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Fruits Basket Season 2 Review

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Fruits Basket has returned and really picks up right where it left off. To the point where it can be easy to mix up events from both seasons so won’t have any trouble getting into the action. The first season was definitely pretty solid. It was a good slice of life drama with Tohru helping quite a lot of characters deal with their issues. Ultimately she helped a lot but was not able to actually fix their circumstances quite yet. In this season Tohru works even more to find out about the Zodiac curse. It does feel like we’re approaching the end here as several characters have effectively completed their character arc now. It won’t be much longer until they are all set.

It’s a bit hard to give this show a direct plot synopsis though. There are a ton of little mini arcs here and even stand alone episodes since so many characters have their own subplots at work. I suppose the basic premise is about Tohru finally deciding to end the curse but not being sure exactly how to do that. After all, all of the Sohma family members want to break the curse but it’s still around and they haven’t found out much of anything about it. It’s not the kind of curse you can just snap in an instant after all. So in lieu of a more general plot synopsis I’ll talk about some of the mini arcs in general.

In season 2 the student council gets more of a role which is fun. Their episodes with Yuki are always a lot of fun and make for a pretty solid meanwhile plot. Of the members naturally the leader Manabe is the best one but the group as a whole works well. First you have Sakuragi who gets the smallest role of the group and is probably the least friendly. He gets worked up a lot more than the others and just doesn’t appreciate all of the shenanigans going on. He thinks the student council should be working like a well oiled machine but I can say now I don’t think that was ever part of the plan.

Then you have Kimi who basically just likes flirting with everyone for fun. She’s a pretty cheerful character who gives the council a lot of energy. Kimi is pretty charismatic so whenever she is around the scene tends to be fun. Then there is Machi who is having a tough time with this gig. She’s not exactly one of the more outgoing members of the group. She tends to stay silent and keep to herself at all times. She gets her own plot in this season as we see her backstory and she starts to get past this. Machi is a solid enough character.

Then we have Manabe and that guy’s just a blast. Pretty much every scene is him proving why he should be the Council President. He’s the leader but technically Yuki has that job. Manabe is able to defuse pretty much any situation really quickly. He likes to take life on the fast lane and doesn’t really worry about things the way Yuki does. Manabe just goes with the flow and has a lot of fun in the process. He’s also around to listen whenever Yuki needs to talk about things. It’s clear that Manabe is a lot more intelligent than he allows others to believe and just acts in whatever role will help the other succeed. He has quickly become the best character in the series. The guy’s role may be smaller than most of the Zodiac members but he does well with it.

The Student Council episodes serve as development for the members but also for Yuki. While Machi is slowly going through her character realizations, Yuki is also coming to terms with his life. He finally realizes the truth about how he views Tohru which is nice. Not a lot of series deal with this but just because you think you might be in love with someone doesn’t mean you are. Now, he does mention faking it for some scenes but I’m not sure I quite buy that. I think he just didn’t really realize it until this point. It’s similar to the hero scenario where someone saves your life so you think you are in love with them now. I’d say in a lot of action movies this happens unironically with the character never realizing it. Yuki going in a different direction is likely the biggest event of the season and in a way I would say Yuki’s plot is now 100% closed. He has come to terms with his parents, his brother, Kyo, and Tohru. Even his relationship with Akito is basically finalized now. They’re not exactly friends, nor will they ever be but I’d say they have both said their piece at this point.

Naturally Kyo gets a lot of attention as well. He’s gone to the point where he has completely decided not to let anyone in his life. Kyo’s not quite as battle hungry as he was in season 1 either which also shows how he has been improving. Yuki doesn’t set him off the way he used to and Kyo’s a little more okay with acting nice to Tohru. Of course the two still occasionally fight and Tohru’s always ready to break it up. Kyo’s seeing things from a different lens now and it works well. Of course he still does have his aggressive personality such as giving everyone a tough time at the play but after all of the grumbling he still heads in to do his part. At the end of the day Kyo is someone you can count on and from the main guys I still think he’s a more enjoyable character than Yuki. Both are strong characters with deep character arcs, but I’d just say Kyo’s consistently won out.

Tohru appears constantly so it goes without saying that she gets more screen time and development here. The show is now at the point where it has enough characters that she doesn’t have to appear at all moments but she is still the lead for a reason. We finally found out who actually gave her the cap as a child even if she doesn’t know. Tohru gets to be very proactive in this season as she actively heads to the Sohma estate and does a lot of ground work for the investigation. It’s always nice to see because you shouldn’t wait for the answers to come to you. In a case like this with everyone trying to hide the truth, that means you’re going to need to ask some of the tough questions.

Shigure continues to troll everyone and hide a lot of what he knows. While I always appreciate the fact that he is the only character who ever talks back to Akito and mess with the villain, you can’t call him a good guy by any stretch. By this point Shigura’s inaction is just becoming antagonistic to the point where he doesn’t have anyone’s back. He basically gets in the way of the investigation as well. His poor editor doesn’t show up much this time but he’s not exactly reliable as an author either. At least he gives the main characters a place to stay I suppose.

Arisa and Saki don’t get to do much this time around. As Tohru’s friends they do maintain a presence here of course but that’s about it. Arisa has her whole troubled romance plot still going but it seems like that will be resolved in the third season. We do get some moments on it here though like Arisa finally breaking down and begging Kureno to come back. Kureno has a pretty big role in this season though as we see exactly why he continues to put distance between them. As a Sohma he has his own drama to deal with after all. He is the one always with Akito so as it is the guy doesn’t have a whole lot of freedom. Unfortunately I would have to say that he is one of the worst members of the group. Precisely because of the fact that he could be helping out a ton.

A lot of the Sohma are in pretty tough spaces. There’s not a whole lot they could do to help their situations. Throughout the series they get the strength needed to make their situation better but it was an uphill battle. In Kureno’s case you really can’t compare his trials to the others. He basically makes things tougher on himself but he reasonably could have done a whole lot. I also don’t buy into his reasoning for staying and being shackled. He should have at least told everyone what he knew. Kureno was also in a good position to prevent Akito from going off the deep end by using his avenue to escape as leverage. The guy didn’t do any of that so I definitely did not like him in the slightest.

