Enchanting Christmas

Enchanting Christmas (2024) -

My first impression of this film was that leading man Brando White was a bit too "Hollywood" to be the suggested rugged, outdoorsy, handy with a chainsaw, wilderness type Ben. I mean I didn't mind too much because a handsome lead has always made it easier for me to enjoy these films. Who wants to see us ugly people get it on right? But it did seem that he had been chosen just for his looks, because although he wasn't the worst I've seen, his acting was unfortunately not the best either. He was also a bit like an athlete turned actor or some such thing, like he was trying to break away from the NFL or being a Calvin Klein model. And he needs to leave his eyebrows alone.

As the story developed I felt that it had hints of Raymond Briggs' 'The Snowman' (1982) and 'Snowmance' (2017) as well as 'Disney's Enchanted' (2007) of course. This particular take on the ideas saw a wish from Ben's Daughter Annie come true and an ice sculpture of a winter princess come to life. The usual complications arose and the "Princess" spent the next several days getting to know Ben and hiding her origins from him whilst all 3 had fun times participating in Christmas celebrations around town.

So nothing really that different from the others, although I do have to say that I prefer the magical storylines because they spice up the Boy meets Girl trope and add that Christmas sparkle and joy. It also adds a different idea of what could go wrong between the two leads as it obviously would and always does in these films. What might they fall out about or keep them apart?

Surprisingly Ava Jacobs in the role of Annie was not the awful, sickly saccharin that most of these films seem to find in their younger actors. She was quite endearing and her belief in magic and romance was not over the top. I probably stuck with it for her the most because I wanted her to have her Christmas Wish come true.

When Emily Sweet did arrive as her character of Jade Frost I found her to be in contrast to Brando because she wasn't the traditionally gorgeous that he was and her image just didn't say Princess to me. She was a bit like Anna Faris and I kept expecting her to goof around like Anna's character in 'Scary Movie' (2000) because she just had that quirkiness to her. She wasn't that good as an actor either, better at some times than others I supposed. She also seemed like she was struggling to see without glasses.

The supporting artists - Anna's Teacher, the Santas, Linda, etc did not put their best feet forward with their acting either.

The "Bad Guy" Martin's (John Donovan Wilson) grudge seemed a tad overblown too. The writers/producers could have easily made it something more believable just by having him be inappropriate towards Jade or something similar. His incident in the restaurant was just stupid instead.

And honestly, as good as the ice sculpture that Ben created for the big town festival was, I thought that it needed to be something bigger and better for the purpose or perhaps just not hyped so much. It could have been Martin's attempt to impress his Father at a works party instead of the town event.

Also Ben's epiphany moment was a tad twee and forced without actually being that believable.

In a way though it was charming and as a generic "Made For TV" Christmas film it did its job but there was just too much that needed polishing. Santa needed to be more conventional. Ben needed to be rougher, maybe even with a belly and a scruffy beard that he could trim to look more handsome later and Jade needed to be far more Royal and I know it sounds bad but partied a bit Barbie like. It seems like I'm being really biased based on their looks but it was off putting that they'd got it so wrong because these films have that formula and unless there's a specific reason to divert from it there has to be an explanation. Tell me that Ben had moved from L. A. after appearing in a bad series of 'The Bachelor' (2002-) and wanted to escape the typical girls and I'll buy it. Have Annie wish for someone 'Pretty But Not Too Pretty' because she doesn't want Jade to be whisked away by another man and I'll buy that too. Or get the casting, hair and makeup right.

In general the story should have been sweet and with a few tweaks it could have been a very lovely piece, but it was clear that they'd skimped a bit on the budget.

It wasn't so bad that I turned it off without finishing it though.

5.82/10.

Seriously, you've got a little girl making a Christmas wish for her and her widowed father, a pretty blond princess coming alive out of an ice sculpture and all in time just before Christmas. Throw in a Santa Claus character and the 'magic' of Christmas, both figuratively and literally, and it's as sweet as the hot chocolate the ice princess can't get enough of.

