improve in a lot of areas. The acting on the whole is pretty good, with Rebecca Dalton a warm, charming presence in her role. Ashmore does become more comfortable the more his character grows and his chemistry with Dalton is sweet, just wish there was more of the relationship itself in the story. The children are likeable and have a charming rapport with Dalton.

Visually, it looks nice in particularly the scenery. The film is generally light-hearted, charming and heart-warming once it gets going and the dialogue on the whole is a lot better in the second half, it flows more naturally and isn't as corny while occasionally still forced.

Concluding, not great but watchable. 5/10.