A pair of characters who got a pretty big role here were Rin and Hatsuharu. Rin basically missed season 1 so this was her chance to make a name for herself. She basically starts off by dumping Hatsu, insulting Tohru, and threatening Shigure so it’s a solid start. She wants to end the curse at any cost but insists on doing it alone. She’s built a wall between herself and the rest of the Sohma. Rin does deserve some credit for getting out from under Akito’s gaze though. The villain basically doesn’t mess with her anymore which has to be great. Unfortunately Akito did catch her back in the day through a flashback which leads to Rin not doing so well. Once again, Akito just looks way too good.

While Rin has a suitably tragic backstory like everyone else, I do think she took things way too far at every opportunity. Hatsu was a great ally so just pushing him and everyone else away like she did felt pretty forced. Rin just made a lot of unnecessary steps the whole time. She would have been a much more likable character if she had pushed everyone else away but stayed with Hatsu. I feel like that would have made more sense. As for Hatsuharu, he’s definitely a very loyal guy. He’s still got Rin’s back even after all of this. He’s also a good friend to Yuki in this season as he offers a lot of advice the whole time. He tends to be more of a low key character but one who gets the job done.

Naturally we can’t forget about Akito. I have to go on a bit of a tangent here as this is the one part of the show I still can’t buy into. Akito is a seriously ill person who is on death’s door all the time. Akito can barely even more or anything for long before going down with coughs. Yet, every character is deathly afraid of Akito. They all freeze up and allow themselves to be physically assaulted without trying to resist. Tohru got her face scratched, Yuki got a glass slammed on his head, Rin was pushed off a building, Hatori got his eye cut out, etc. Even Kyo allows himself to be pushed around. Whenever Akito talks the rest of the cast suddenly act like they’re Shaggy in a Scooby Doo film with how they tremble and whimper. Akito’s just flat out not that tough.

It’s also worth noting that the Sohma family is incredibly strong politically but it’s not like they will use any physical violence against you. So the characters don’t have to worry about that. They just really overexaggerate this part. You can make the case that this is part of the curse which has power over them but I also don’t buy into that being the case. The characters will occasionally act defensive when something hits a nerve but then go back into getting wrecked mode. The worst instance of this with Akito scarring Tohru while Yuki and Kyo just watched. To date that’s the worst scene in the franchise to be honest.

I have to retroactively take credit away from Kyo and Yuki here as in my season 1 review I wrote that I’m sure they would be able to get over their fear of Akito if it was to protect Tohru. Apparently that was not the case. Akito still continues to dominate everyone but this scene was horrible for both of those characters. Just standing by while she was attacked because they were afraid is the kind of move you don’t want to see any quality character have. It’s not like I’ll say they are bad characters as a result of that but I definitely did lose a lot of respect for them there. Tohru was basically left to fend for herself and it would have been even worse if not for Momoji and Kureno. We learn Akito’s backstory here but none of it makes the character any more likable or sympathetic. Ever since Akito was a child, dealing out pain was always priority number 1. So when you consider that, it still makes Kureno look even worse for not doing anything to correct this path. If the show tries going down the road of redeeming Akito that will definitely be a tough task to accomplish.

Hatori doesn’t get much to do in this season. He mainly reminds Shigure not to do anything crazy. Likewise Kagura and Ayame already got a lot of their character development. It was nice to see Ayame help out with the costumes and such for the festival/play. Ayame is a character who always comes through so you can appreciate that. He may not have done great back in Yuki’s origin but the fact that he continues to try and improve on this is the important thing. Momoji has a quick episode where we get to meet his sister but due to Sohma rules she can never know the truth about them. It’s definitely one of those tragic things but at least if they can continue to meet and stay on friendly terms, Momoji should be able to tell her in a few years once the trouble has died down.

Two common themes in most of the character arcs here is forgiveness and redemption. All of these characters either dealt with relatives or friends who were quite cruel to them originally and have to try and let go of their grudges or starting out not being a great person and trying to come to terms with that. The show balances out the emotions quite well. While on the whole I’d always say Fruits Basket is a pretty light hearted series, it knows when to get serious. You can go from episodes of the characters smashing watermelons or visiting the beach to characters contemplating suicide or being stuck in isolation for large periods of time which permanently scarred their psyche. Sometimes you have an episode that combined both such as the beach visit where everything is super happy until Akito makes a surprise visit to attack Tohru and just embarrass Yuki/Kyo. When a character is having an important moment they are able to do so with a somber tune playing in the background and fairly downcast colors. It’s part of why a character like Manabe can really shine here since he’s great at reading emotions and acts accordingly.

The writing is on point here as well so the origin stories don’t get boring or anything like that. Of course I’ll always have my issues with the Akito stuff and a lot of the characters just not doing anything to actively make their situation better. All that considered, it’s worth saying that Fruits Basket never drags on which is really important. A lesser series would have definitely crumbled under this kind of weight. Either focusing too much on the drama or making things overly sad to the point where the characters don’t have a happy ending or it doesn’t outweigh the past. The series always addresses the past but doesn’t dwell on it which is an important distinction I’d say. For example while Yuki shares his past with Manabe, we get to cut to the present time quite a bit where a soccer game is going on and they have some nice banter. It’s a nice contrast there.

Fruits Basket has quality animation as you would expect. All of the scenery is on point and the character designs are good. The whole thing is fairly low key as the show isn’t doing anything crazy to show the animation off but it always looks consistent. You won’t be finding anything off model or low budget here. It’s just all on point as you would expect it to be. For the soundtrack of course you have a lot of emotional themes here. I would say they are pretty good although it would be difficult for me to remember specific ones off the top of my head.

Overall, Fruits Basket Season 2 continues to move the series along at a good pace. There is a ton of ground that gets covered in these 20+ episodes as every character got to have some time to shine. It’s still hard for me to take Akito seriously and everyone constantly bowing to him can really be something else. With Tohru as a quality lead throughout I can only assume that season 3 will continue the solid streak of seasons for Fruits Basket and end things off on a high note. Even though the Student Council plots all seem to be complete, I’m hoping they still get another episode. Manabe just steals the show and their episodes tend to be some of the most entertaining ones in the whole anime. Fruits Basket has definitely been a really solid adaption of the manga, making the story a lot more interesting in this format. It’ll be a shame to see it go but maybe not Fruits Basket Another will finally be able to get an anime adaption of its own like everyone has been waiting for.

Overall 7/10

The Sound of Music

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Time to look at one of the big musicals from a while back. It’s intense to think that it’s been more than 50 years since this classic came out. When you’re making a musical the key is to always have good songs but also a strong plot. If you fail at both of those aspects then you become the next Cats film. If you succeed with at least one area then you’ve at least got a good starting point. I would say that the story is solid and the music is good. The style of music isn’t necessarily my thing but it works well enough with the film’s context. In the end the most impressive thing here is that the film is quite long but does not end up feeling dragged out or slow paced.

