Northpole: Open for Christmas

Not long after the original Northpole film aired, Hallmark announced that a sequel to the film under the working title Northpole 2 before being now called by its current name Northpole: Open For Christmas was in production and like most Hallmark fans, I had an open mind to see it. To me, this has to be one of the best sequel films Hallmark ever made.

Now for the plot. Clementine the elf was given a new task by Santa to help a workaholic Real Estate agent (played by the ever wonderful Lori Loughlin) restore her late aunt's Inn which actually serves as beacon for Santa's sleigh while at the same time helping her regain her true spirit of Christmas she lost as a kid.

As far as we know, Bailee Madison was the only actress from the original film to reprise her role as our favorite lovable elf Clementine. Santa Clause unfortunately was no longer played by Robert Wagner as in the previous film and was replaced with Donovan Scott for this film and his role as Santa was actually equally as wonderful as how Robert portrayed him. All the actors did an amazing job in this film especially Ava Telek (April Telek's daughter) as the widowed carpenter's daughter. Like the original, the movie was shot in Montreal, Canada, but at a different part of the city.

All in all, this is a great sequel film. Wonderful acting, good plot though there were some flaws, and good special effects. Like the original film, some people may love it, some may not love it, but hey, everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

Incredible piece of shoe-horning of the the story into a budget. Storyline necessitates the "saving" of an old guest house as a metaphor for "saving" the spirit of Christmas in Loughlin's character. Truth is, the tightwads in the Production company got hold of a cheap hire on a set and that drove the script. Good and energetic performances from the Butler and the visiting Elf-Girl. Unfortunately the lead actor, Loughlin is vanilla nothingness, just a brown paper bag of a performance and as a viewer I could care less if she saves the Hotel (and herself) or not. The Love interest is just a plank of wood with a neat jawline - the Ivy was more animated. Some young actors needed this film to get a step up in their career but unfortunately, they were in the control of a cheap Prodution firm who were determined to do no favors for anyone. Too bland. Too thin. No investment emotionally, commercially, artistically or creatively in this project - and it showed. I really had no idea who Lori Loughlin is but half-recognised her face...some Googling shows that she's been charged with Fraud by the USA High Court in 2019. I suppose she really didn't know anything about honesty and spirituality in real life- so why would we expect her to act out those concepts with any skill ?

Northpole aired on the Hallmark channel as part of their Christmas in July programming.

Cute movie starring Lori Loughlin, Bailee Madison, & Dermot Mulroney. The movie is actually a sequel, but it is not necessary to have seen the first installment.

Mackenzie (Loughlin) inherits her Aunt's inn in Vermont and ponders selling it and getting back to her high powered lifestyle in the city as soon as possible.

What follows is Mackenzie's journey to rediscover her Christmas spirit and what truly is important to her heart.

Watching these 2 fifty-somethings sleepwalk through the twilight of their career gives this movie a special place in the film school case studies of corporate, group think, cookie cutter productions. How do you fill 90 minutes with dialog without really saying anything? "Northpole: Open for Christmas" is your answer. My XMas advice? Get to bed early...

This Christmas Movie may be fun to watch for kids, but is really odd for adults. The romance plot could not be more linear and the part of reviving someones christmas spirit has been played exactly like this hundrets of times....also some of the dialogues and lots of coinsidences are really weird and just there to make up they had no clue how to give the plot a constant flow.