Of course, this fairytale movie is not going to have a complex plot arc or Shakespearean scripting. It is sweet, light and engaging....and the casting choices were spot on. If your critical of this film, you're critical of fairytales.

Ben (Brando White) lives alone with his daughter Annie (Ava Jarque) since the death of his wife. They have a strong bond and are happy but Annie wishes her dad could find a love, and Ben wishes he could make more money from his business making ice sculptures. Close to christmas, one of his ice sculptures, a princess (Emily Sweet), magically comes to life, causing unexpected disruptions in the lives of those she meets.

I sooooo wanted this story to be great as I love all things christmas and magic. Add in a princess and I am ecstatic. Sadly, the acting was wooden, and for most of the film the 'princess' had very little to say. Her communication was weird, childish grins and forlorn looks and direct questions to her were met with a downward glance and an odd grin. The script and direction were appalling, and add to that the lack of very basic skills of the actress, and you have a recipe for disaster. Ava Jarque and 'Santa' (William 'Bus' Riley) carry the entire film, which is a crying shame as the premise of the story is great. The sets were nice and it did have a bit of a feel of christmas, but sadly the uninspiring script and flat acting dropped the whole film a peg or two, but also there was zero chemistry between White and Sweet so I didn't feel at any time any romance. It is a great story to imagine though, so I'm grateful for that as I can make a better story in my head.

I gave it a 5 and that was mostly for Jarque and Riley as they did a great job.

This is a modern fairy tale, it is for entertainment and musing, "What if..." and it does it very well. My wife and I, old retired folk, really enjoyed it, at home, streaming on Prime.

In addition to the story itself the cinematography is excellent, colorful and detailed, just ideal for this type of clean holiday movie.

Set in the snowy Rocky Mountains Brando White is very effective as Ben Jacobs, who is an ice sculptor. He is single with a nice and smart young daughter of maybe 11 or 12, Ava Jarque as Annie Jacobs. Both of them are really good in their roles with very natural, unforced acting styles.

Money is tight, Annie asks her dad for an ice sculpture, knowing he can't afford much for Christmas. She asks for a beautiful ice princess. The next day it is standing right outside their forest home.

The conceit of the story is that Santa is real and Christmas magic is real if one really believes. So the ice princess comes alive as a real person, and is played very well by Emily Sweet as Jade Frost. Young Annie believes but the real task is to get to where her dad believes.

Any potential viewer who has trouble with fantasy or who likes to nitpick a movie and find fault should not watch it. It is overall done in a Hallmark style but with a clear fantasy element. We enjoyed it as nice entertainment.

Granted, I had never heard about this 2024 Christmas movie titled "Enchanting Christmas", from director Brian Brough, prior to sitting down and watching it as part of my 2024 Christmas movie marathon. But taking the movie's title and cover into consideration, I have to admit that I figured that it would be another run-of-the-mill generic and sappy Christmas movie. But of course, director Brian Brough could prove me wrong.

The storyline in the movie was a refreshing change of pace from the usual standard formulaic sappy Christmas storylines, yeah Hallmark I am looking at you. Writers Chad Reininger and Brittany Wiscombe put together a script and storyline that proved to be unique and different to make itself outstanding in the vast ocean of sappy Christmas movies. So thumbs up to the writers for that accomplishment. And I have to say that I was actually genuinely entertained throughout the course of the 91 minutes that the movie ran for.

The only familiar face on the cast list, for me, was leading actress Emily Sweet. The acting performances in the movie were good.

If you enjoy sappy Christmas movies and want something that breaks the standard generic form, yet still accomplishes being a sappy Christmas movie and then some, then you should definitely give "Enchanting Christmas" a chance.

While "Enchanting Christmas" certainly isn't going to become a Christmas classic, it is still a Christmas movie that I would recommend fans of the genre to check out.

My rating of director Brian Brough's 2024 movie "Enchanting Christmas" lands on a six out of ten stars.