The movie starts by introducing us to a Nun in training named Maria. She is a free spirit and just doesn’t care to be confined by rules and regulations. If she wants to do something then she’s just going to go ahead and do it. That ultimately ends up leaving the Nuns to send her off to the home of Captain Von Trapp where she will serve as a governess and look after the 7 kids. This will be a difficult task as the kids have already chased off many others before her arrival. Still, Maria isn’t scared and is in fact looking forward to the challenge. These kids won’t get the best of her or at least they won’t have an easy time of doing so. Adding to the drama though is that the Captain has decided to marry someone but now he is being distracted by Maria’s presence. As a Nun in training Maria is to stay away from romance but can she really do this? Additionally, the Nazi’s have begun their takeover of Austria so the main characters are going to have to make some tough decisions here.

As the film is around 3 hours there is a lot of content they are able to sift through. It’s why it makes sense for there to be so many different plots around. There’s even a romance plot with the eldest child who is in love with a delivery boy but gradually he succumbs to the Nazi ideology which transforms him and causes a rift to be formed. The film is definitely showing how quickly a person can change and it’s pretty realistic. In particular politics can cause rifts rather quickly and change people quite thoroughly. It’s a good thing she didn’t enter into that romance more or things could have been tricky.

For the most part the kids aren’t quite as rebellious as you would expect. They play pranks on Maria a little bit during the very first scenes of the film but from there they quickly lay off when they see that she’s actually a decent person. I was glad we pretty much zoomed over that plot because it makes sense that Maria would win them over. She was quite down to earth from the start and as a rebellious person herself, she would be able to deal with them fairly well. The scene of all the kids being scared of the thunderstorm was a bit cheesy though. Maria did a good job of covering for them though.

She’s quite the solid lead. I like Maria’s energy. While she may have surrendered a little too quickly in leaving the estate the first time, that’s the only scene where I’d say she didn’t look great. Beyond that she was on point from start to finish and excelled at being a governess. I also liked that she laid down the law right away that she would not be answering to a whistle. That was definitely a bit much and setting those boundaries from the start rather than trying to accept them is what separates her from what a weaker lead character would have done.

Meanwhile you have the Captain who starts out rather antagonistically but he does change. By the end of the film you could definitely say that he was a quality character. He was at least open to changing his mind even if he came very close to firing Maria. If that scene had played out differently then most likely he would have never quite had the character arc that he ended up getting. He is a bit wishy washy when it comes to romance though, the guy tends to rebound a little too quickly considering how close to marriage he was.

Then you have the Baroness Elsa and you already know that things aren’t going to end well for her the instant she appears. In fairness to her character, the film doesn’t portray her as someone who’s incredibly mean or anything like that. There is the clear contrast that she is not nearly as pleasant as Maria though. When the kids pick on Maria she has fun with them and turns the tables, but does so with no malicious intent. That’s why she becomes friends with them. When the kids start on Elsa she quickly decides to ship them off to school. It’s a very different approach that highlights how different the characters are. Then there’s Max who just wants to make a profit off of everything. He doesn’t like taking risks and will do whatever is the most profitable action. He never becomes a hero or anything like that and while he has a friendly disposition, you can never tell how genuine it is. He’s the kind of guy you can’t really trust.

As for the songs, as mentioned they are pretty decent. The songs all tend to have a lot of story thrown into them so it helps to give them some substance. The weakest song is definitely the romance one in the courtyard where the delivery boy is trying to win points. Even before knowing how that plot ends you just don’t think things will be so easy and the guy is just too nervous in general. The writing is also on point. The film tackles a lot of pretty serious themes and there’s a lot of great back and forth dialogue. One such scene for example is when the Captain’s escape plan is thwarted so he has to have a conversation with the cops. There’s a lot of double meanings throughout the whole conversation with obvious threats being thrown in as polite small talk.

The film has a nice sense of danger there. While it’s a pretty happy slice of life for the majority of the adventure, you can see background elements throughout the movie. If you’re caught up on your history then you’ll realize what is going on pretty early into the film but otherwise things will start clicking into place by the middle act. This makes for a solid climax and also helps develop the Captain’s character as someone who wouldn’t compromise on his ideals even through the very end. Other options would have been easier but he stayed true to his course of defying the Nazi’s and would rather die than serve them.

Overall, The Sound of Music is a solid musical. The film really covers a lot and this is the kind of super long film that feels earned. It’s not just padding for time and every scene feels pretty important. I’m sure there are places you could drill down to make this a shorter experience but since it didn’t drag on and solid throughout there is no need. I don’t know how accurate this would be to the events or if the drama may have been drummed up, but I can definitely say it’s a solid movie. I’d certainly recommend this to anyone who wants to watch a light hearted musical with good character development all throughout.

A Silent Voice Review

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I remember reading the manga for this one a long time ago and definitely destroyed it. It was extremely mean spirited the whole time and even by the end a lot of characters got away with a whole bunch. Well, turning an entire series into a single film means there are going to need to be significant cuts around the board so maybe this adaption would be better. It does seem like in particular they cut out a lot of the pre time skip content to get to the modern day quicker. I would say its better than the manga.

The movie starts with a transfer student named Shoko entering Shoya’s class. She has difficulty hearing and as a result isn’t able to speak very well either. Shoya and the boys quickly decide to start bullying her and eventually the whole class gets in on this. They keep on breaking her hearing aids and talking behind her back. Eventually she transfers out of the class and everyone pins the blame on Shoya. He was the ringleader but everyone was in on it. We cut to a few years later where Shoya has decided to destroy himself but ultimately decides not to. He runs into Shoko again and decides that he needs to make things right and become her friend. Can he really do it though or is he too far gone?

Right away you can kind of tell how much you will like the film based on how much you can buy into Shoya’s arc. As mentioned, the film does a pretty good job of really cutting out a lot of the opening moments and kind of breezing through things. It’s appreciated but I definitely still didn’t like Shoya. He started out mild but very quickly began to escalate well past the point of no return. He is effectively a different character pre and post time skip, but even with that it was hard to like him.

He could have defended himself a lot better with the rest of the friends later on. When Miki was spreading rumors once again he should have quickly come clean and told his side of the story. Instead he retreated once more but not before taking shots at every character to make himself appear to be the bad guy again.

