Christmas Lodge

The '4' is for the scenery, which is lush, and for Erin Karpluk, who turned in her usual competent performance despite the lame dialogue, and for the cute little girl and her dog.

The title is a cheap attempt to cash in on the season. This movie has little to do with Christmas except for the obligatory family-togetherness lesson. For family togetherness to work as a plot device, there has to be a smidge of conflict beforehand. But in this movie everyone was so nice, so bland, that their 'apartness' could have been cured with an invitation to dinner or a night of board games in any month before Thanksgiving and the 'project' brought them all together anyway.

As someone else mentioned, there was utterly no chemistry between the romantic leads. Even though both Erin and Michael Shanks are competent actors, it's hard to see why they would take roles that offered so little scope for their emotional range either as individuals, romantic partners, or family members. Everybody in this film suffered from botox of the emotions. Believing in God doesn't and shouldn't equal living your whole life in emotional neutral. If you can't know pain, you can't appreciate joy.

Frankly, it wasn't the religious expressions that turned me off as much as the blatant unreality of the basic setup. Even Christian business people can't simply walk away from 3 months worth of scheduled work to satisfy their ailing grandfather without suffering consequences to their business's reputation for years to come. That kind of blatant guilt trip ought to be unthinkable for an ethical elder of the family. And any grant-funding organization that steered a huge part of their budget to the family business of an employee's dad would be in serious hot water with everyone from their private donors to the IRA.

I had to wonder, too, what message the writers/director thought they were sending, because it came across to me like 'If you're a Christian and pray a lot, you can convince total strangers to allocate millions of dollars to give your family's company money to rebuild an old lodge just because your ailing grandfather once had happy memories there.' Silly me; I thought Christianity meant more than using God like a cash machine. Especially at Christmas.

With all the sweetness and light in Christmas Lodge, just viewing it will get your teeth a rotting. The people depicted here are just too good to be true. Even the guy who dumps Erin Karplunk does it in a nice way.

I will say that the film boasts some lovely scenic photography of British Columbia in this Canadian production. Right in the middle of the forest primeval is a now rundown resort that Erin Karplunk and her family used to go to. The great grandson of the builder of Christmas Lodge is Michael Shanks and he's trying to restore the place, but it's an uphill battle for he and his little daughter.

Then in the God moves in mysterious ways category Karplunk shows up with the soon to be dumper boyfriend and she works in a foundation that gives grant money for restoration of old buildings. In this film you KNOW she's going to get it done by hook or heavenly crook. And fate has decreed that Karplunk and Shanks of course are fated to be mated.

Despite my cynicism I did enjoy Christmas Lodge and for those who are into restoration and there are many in my neck of the woods who are. Preservationists, this film is for you.

Let me say categorically that Mrs. Shullivan and I had wonderful childhood memories of our own Christmas's past and so this film brought back feelings of our own family Christmas's that were very special. After reading some of the other negative reviews I can only ascertain that these scribes do not believe in the magic of Christmas, or maybe their own families are not very close so the film was not believable to them.

As for those of you who are purest Christmas believers, who enjoy being surrounded by family at this magical time of year, and who have some level of faith in living a Christian life, then this film "Christmas Lodge" should be on your viewing list. The two lead characters names are Mary whose job is to find private funding for restoring historic buildings, and the country Christmas Lodge owner named Jack whose lodge is old and badly in need of extensive repairs. Christmas Lodge was built by Jacks' great grandparents more than 100 years ago and the Christmas lodge has hosted many families over the past two centuries including Mary's family and grandparents when she was a young child.

Mary is played superbly by actress Erin Karpluk, who had a recurring role in the hit action/drama television series Rookie Blue. Jack's character is played by the seasoned actor Michael Shanks who has played versatile character roles in other films ranging from the biographical film Mr. Hockey the story of Gordie Howe, to the successful television drama series Saving Hope. Now Michael Shanks character is a widower and he has a cute pixie of an 11 year old daughter named Charlene, played with devilish charm by the youngster Michelle Creber. In walks Mary (Literally in the woods) in to their unsuspecting lives while Jack is slowly trying to restore Christmas Lodge to its past glory days with nothing more than spit and muscle and little capital funds to pay for the rebuild.

Now Mary's own family is very busy in the renovation industry with her father and her two brothers working independently on various renovation projects trying to maintain a living. Mary's grandfather has been bed ridden for quite some time but his past memories of Christmas Lodge and the love and Christian upbringing that he has bestowed on his extended family made Mrs. Shullivan and I warm and emotional. Call us saps if you will, but Christmas Lodge is a story of caring for one another and believing in the goodwill of all mankind. Grandpa is played by John Innes and his bedside visits and long chats with his granddaughter Mary only wish that our own parents and grandparents were still alive. They are very sensitive and touching scenes and add great value to the movies theme....especially near the end of the film.

The film has a romantic story line and the spirit of Christmas comes to a wonderful climatic ending with Mary's family at Christmas Lodge well worth waiting for as the film closes. So for those other reviewers who commented they could not watch the entire film I must surmise their past Christmas's were filled with stress and grief and this film is about hope and love.

Michael Shanks and Erin Karpluk are wonderful in the lead roles. This is a family friendly Christmas film. I give it an 8 out of 10 rating, and suggest that if you are a lover of the Christmas spirit that you won't be disappointed with Christmas Lodge.

I don't normally search for these sort of films; my wife loves them and for the entire month before Christmas, these are on TV in our home. However, this year, I did not see this one. I was searching thru Netflix and found it in my queue; apparently my wife had watched it so I figured I'd give it a go. It was about 1 am and the worst thing that could happen would be that I might fall asleep. I did not. I found this to be quite a charming and nice movie, though I felt "Grampa" played it a little too hammy. But all in all, I found the film to be quite enjoyable. I was also amazed at the full mention of God and Christ and found that to be a breath of badly needed air; Family values are great and this is one movie to enjoy. Yea, the title "Christmas Lodge" sort of connects it with Christmas. I wonder if this was ever based on a true story?

Cut above the average Christmas movie, Michael Shanks and Erin Karpluk both do a great job, nice chemistry between them, you really want them both to find what they're looking for. The scenery is beautiful, but what really sets this movie apart is the emotional and spiritual depth, believable snd inspiring without being forced or cheesy. One star off for a somewhat rushed ending, felt like it could've used another 20 minutes. Still, one of the better Christmas movies, very enjoyable, highly recommended.