A Furry Little Christmas

I must admit, this one was a pleasant surprise. I'll start by stating that the budget for this movie was not very high. So, do not expect a Hallmark production. That said, the plain and simple nature of the film was rather refreshing and placed much of the focus on the dialogue and interaction between the actors. All in all, it is a lovely little Christmas movie. The storyline revolves around Scarlet (played by Kristi McKamie), an NYC veterinarian who heads home to Vermont for Christmas with her son Milo (played by Pono Say) to visit her father (played by Michael Swan). While home, she meets Josh (played by Jonathan Stoddard), a doctor who relocated to Vermont to get away from the city. She also begins to reconnect with her roots, helping her father with his practice doing house calls on the Vermont countryside. At the heart of the script, are the dialogue and interactions between Scarlet and her father, Scarlet and Josh, and Milo and his grandfather. In all three cases, the writer doe a pretty good job creating a warm and authentic story. My only real critique regarding the script was that the relationship between Scarlet and Josh developed too quickly, climaxing in the roller skating scene, which seemed forced as a result. The acting was strong. Both McKamie and Stoddard are new faces on screen for me. Both had convincing performances, with some nice scenes together. Some good chemistry too. Swan (as Mitch, the father) too had a strong performance. I especially liked the back and forth between him and Scarlet, and him and his grandson Milo. At times, these were cute and heartfelt. Though not a Hallmark production, the movie does a pretty good job of getting you into the Christmas spirit via some fun and festive scenes. Overall, this is a charming Christmas movie. Well worth a watch if you are looking for something plain and simple.

The story is another one where a woman who is a veterinarian with a kid goes home to Vermont for the first time in years. She meets a doctor. They hang out. The story is pretty average with no great highs or lows or surprises. The only tension is how far away she lives.

There are some cute animals.

I wasn't impressed, but there was nothing really wrong with it.

So much going wrong for it to be enjoyable - and I have no issue with low-budget movies.

• the music was so loud you couldn't hear most of the dialogue
• there were bizarre editing choices during conversations (the scene where they meet the grandfather made me feel unwell)
• there's a "small town" setting with the largest, most garish cabins I've seen and people pretending they're "rural"
• the male lead kept squinting like he was either high on set or told to do his best Zoolander impression
• the plot a) tells instead of shows and b) has the female lead to succumb to the pressure of her father and new boyfriend

We enjoy wholesome, cheesy movies, but this was actually just bad in too many ways to excuse.

I have a five minute rule for rubbish movies; if it has annoyed me within 5 minutes, I dump it. However I found plot sweet, the female vet delightfully upbeat despite a tragic past and the support cast didn't jar at all.

Against its obvious sins, a real nice film. Sure, a lot of cliches and good intentions very far by reality. But the small pieces composing it are not bad,the unrealistic situations are, in few cases, funny and the predactibility can represent a compensation.

Sure, the grandfather and his liitle boy, few drops of romance and some crumbs of real humor but enough for easy film, proposing a new chance and few decent characters.

It is temptanting to critic it. But it is just a decent job. And this can be enough. Because it is the very easy romance, in Hallmark style , not so bad, used, în some measure, for noble purpose. So, just nice.