All in all, Shoya does his best to atone for his earlier mistakes. So you have to give him some props but it doesn’t mean you have to like the guy either. He would still be one of the weaker characters in the film. Unfortunately the best character from the manga (Satoshi) has a smaller role here. He still looks very good in his appearances though as he pressures Miki to do the right thing and just seems like a stand up guy. He feels like the most heroic member of the group to be sure. He’s just a lot of fun and I’d have liked to see more of him.

From all of the characters Miki is probably low key the most malicious one of the group. At least a character like Naoka is pretty upfront about how much she dislikes Shoko. Miki is always trying to play the victim card while constantly bringing up things from Shoya’s past. It’s impossible to ever sympathize with her and by the end you feel like she gets away with everything. That’s why she’s my least favorite character.

Lets talk about Naoka though. She used to be good friends with Shoya and his posse until Shoko entered the mix. Initially she did act friendly towards the girl but eventually it was just too challenging for her so she gave up and became a bully. A lot of things happened and after the time skip she is no longer friends with Shoya but she blames this on Shoko. It gets to the point where she even beats up on Shoko near the end of the film.

Naoka’s personality makes her a pretty fun character but it can’t disguise the fact that she is easily one of the meanest ones around. Her ability of cutting through all the passive aggressive comments of the others and saying it like it is really helps her character stand out. Definitely no excuse for physically attacking Shoko at the end though. It’s good Shoko’s Mom was there to fight back or things would have really gotten out of hand.

From the main characters Miyoko is easily one of the more minor ones. She was someone who at least tried to be Shoko’s friend but ultimately had to leave schools. I don’t believe it was her choice though so while she blames herself a bit later on, I don’t think she deserves any blame for that. She did the best she could while in school and at least gave Shoko some fond memories.

Then we have Tomohiro who ends up being Shoyo’s first friend after the timeskip. He’s a pretty nice guy and definitely gave a lot of solid emotional support when it was needed most. He’s just a stand up guy and is someone who actively sticks up for himself as well. I was also glad that he didn’t just turn on Shoyo after the main character’s last outburst and knew that he was just not having a good moment.

Yuzuru is Shoko’s younger sister and definitely a fun character as well. She certainly doesn’t mind trolling the other characters and next to Shoko/Shoya she probably has the biggest role here. Yuzuru gets a lot of quality character development throughout but started as a great character from the onset. She wanted to make sure that nobody was going to mess with Shoko again and went to great lengths to ensure that was the case. She made a lot of sacrifices to help out.

Finally we have Shoko as the main heroine. She’s definitely a very nice character but almost nice to a fault in some instances. She really makes sure to turn the other cheek when people are being mean to her and continues to try being friends with everyone to the point where she can be a bit oblivious. It’s the main aspect of her that Naoka has a problem with. Shoko always puts on a brave face even if it’s not 100% genuine.

I don’t think you can fault someone for wanting to look at things through a positive lens though. She could have been more self aware but at the same time she was still just a kid and one with far less social experience than the rest due to her hearing issues. It’s part of why the first act is a tough watch because she is doing her best while the entire classroom is just being tough on her.

You’d think at least the teacher would have stepped in but he didn’t do much here. In the manga he’s a lot more antagonistic though so at least they toned him down to just being someone who never actually acts. So Shoko’s definitely a very good character and one of the best ones. The film does a great job of having you sympathize with her situation. Her mother also looks very good. She may have a much smaller role but she is doing her best to help out like contacting the school and jumping into fights. She also went to great lengths to find Shoko when she went missing and in general just did all of the right things.

The animation is naturally solid here. It’s all pretty smooth. You’re not going to see a lot of striking colors for the most part as this takes place in a town where there aren’t a ton of electronics or things of that nature so it’s more about the character designs and such. The writing is also on point.

Ultimately what holds the film back from being one that I would solidly recommend is just how many aspects of the film are un-relentlessly tragic all the time. Just when you think Shoko is finally safe the bullying starts up again in the second half. As bad as Shoya was in picking on her early on, then you see him getting bullied extensively after that and of course he takes it out on her. We have a grandmother dying later on in the film just to heap onto the plate. There’s also the fact that both Shoya and Shoko are suicidal at different points in the film.

It has its happy moments but most of the film is fairly dreary with this. At least the ending is on a high note since a sad ending would have really been rough. As it stands, at least you do know that things are going to get better for the main characters and they are through the worst of it.

Overall, A Silent Voice makes for a better movie than manga. In this case cutting out some things just helped to at least dial back the mean spirited nature of the story. If you’re up for an emotional story of a bully turning over a new leaf and coming to terms with himself then this is probably about as good a story as you’ll find here. Alternately if you want a redemption story that is a little more upbeat, check out Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.

Overall 5/10

Bell, Book and Candle Review

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Time for a very entertaining movie involving witches. I haven’t seen a whole lot of movies about witches but the concept is always fun. Who wouldn’t want to have a little magic power or to be friends with someone who did? There’s a lot of fun things you could do with that for sure. The movie has a little fun with that and the classic concept of the love potion. Can Shep stay strong against such temptations or will he ultimately buckle?

The movie starts by introducing us to Gillian and her store of antiques. The whole thing is pretty creepy as all of the artifacts feel like they have some power. Well, they may not but Gillian certainly has power. She is the strongest of the witches. Being a witch has its downfalls though such as not being able to cry or fall in love. Now you may be thinking that these aren’t huge downsides….but hey it’s something. Well, she does seem to like her new neighbor Shep but he’s engaged to be married to the old schoolyard bully Merle. Gillian’s aunt Queenie breaks into Shep’s house to find some information but Gillian is determined to catch Shep fair and square.

She will just snatch him away with her wiles and not a potion…until he moves up the wedding to the same day. Then she just chucks the ole potion at him and lets it be done. Metaphorically by the way as the potion is really just a song she hums to her cat but I like the visual of her just throwing a bottle of love potion at him. Well, this cases Shep to break up with his fiancé and wait on Gillian body and soul. Will he be able to break out of this spell and will Gillian regret her actions?

Now on the site I’m always talking about the importance of will power. Characters who just start cheating lose a lot of points and same for characters who fall under mind control. That’s why I have to say that at the end of the day Shep isn’t a very strong character. He’s a nice guy and so just enjoying a drink with the friendly next door neighbor isn’t bad but as soon as she started randomly humming he probably should have started running out of there. I did like the fact that in the background you hear him rambling on and on about Merle for whole minutes. The guy at least had a lot to say there and would have stayed strong if not for the love spell.

