It’s time for a film about how a group of kids end up terrorizing a whole town. They may be young but the adults weren’t prepared for such an onslaught. At times the film goes a bit too hard on being really cheesy but aside from that it is a good title. Ultimately it’s got a solid message about Christmas and giving everyone a second chance so you can’t really go wrong there.

The main heroine here is Beth and she has grown up in a school that is terrorized by the Herdmans. They are bullies who go around stealing food and hitting the other students. The adults all know about this but make no moves to stop them. So Beth and the other kids are on their own. The only place where they can get a break from the bullies is at school. Unfortunately that doesn’t last as her brother goads them into joining the church for free snacks. Now the Herdmans have announced that they are going to take over the Christmas Pageant. Beth’s mother is going to be the head person this year and she has decided to make the best of it. Will this ruin the show though?

Beth is probably the most sympathetic character here because of the fact that she has no good support network. The fact that the bullies physically attack her and the others can be scary. Apparently they’ve gone quite far with the bullying as they sent one kid to the doctor. It’s why Beth’s friend is forced to step down from her role as Mary since she knows that the threats are real. It’s good that the Herdmans eventually realize the error of their ways but at the same time you don’t really want to reward this kind of behavior. It puts you in an awfully tough spot.

Beth is also the one pressured to try and help them out as her own feelings are basically ignored here. The most entertaining and yet frustrating character would be her father. He makes it clear from the start that he doesn’t take the bullying seriously. He makes quick quips about it in a way where you know that he’s not going to do anything. He even looks nervous when delivering food to the kids. The poor guy was even struggling to open a frozen tv dinner. He’s clearly not the best representative to send out if you need a body guard.

I like how he doesn’t take anything seriously in an ironic way but you would hope that he would be protecting his kids more. Meanwhile Beth’s Mom is too busy putting on the Pageant here to worry about any of that stuff. She is going a bit too far in this quest to prove herself as she needed to really let the Herdmans know how these things were going to play out. There are times to move forward but there also have to be times for accoutability.

That’s probably where the film is roughest. The Herdmans just get away with way too much and the adults are always too afraid to confront them. The film shows us that the Herdmans absolutely have it rough and nobody would envy their situation. At the same time, in life you always have choices on whether you do the right thing or the wrong thing. The Herdmans continually chose to do the wrong thing and so at that point there are consequences.

I was glad that the film kept the center of Christmas about Jesus Christ. The Pageant remained Christian based the whole time which is a good thing and so that was a good touch on the film’s part. When you’re watching a film about Christmas, you never know if you’re going to get the true meaning of it here or something about Santa Claus instead. The Pageant may not have been their best one with all the drama but the film would try to have you believe otherwise.

The film goes by fairly quick since there is a lot going on. Ultimately it makes for a fun film so that’s the important thing. Even if I had my reservations, there isn’t really anything here that would dramatically hurt the movie. If they ever did a sequel, I could see that winning though as I think Beth would do a better job of keeping everyone in check.

Also she may be more likely to talk tough to the town. While her mother didn’t back down, she could still be a bit evasive and too polite when talking to the cabal of teachers. She needed to take a more aggressive approach if you ask me and that would have worked out well. A small town like this is always going to have a decent amount of gossip and it’ll stop if you shut it down decisively. Beth may be timid as a kid but she was quickly growing up as the film went on. These circumstances basically require that this will happen in time. Ideally the other adults will have softened up after this success though so maybe Beth won’t even have any opposition.

Overall, This was a pretty good movie. It can definitely be a little cheesy so you’ll probably cringe at some of the Herdman moments but for the most part it’s like a time capsule. This will remind you of a tv special from the 90s or something like that. The film’s messaging is good and ultimately the Herdmans get the redemption arc. The town doesn’t have to worry about bullies anymore so things can go smoothly. It’s a fine Christmas title to check out for the new year.

Overall 6/10