Annie Claus Is Coming to Town

I watched this one hoping to possibly review it for my blog, but I fell asleep and missed probably about 45 minutes in the middle. It had some pretty good jokes from what I saw. When Annie Claus leaves the North Pole to have an adventure anywhere in the world, her dart hits the globe on Los Angeles. "Like the Beverly Hillbillies!" she cries happily. When Vivica Fox's character tries to explain why people aren't as friendly and cheerful as Annie is used to, she says something like, "We are quite content to just live in fear of each other."

Maria Thayer should have been a bigger star. She was adorable and cute, and gave off definite Amy Adams in Enchanted vibes. She looked like a young Alicia Witt. It was nice to see Sam Page, a Hallmark regular (this was not a Hallmark) when he was so young.

This film is a huge part of my childhood Christmas! I don't care if they make a film with the best story line with all my fave actors, actresses, and it has all my fave songs it, this will remain my fave Christmas film! I love this film! I ten out of ten recommend it to anyone who loves Christmas! I'm not someone who loves romances, to be honest I hate romance films, I think they are too cheesy and it bothers me, but I love every single minute of this film!

This happened to be on True Christmas during the xmas period and I decided to watch it. The story is about Annie Claus who travels to sunnyside LA California where she meets a charming man whom she falls in love with. Problem is that the guy that she meets is a amateur actor that one of the elves hired so that he can stop Annie from coming back to the North Pole. Later though Annie does meet a cynical toy shop owner who's store is about to be closed down due to another store that just opened. But of course who does Annie love more Dean(the amateur actor who is only using her)or Ted(the toy shop owner who later falls for Annie)?

Bottom line this was a very sugar coated rom com that we all know the story to having witnessed it in A lot of romantic comedies. But for a Christmas movie it wasn't that bad. Its not an Oscar Worthy film but its a fine film to watch on a lazy afternoon. Give it a shot if you are in the Xmas spirit.

6/10

Daddy (Santa) lets his daughter leave The North Pole to go live on her. Welcome to Los Angeles where it's not so easy to have a wonderful yuletide feeling. Annie gets a job, transforms a business and falls in love, all of which adds up to a mountain of sugar-coated Christmasy schmaltz in its purest form. What's here is average at best but on the plus side it does have Christmas at its very core which makes it one of the better Christmastime made-for-TV movies. Plus the lead actress (Maria Thayer) is so cute to watch for 85 minutes!

5.7 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

Every now and then, the Hallmark Channel comes up with a different plot for a Christmas movie. And, most of those are quite good. "Annie Claus Is Coming to Town" is such a film.

Although it follows a familiar theme about the eventual replacement for the current Santa Claus, the plot is unique enough to make this a fine comedy romance for Christmas viewing. Most of the cast are good, and Maria Thayer is superb as Annie Claus. When she rents her room at the Candy Cane Motel, she tells Lucy her last name is spelled with a K.

Thayer's Annie is a constantly joyful person - it wouldn't be right to say she is "chronically" joyful. It's her nature, coming from where she does. And, her joyfulness is infectious. That's something that would likely be overdone, or come across as corny or sappy by many another actor. But Thayer makes it seem real, pleasing and refreshing.

This is a more modern film that most family members should enjoy over the Christmas holidays. The film has some funny and clever lines, and gets in a couple gentle digs about living in the Los Angeles area. Here are my favorites.

Martha Claus, "All right, Annie. Are you ready to see where sabbatical will be taking you?" Annie, "Oh, I'm so excited, mother. It could be anywhere. Paris. Prague. Pittsburgh."

Lucy, "Well, we're pretty comfortable around here living in fear of each other. We tend to not make eye contact if we can help it." Annie, "When I pass someone without a smile, I like to offer mine."

Lucy, to her daughter, "Don't you ever run after a man, hear me?" Mia, "Okay."