Shep is a good guy at heart as he always tries to do the right thing. In the end he just wasn’t ready for a magical blast which is unfortunate. He was also a little slow to defend Merle when musicians were literally playing in her ear. From his reaction though he really liked the music but even so there’s no way he could have missed her distress right? You’d expect that he wouldn’t at least. Also, the ending of the film may have him be a little too forgiving considering all of the damage that’s been done. At the end of the day no matter what happens keep in mind that just the other day he was 100% ready to be married to Merle. Any other outcome would just be a rebound.

Gillian does an excellent job as the main heroine though. She’s definitely a very tough witch that you don’t want to mess with. The fact that she threatens Nicky and then makes good on her promise was impressive. I actually didn’t think she was going to go in so quickly but sure enough she did. I was also surprised that Nicky didn’t retaliate at all by getting at Shep but it’s clear by the end that Gillian just terrifies the poor guy. Her abilities are quite special as the film reminds us. Gillian works as a scary antagonist and a charismatic lead. In some ways she has more principles than the rest of the characters even if she ultimately ended up mind controlling Shep anyway.

She also mainly ends fights but doesn’t start them like the whole Merle situation. Merle does seem like a nice enough lady in the present though. If anything you’ll feel bad for her since you know immediately that things are going to get tough for her. She was apparently not the nicest kid back in school but that was a long time ago so it’s not like she should keep paying for that mistake in the present. It might not have even been personal and she was just a stickler for the rules back then although I have my doubts.

Nicky is too lacking in courage for me to take him seriously so we don’t need to talk about him much. Queenie is a fun enough supporting character. She does tend to talk an awful lot so she spills the beans on everything but ends up being entertaining at the same time so I can appreciate that. Finally there’s Redlitch who is a solid character as well. He may be all talk and his abilities are actually quite slim but I just like that kind of bluster. Even if he is wrong, it’s the conviction that he’s got which is important. He absolutely knows that what he is saying is true even when he is proven wrong. Now that’s what I call true dedication right? He also did well not to get drunk for his screen time even though he had a reputation of that.

The writing is definitely solid and the film has a very cheerful disposition to it. I think that’s necessary when you’ve got a film with love spells and the like. This could have gotten pretty mean spirited pretty quick if this was a very dark natured movie. Then that could get tricky. At least Shep wasn’t married yet or anything like that either so Gillian stole him away before things got too far. It’s a scary thought to have your mind taken over like this of course. It’s especially deceptive because it’s done in a way where Shep thinks that he is the one in control the whole time so you can see how that would get pretty tricky. No matter what he does, the guy thinks that it is of his own accord.

Overall, The name is going to be pretty hard to remember since it doesn’t have much to do with anything. Still, this is definitely a movie that I can recommend. It’s a fun film of witches and magic and why you should always keep your guard up. If you do not then you can find yourself in all kinds of trouble. At the end of the day Gillian’s cat was definitely not very loyal at all though so you should probably choose the familiars well. I suppose it’s also partially on Gillian though for only using the familiar when she wanted a wish granted so he felt like a genie. At first I figured Shep wasn’t actually allergic to the cat and it was part of the spell but I guess in the end it was real so that was interesting.

Overall 7/10

It Happened on 5th Avenue Review

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You know the old saying about how more money just means more problems? Well, in this case the money does end up giving Mike a lot of problems only he doesn’t know it. He is so rich that people actually stay at his mansion when he isn’t around which is a pretty interesting premise. The film’s definitely fun and while Mike may end up putting up with way more than he should, there’s a good amount of humor here.

The movie starts out by introducing us to McKeever. He’s an older man who has given up on working and just ends up taking refuge in abandoned houses. He has a pretty tight system where he visits Mike’s mansion when the guy is away at his other base. See, Mike is the second richest person in the world at the moment so he has a lot of mansions to upkeep. McKeever has kept this system up for 3 years but a complication comes up when he encounters Jim, a veteran who is out of luck at the moment. He isn’t able to afford a place to stay because all of the houses have been bought up.

McKeever allows Jim to stay with him but then a girl named Trudy shows up. McKeever isn’t thrilled about expanding the ranks further but he allows her to stay. Little does he know that she is Mike’s daughter and Trudy doesn’t intend to tell them. Still, her silence will be put to the test as Mike shows up and slowly Jim invites other veteran families to stay with them. The house is getting busier and busier which is something to consider.

You know, there’s actually quite a lot of plot to think about here. In addition to all of that, Mike also goes into the house undercover. He works as a servant while he is trying to look after Trudy and find out more about Jim. Then you’ve also got his ex-wife Mary who joins in on the fray. Effectively everyone is undercover leading to a lot of mix-ups and comedic shenanigans. It’s a pretty fun dynamic on the whole and the characters are all pretty reasonable.

As mentioned, I do think that Mike puts up with a lot more than he needed to though. McKeever drives him really hard next to the other characters perhaps in part because he wasn’t totally on board with Mike joining the house as well. Then having to see this guy wear all of his clothes and smoke his cigars is pretty tough. I suppose McKeever has enough restraint where he doesn’t use too many since nobody’s ever noticed before but that’s a lot to have to just endure. The broken bed is really just being extra. It’s all done in fun of course but after a point you feel like Mike was well within his rights to break up the whole thing. Technically he wouldn’t have been in the wrong to do it from the start since they were using his house without permission.

Mike’s a tough guy but I do think he was a good man even from the beginning. He drives a hard business and buys up as much as he can but we never are given any indication that he is doing anything illegal or unethical. One of the main dilemmas of the film is how it is tougher for people to live anywhere since the houses are going up in price though. I suppose you could make the case that Mike is directly responsible for this but I would argue that as CEO of the company he wouldn’t be as knowledgeable on the day to day stuff. He knows that he is buying everything up but I doubt he intends to put everyone on the street either. Regardless, Mike definitely has a lot of character development through the film and worked really well as the lead.

His ex-wife Mary also gets a sizable role once we’re around halfway through the movie and she joins in on the fun. She definitely helps Mike get through a whole lot of this. The film doesn’t dwell too much on why they divorced in the first place but there’s enough material for you to draw your own conclusions. This is one case where again I’m probably on Mike’s side since it seems like the idea was that he was too involved with his work. Sometimes that can be too extreme but at the same time he is a super rich CEO with a lot of responsibilities so I would have to see more to really determine if it was unreasonable.

