Christmas at the Golden Dragon

This is a definite 9 in the Hallmark Christmas movie category. Some might categorize this genre as a guilty favorite this time of year. But I just call them a seasonal favorite. I'm a manly guy and I like them and that's that. Not ashamed. Ha. But back to the Golden Dragon. The first line nearly made me shut it off, as it talked about a PC kind of meaning of Christmas that had very little if anything to do with the meaning of Christmas. But as it goes on it draws you in with a pretty big handful of stories about different people tied to the restaurant, and it is a lot of balls in the air, but it manages to juggle them pretty well. There's a lot more going on in this one than the usual gingerbread contest to save the bakery, fake relationship to get the big promotion, or amnesia and love at Christmas type stories. Shock of shocks, there's even a nativity play that is quickly featured among the many stories. Usually you can be wrapping gifts or putting up decorations with a Hallmark movie on and still get the whole story because they've done it a dozen times before. Not this one. Give this one a watch, It's just a pretty darn nice movie-- some love, some family drama, and most of all a Merry Christmas.

I loved this one. I also loved the movie's message about embracing imperfections and being present.

I really liked the ensemble cast, storylines, and how they all weaved together-thanks to The Golden Dragon. The stories were rich in family and Christmas traditions.

The writing was nicely done and delivered heartwarming moments from start to finish.

Also, I'm putting in a request for Hallmark to do a movie with Antonio Cupo and Sarah Canning together...they had a great chemistry in this movie that could really shine in a movie with the two of them as leads.

I definitely recommend this movie!

7.3 stars.

Talk about an exceedingly sluggish start to a film, this one is in the top of the charts for sluggishness. 'Christmas at the Golden Dragon' is so slow starting I almost gave up, but I have taken note of the fact Hallmark continues to air it about once a month, so I decided (after passing over it many times) to give it a shot. I was not disappointed. You absolutely must give the story time to marinate. This is a very steady slow burn that literally gets better by the minute, and I mean every single minute it continues to improve. To provide you with my boring analysis, this film starts off at about 3/10 but an hour in I was up to a 5.5/10, and by the end it crested the 7 star mark. Give it a try, you might be glad you did.

My goodness, it was just all-encompassing. They had massively far too many characters to follow, or always to care about, but I still enjoyed most of them.

Whoever wrote this does have a flair for character development, which I enjoyed, but it was a case of almost pure overload. Remember to focus not-so-much on 20 main characters, but more like 6. That way we can really get invested and have the time, in 2 hours, to really care and root for people and hope for their best.

I'd say, though, most people will still enjoy this. Despite it thinking it's gone with the wind, it's still a semi-coherent storyline with enough going on to make you feel good about the characters and just xmas in genera. Give it a whirl and I think you'll enjoy it; but mentally just give up on the characters you aren't especially invested in,

This movie is one of my favourite Christmas movies this year. It isn't typical Christmas movie it is different and it works. The movie is about a neighbourhood Chinese family restaurant that gathers people from all corners of life and making them a family. The movie showed more than one story and maybe for some people it was too much.but for me it worked I felt the movie moved along great and I could focus on all characters . I loved the main story, how can one place be link between different people from all walks of life. There were romance stories but they weren't the main focus, the focus was on Christmas and family. Have to admit the final scene made me a bit teary..