Pete's Christmas

A very derivative but likeable Christmas TV movie, centring on Pete, the less-loved, put-upon middle child of three boys born to affable middle-aged American parents. After he has a nothing-else-could-surely-go-wrong Christmas Day with his family, a meteor shower occurs and hey presto, the young man wakens up the next day only to find he has rewound in time to relive his whole wretched Christmas Day experience all over again. So, amongst other things, he gets no present, gets the blame for ruining the family Christmas dinner, gets pelted with snowballs by the local heavies, also clobbered by same at the inter-neighbourhood festive American football game and joint worst of all, blows his chance of romance with the pretty new girl who arrives next door and sees his dad and grinchy old grandad argue to the point where gramps walks out on the family before the end of the day. Same day by same day, like a junior Bill Murray, he rights every wrong, closing on the real biggie, reconciling his dad and grandad to break the loop at last.

So it's pretty obviously a Christmas edition of "The Wonder Years" meets "Groundhog Day" the latter right down to young Pete using his repeat time to learn a musical instrument from scratch and find a way to his initially reluctant girl's heart, but it's all done so openly, inoffensively and amicably, plus it's only a Christmas T.V. show for pity's sake, your surname would have to be Scrooge for you not to be mildly entertained at the very least.

The two young male and female leads give nice performances in their Kevin and Winnie-type roles and Bruce Dern is the most recognisable cast member as the hard hearted old grandfather. The only really objectionable thing for me about this otherwise pleasant Christmas movie was the wishy-washy original music trilling away in the background but for fans of the two sources mentioned, this is a nice little film to while away the time if you're stuck indoors at Christmas with nothing much to do.

Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime, Hallmark and UPTV. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. 'Pete's Christmas' had the sort of premise that had strong potential of being in the former category.

'Pete's Christmas' is somewhere in the top-in between batch. It is not a great film and could have done a lot more with the 'Groundhog Day'-like premise, but it is amusing and engaging enough and a pleasant enough as long as not too much is expected. Quite a lot is good, but it doesn't avoid the traps that a lot of festive films fall into. Though other festive films have fared far worse in what 'Pete's Christmas' has wrong with it in my personal view.

Beginning with the not so good, the story is formulaic and doesn't really have anything new or special to it to make it stand out, it also felt on the over-stretched side and felt like certain things that happened could easily have happened later or been elaborated upon more. Some of the dialogue doesn't sound very natural, and can be a bit corny and sappy like towards the end.

A better job could have been done making Pete more appealing, he does come over as too whiney and some of his antics are on the repetitive side. The music doesn't really fit and is rather syrupy.

The cast do do a very nice job, especially the adult cast. Bruce Dern has the most interesting and most colourful character and has the right crustiness and class. Bailee Maddison is also adorable and brings a lot of heart. While Pete could have been written better, the supporting characters are a zesty bunch and are fun.

It looks good, with some lovely festive scenery and touches clearly shot with care and love. It's amusingly light hearted and good natured, while also heartfelt in other places. The messaging is honest and easy to get behind, while not feeling preachy. Enough of the dialogue is good natured fun and the story has enough moments where there's charm and energy.

Concluding, above average fare. 6/10.

Surprisingly good film, which keeps you interested throughout. Had there never been Groundhog Day, it would be 1 or 2/10 more than this vote. As there has been Groundhog Day, on a similar premise you cannot help but compare them. This is not as good as that was, the lead boy in parts can be a little peculiar as are the family and grandad for the earlier part of the film.

But the film doesn't always go exactly as you will expect and it is never dull and comes together well in the end.

6/10

We've all been there, even in a loving family, regardless of gender :) It's nice to watch how Pete sorts out his teen angst, finds his maturity and deals with the dichotomies of family love. Bruce Dern is fantastic :) It's fun to watch these uptight, self-focused people - kids and grownups alike, become derailed and find themselves, each other, and their family again, not necessarily in that order. It's one of my favourite Christmas movies. First saw it one year when I was watching *all* the Christmas movies, and this was one of the best. A lot of them were coming out of Canada at that time. Another one I liked was "Father Christmas, Who?", with Leslie Nielsen. Anyway, it has a lot of fun moments, a lot of sweetness, with the disappointments of real life treated gently.

Pete Kidder (Zachary Gordon) is having a bad Christmas. He makes a bad first impression with new neighbor Katie (Bailee Madison). He can't do anything right. His dad got downsized. His grandfather is judgmental. His mother's cooking has gone wrong. His brothers are annoying. Then Christmas day starts again.

This has some good adult actors (Bruce Dern, Molly Parker, Rick Roberts). The filmmaking is lackluster. The kid is rather average. That's both fitting and a little bland. The first repeat should have done more. Instead, the movie skips a lot of it and it keeps skipping. He keeps doing the same thing for far too long. It's not that hard. This Groundhog Day premise should have faster progression and Pete is just too whiney. He's also a little bit of an idiot and not the funny kind. I can't believe that the older kids are still talking about Santa with respect to the presents. Grandpa should not be tried so early. He should be left all to the last act to finish the movie. There is a better progression to be done. The premise could work with better writing.