Then we have Trudy who is the real main character here. She’s a solid character and definitely has fun trolling Jim and McKeever. I thought it was pretty entertaining how easily she messed with them. She definitely became good friends with Jim right away although I would understand why the other characters may be a bit skeptical since they didn’t know each other for very long before getting serious. Mike even issues a challenge, one that I would say Jim failed in the end. He ultimately put money first and while the decision isn’t as black and white as all that, I don’t think it was the correct decision. Effectively he would have left Trudy there and I don’t see how you can reconcile that.

I ended up liking Trudy a lot more than Jim for that reason as she stayed strong throughout all of this. Additionally she was just a fun character with a lot of good dialogue. Jim did handle himself well for most of the movie aside from the challenge though. He was always willing to help the others out and his business idea wasn’t bad. It’s a pretty decent plan so maybe he will find some success with it in the future. Just knowing that you have someone you can count on is always pretty big.

Finally you have McKeever. He’s definitely the most experienced member of the group and offers up a lot of good advice. The whole bidding above your paygrade bit is probably the only bit that doesn’t really fly but otherwise he’s a charismatic character. He may not be heroic as he does illegal things like living in other people’s houses all the time but he tries not to do any harm as he mentioned. His dog is also a lot of fun so it’s always cool to see him around.

At the end of the day I’d say that what really makes this film is the strong writing. At its core the film is really thriving on its solid humor and good character interactions. The cast are all pretty likable and the idea of someone being undercover is always pretty fun. It’s a nice way to really put yourself in someone else’s shoes and all told, Mike did pretty well. Considering how rich he is I doubt he would have had a chance to do many of the activities he had to complete before now.

Overall, It Happened On 5th Avenue is a film I would definitely recommend checking out. The pacing is nice and tight and the most important factor here is that there isn’t anything bad to say about the film. It’s just a very pleasant ride from start to finish. Whether you’re here for the comedy or the drama you’ll be satisfied. Mike certainly gave up a whole lot in order to help the characters by the end so you certainly hope it works out for them. Of course, he’s so rich that he’ll be fine even if this operation were to go belly up.

Overall 7/10

Christmas Waltz Review

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Time for the last of the big Hallmark Christmas titles. The Christmas Waltz is a fun title although I would say that it has more weaknesses than some of the others. In particular both the main heroine and the main guy aren’t great. They allow themselves to be manipulated really easily and buy into rumors too fast. If they don’t trust each other much that doesn’t bode well. Still, it’s got the usual positive themes going which is always good and it’s a wholesome film to check out.

The movie starts with Avery getting ready for her upcoming wedding. She has been engaged to David for a long time and knows that he’s about to pop the question. Unfortunately he does not and instead says that he has accepted a job abroad. The exact thing he had agreed not to do earlier even after they had discussed it. Well, Avery breaks up with him and decides to pursue her old hobby of dancing. Unfortunately she falls for her instructor Roman pretty quickly and is on the rebound course. Complicating things is the fact that David is back and wants Avery to come back to him.

So the romance angle is unsurprisingly the weakest angle here. It just really stands out this time because of how indecisive Avery is the whole time. So, she breaks up with David at the beginning which is the right move because the guy wasn’t being serious at all. The issue is that after that when he arrives again she actually thinks about giving him another chance. If he hadn’t mentioned that he went over to threaten Roman then she may have actually gone with him. Even if she had said no later on, the fact that she entertained the idea after starting an affair with Roman is pretty bad. You definitely can’t have this kind of thing both ways.

Meanwhile Roman is just as bad here. He is very quick to believe David when the guy shows up saying that he and Avery are back together. Why would you believe what the Ex has to say so easily? At the very least he should have quickly asked Avery about it directly when they met up again instead of giving her the cold shoulder and ignoring her altogether. You can’t just go from 0-100 instantly like that. It shows that Roman is incredibly gullible. even in real life you see people accepting one side of the story very quickly without getting all of the facts and it always ends up being a bad idea. So right away both characters looked pretty bad here.

The cast is fairly self contained. Avery and Roman both have a best friend who gives them advice during the movie and the advice is pretty sound. At least those two were pretty reasonable which is good because if they were as impulsive then that would not have been a good dynamic for sure. The writing as a whole is still solid though. The script is good and if you take away the romance drama the movie’s pretty upbeat as expected. Hallmark has always done a good job with that so you can expect some Christmas songs, dances, and even slight cooking although not the usual desserts but Avery does make a burnt breakfast.

Whether this one can keep up with the other Hallmark titles for you will perhaps depend on how much you enjoy dancing. Dancing is the primary focus here as that’s how the two of them meet and begin their friendship. A subplot here is that Avery is a super busy executive who rarely has time for herself but she has decided to take up dancing. Her parents are a little skeptical at first but ultimately take it well. I’m glad they weren’t exaggerated or something like that. Being a little surprised is understandable since she hadn’t shown any interest in 20+ years.

One thing you can blame Avery on though is not having effective time management. She actually ends up forgetting about a task project that was due. Fortunately she did manage to submit it in the end but that definitely wasn’t fair to the job. She really left them in the lurch there so that does reinforce that the main characters here weren’t the best. It’s definitely a chance of pace though since you’re used to the main characters here being fairly exceptional at everything they do.

Overall, Christmas Waltz is a solid film. While it doesn’t quite match the average Hallmark film that I am used to watching, I would still give it passing marks here. It’s got a good story and at the end of the day the characters are nice even if they are a little gullible. The writing is solid and while dancing may not quite be my thing, I’m sure the choreography was good. Now if they can incorporate some dance dance revolution in one of these films that would definitely be pretty neat. Now that’s competitive dancing that I can get into. It could be a while before my next Hallmark experience so we’ll see how those stack up. It’s always a pleasure watching Hallmark movies so I’m sure they will bring their A game.

Overall 6/10

The Thomas Crown Affair Review

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Whenever you get romantically involved with the person you’re supposed to bust on a case then you know that you’ve done your job wrong. This film involves a few heists and as soon as the investigator meets up with the crook you know that things are not going to go well. If anything you’ll just feel bad for the cops here. On one hand they wouldn’t have even been close to cracking the case without the heroine, on the other hand maybe it’s better not to crack the case then to have someone weaken you from the inside.

