Saving Christmas Spirit

This was an enjoyable watch for a run of the mill Xmas movie set in the Highlands of Scotland (Fort William and Lochaber). The story was easy to follow and entirely predictable with almost no elements of surprise, with pleasant enough characters acting entirely within stereotypes.

The most enjoyable part of the film was spotting the Scottish cliches abundantly thrown around, from dancing in the snow with a piper in the background to the bonnie wee Scots girl with ginger hair as a secondary love interest (albeit more believable than the main relationship).

Scenery, as ever in this area, was stunning and there were plenty of shots of local landmarks to whet the appetite for more.

I don't usually watch Christmas movies, but this one was something special. It's a great mix of humor and sentimentality that really gets you in the Christmas spirit. The setting and the visuals are completely stunning. I love the actors especially the two leads. Really enjoyed it! It's set in Scotland and the beautiful old house that looks a little like a castle. I see beautiful Scottish scenery, wonderful production value. There's a fantasy element to the story. It's very charming and mysterious. The two lead characters have amazing chemistry. I believe it they actually used some local non-actors in the cast, which added a nice element of authenticity. I highly recommend this!

Like everything else in our currently upside-down society, the best way to review an X-mas film these days is by observing what it is NOT. Saving Christmas Spirit is, first and foremost, not a product of the Great Canadian X-Mas Movie Machine, an sub-industry in Canada which each year strives to produce as many generic X-mas movie knockoffs as humanly possible. It also is not an X-Mas movie that believes in bowling over the viewer with bright colors, bright lights, and glitzy surroundings, all with the intent to substitute looks for quality. Rather, this is a nice, lazy, easygoing, and quite comfortable romp with appealing characters and a story that holds the attention. Ashley Newbrough is the "glue" that keeps the whole thing working. She has a very distinctive way of delivering dialog, almost as if she is talking directly to the audience. And all those Scottish accents ... who can resist? Brings to mind the iconic SNL skit with the punchline "IF IT's NOOO SKOTTISH.... IT'S KKRRRAPPP!" Recommended! ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

I watched this on C5 last night.

Thank goodness, a new Christmas film, it made a change from the constant repeats we've been given recently.

This was a bit of a mixture, it was like any other romantic film. But, in places, it seemed a bit of a fantasy.

Like the steam train. Obviously a heritage line, but why just the heroine and the station master alone on the platform, twice?

The ghost of the landlady's husband, moving stuff about.

The brewery? Far too big to be what we were supposed to believe it was.

The "bed and breakfast" more like a castle.

The reindeer turning up unaccompanied, one complete with a bell around its neck, from where did they come?

The young star rugby player? You could tell he'd never touched a ball in his life from the clips of his training. But a nice little sub-plot romance.

However, it was a pleasant enough film and despite its faults I enjoyed it.

I was really impressed with close out song.

"It's the light of Christmas."

It suited the fantasy.

Anyone know, who was the girl singer?

A very attractive voice.

I've done a search but can find nothing.

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American movie makers are getting better at Brit flicks! Ironically the most stereotypical character is the over-the-top camp New Yorker, but fortunately he's not in it much, and even he gets some of the many amusing lines to make him slightly less run-of-the-mill. There's a good mix of characters, with three generations providing a range of plots. Many of the set-ups have the usually predictable endings, but plenty occurs to keep watching for as everything eventually resolves. I like a bit of sadness to add depth even in a Christmas movie, but there is a lot of bereavement and divorce here to deal with, which of course the characters do. This could be a series of films, exploring different elements of Scottish history.