The movie starts off by showing us the first bank heist. It’s a pretty impressive piece of work as a bunch of strangers are brought together to do the gig. Each one has a different job and only needs to know his part. As a result they don’t actually meet up and this ends up being a pretty big event. Nobody is able to stop Thomas so he escapes to the money and goes back to his wealthy life. The cops are unable to handle this so much to detective Eddie’s horror they call in a specialist. Her name is Vicki and she is not opposed to using less than legal methods to ensure Thomas’ capture. She quickly tightens the net around him but ends up liking him as well. Will she be able to pull the trigger or will she end up defecting to his side?

Now with any heist film you will probably have to suspend a little disbelief at some scenes. The more they show you the more you will have some questions. For example, I feel like the whole thing went way too smoothly at the end. None of the cops get off a single shot as the villains flee and the car is able to easily drive across the many streets with nobody catching up. Too bad none of the cops are good drivers in this film eh? Would have made a pretty big difference if you ask me. The second time around is arguably even worse since the villains use the same plan and it works once again. This time there is more of a shootout though so at least the heroes put up more of a fight.

When you have this as your context it’s also incredibly hard to buy into Vicki falling for Thomas. How could she possibly do this when he was willingly getting involved in such crimes. It’s not like the film ever even tries to paint him as a sympathetic character either. He’s just doing this for the thrills which makes him as villainous as possible. The whole affair with him is just pretty terrible the whole time. There’s one chess game in particular which the film manages to mess up because of this.

Usually in a heist or a mystery film like this you get a good chess game between the hero and villain where they explain their plans and how they one upped the other character. You get a lot of solid moves back and forth which mirror the actual moments. In this case we get none of that. If anything they’re playing in rather sloppy fashion since Thomas gets really distracted during the match. It’s a big shame since Chess is usually pretty hype. It almost goes without saying that the romance is just really bad from start to finish.

The movie also uses an editing style that’s not very good. Basically everything shrinks into tiny boxes along the screen that start to show the same image half the time. So instead of watching a scene normally you’re seeing over 10 versions of it. This might be a decent novelty the first few times but that quickly wears thin before you know it. In the end you’ll just be shaking your head. The writing’s not great either. I would say it’s okay at best but without likable characters there just isn’t a whole lot that you can do. There are no memorable lines here or even fun comedic moments. The film is serious but in a rather dull way where nothing seems to happen for large periods of time.

Thomas is just a petty villain with no master goals. There’s really no depth to him and no reason to like him. It’s also worth noting that Vicki figured him out almost immediately. Then you have Vicki herself and I can’t give her a thumbs up either. She let her personal feelings cloud her judgment. The fact that she even asked the cops if they could have a truce with Thomas was terrible. You can’t negotiate with someone that just robbed a bank and put tons of people in harm’s way. Then you have Detective Eddie who’s okay but never seems to make any headway in the case. He was more reasonable than the other characters at least but I wouldn’t say that it made him a good character either. It was just an added bonus. In the end he was so ineffective you might feel bad for him rather than actively rooting for him. Technically I was hoping he would be the one to crack the case though even if you never thought there was a true chance of that.

Overall, This isn’t a film that would have much replay value at all. It gets worse the more you think about it. The romance is no good and since the heist is only a very small portion of the film, it means that there’s not a lot here to keep your interest. In theory the best part about a film like this should be the back and forth banter between Vicki and Thomas but we don’t get a whole lot of that here because they are interested in each other almost from the start. There’s no true cat and mouse game here because they aren’t 100% serious about getting away from the other. It’s a game, but one with low stakes. It’s like making a Tom and Jerry film where they’re actually friends. It wouldn’t have the same impact unless they’re teaming up against a common enemy but that’s a completely different ball game. If you want a good heist film, watch Ocean’s 11 instead for a vastly superior product.

Overall 3/10

Christmas Town Review

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It’s time for the Hallmark marathon to conclude for now. It’s definitely been a pretty good run I would say. When you see a title like Christmas Town you know things are about to get hype. It’s one of those small towns where everyone is pretty friendly and you could see yourself having a pretty good time there. How can it go wrong right? There’s a lot of cookies shown in this film as well so you may get hungry while watching.

Lauren has not been having a good time with her boyfriend who has prioritized work over her. He doesn’t even write or call anymore. So she decides to take up a teaching job in another city. Unfortunately her train is forced to make a detour due to the weather. This causes her to hitch a ride with Travis after mistaking the guy for one of the employees. He helps her find a place to stay in the meantime and she quickly grows close to the owner of the bakery (Betty) and Travis’ foster kid Dylan. Now she is unsure if she even really wants to leave this town and decides to help them with a fundraising drive first.

Lauren’s a pretty reasonable character right from the jump. She gave Eric a pretty fair chance but the guy blew it each time. If anything I don’t think she needed to give him quite so much time at the end. The instant that the letter didn’t come I would have said that was game over. You have to be able to deliver on something like that, especially when it was promised and agreed to. There’s no backing out of the deal just like that. His reasoning of not being a very good writer definitely didn’t work either. I do appreciate Eric not being portrayed as totally crazy of being a huge jerk. He’s just absent minded and clearly didn’t have her as a priority so this wasn’t going to work. They could possibly be good friends but that’s about it.

Meanwhile Lauren’s just a perfect fit for the town because she is always willing to lend a hand in just about any area. She is quick to support the bakery and then to get the fundraising at the ready. She’s definitely a quality character. I also liked Betty and Gloria a lot. Betty just seems like a great owner who really cares about her customers. Her cooking is also apparently quite good and based on how those cookies were looking I definitely believe it. Meanwhile Gloria’s role isn’t quite as large but she does enter the fray later on with some really critical scenes. She’s certainly got an incredible amount of influence over the school and makes the transition a lot easier on Lauren.

Then we’ve got Dylan. I’m still never a big fan of seeing kids get a big role in films. They tend to be pretty cheesy and Dylan’s no different. He also guilt trips Lauren quite a bit into not leaving although I expect she was going to stick around anyway. He certainly gets a lot of screen time. I’ll give him credit for being a nice kid in the end though. He does donate his coats to help others and is a very generous guy. As for Travis, he’s a pretty solid character even if he doubted Lauren quite a bit. I can’t really blame him there because he does have a point that she has only known Dylan for a week or 2 and is moving awfully fast. If you replace the scenario with someone other than the main character then you can definitely see why he was concerned. Still, he’s definitely someone that you can count on.

The writing and pacing as on point as expected of course and the scenery is definitely really good. There’s a lot of snow of course and the town is quite charming. It’s also a pretty generous town as everyone was able to chip in a lot of money to help the group who lost everything in a fire. Ultimately this town’s definitely built up a lot of goodwill and with a whole new generation here as well you expect that it will stay like that.

There’s also a subplot the film slowly builds up involving a statue of an Angel. Lauren got it from her father back when she was a kid but then it broke with the wing falling off. Her father sent it to be fixed but ended up forgetting to include the wing so Lauren kept it. Since he died shortly afterwards nobody was ever able to pick it up. Fortunately this was the town where it got sent to. So throughout the film you see the statute changing hands until it finally makes its way back at the end. It’s a nice plot to have around for sure. Her father definitely seemed to be quite wise based on the letters he sent.

Overall, Christmas Town was definitely a really fun movie. We also got some good depth with Lauren’s backstory as she read through letters her father gave her. The movie definitely has a lot of emotional scenes going for it to contrast all the happy moments eating cookies. It’s just a very wholesome film that makes for a satisfying watch. You really can’t go wrong here and by the end of the film you will be ready for your own Christmas adventures coming up. I would definitely recommend watching this film so you can add it to your collection. It’s quite solid without a doubt.

Overall 7/10

A Shoe Addict’s Christmas Review

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Time for another Hallmark adventure for the ages. The whole shoe theme here was definitely pretty unique. I don’t believe it’s been done before. I know some people are really into shoes while others collect sneakers but I can’t say I’ve ever been into that. Just get me a pair of sneakers and I’ll wear them for the next 5-10 years no problem. Of course in this film it’s fortunate that Noelle enjoys her shoes since they are quite central to the story. Without them she definitely could have been in trouble.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Noelle. She’s pretty content as she has a nice job, good coworkers, and just loves Christmas. It’s a pretty fun time of the year for her. She is even put in charge of helping direct the annual charity party that co-operates with the Firefighters. Their liason here is a guy named Jake. They don’t initially get off on the right foot as Jake tries to make a good impression with some jokes while Noelle is fairly serious. Still, they’ll have to put aside their differences if this is going to be a big success.

There is something supernatural afoot here as well. A lady named Charlie appears and claims that she is Noelle’s guardian angel. Whenever Noelle puts on a pair of shoes from her past she is transported to that point in time to relive the memories and see what she could have done differently. Charlie is trying to make the point that Noelle has pushed her friends and family away while also turning down opportunities that could have helped her in the present. Noelle tries to point out that living in the past is dangerous but Charlie insists that she take a look at some of these alternate routes. Should Noelle listen to Charlie and try to hang out with people more or is she okay as is?

As always Hallmark’s got a pretty solid film here. There’s also just a whole lot of story developments and plot to sift through here so it’s a little busier than the average title. You’ve got time travel, angels, the firefighter plot, and even some family drama with Noelle and her father. The writing is on point as always and the film really flies by. The scenery is also good. There are no real weaknesses to speak of. At most maybe the boss gets a very rushed character arc at the end but it does help to wrap things up nicely for a quality ending. From all of the plots I feel like the Gala itself got the shaft for the most part since there just wasn’t enough time to grab everything. It’s why things had to move quickly at the end.

If anything I just didn’t agree with Charlie that Noelle made all of the wrong moves. For starters, she was perfectly content at her new job even if everyone was trying to guilt trip her into leaving. Put it this way, she makes a solid salary here and has quickly moved up the chains. Everyone seems to like her at this job so she seems to have a positive future. The pay is good as well while working for herself is a lot riskier even if it may end up paying well. Then Charlie says she wasn’t all that close to her father but they did seem pretty good to me from the opening scene. They had some banter and were even joking around with each other.

So I felt like Charlie was making this sound a lot more serious than it really was. It’s not like Noelle’s current life was really that bad at all. Still, Charlie herself was pretty nice even if she didn’t have a lot of experience in the gig yet. Noelle’s best friend Lorna was also really good here. She was always encouraging Noelle and had the heroine’s back from day 1. No matter what timeline Noelle went to, she certainly owes Lorna a lot for always being there. It’s been a little while since the main character had a solid friend like this so that was nice to see.

As for the main guy Jake, he’s pretty solid. He wants to move up the ranks even if it means no longer being a firefighter. He’s a bit worried since this means leaving his late father’s shadow but he does feel like it’s the right move. He does his best to make the firefighter gala a success. The ending is pretty tough on him since he effectively wasted a lot of time but ultimately at least Noelle helped him out a bit. It’s understandable that he wouldn’t have been a happy camper at that point. The romance is pretty rushed with him and Noelle though. I feel like they could have gone with the just friends angle and that would have worked out quite nicely.

Finally with Noelle, she’s a solid main character. It’s nice to have a character who’s super into Christmas for a change instead of coming around later. By all accounts she’s always been a nice person and has made a lot of good moves. She probably could have handled the situation of not telling Jake about the changes a little better but all in all I definitely can say that she was a fun lead. The cast is fairly small so each character really counts here.

Early on in the film Noelle gets stuck at work when due to everyone forgetting she was there and locking up for the night. She handled it pretty well as she really made herself at home and began eating the snacks. That would definitely be a nice perk of being stuck in a store like that. I always thought it could be pretty fun depending on the store. Spending a night trapped in there would almost be like a vacation of sorts with unlimited food. It’s fun to think about of course but so I’m glad she wasn’t panicking or anything. Taking it in stride is definitely how you should handle it.

Overall, Hallmark never ceases to churn out solid Christmas films and this one was no different. It’s been a little while since I saw one where they had a big supernatural angle from the start so that was a lot of fun. The Guardian Angel made for a fun character even if she wasn’t always helpful with how she likes to keep secrets and answer cryptically instead of just saying what she’s thinking. If you’re looking for a fun film to check out with quality characters then I would definitely say to watch this one. There’s really nothing bad to say about it and it consistently delivers with solid moments.

Overall 7/10

Switched for Christmas Review

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It’s been a while since I saw a film where the main characters decide to trade places. It’s always a pretty fun concept though using the whole premise of how the grass always looks greener. It makes sense that both of the characters would think that the other one has the easier job. I would make the case that the VP of the huge company probably has it tougher because she really had to rise up the ranks but naturally both of them have tough jobs. At the end of the day nobody’s got it super easy. Everyone has something that they’re going through and trials to overcome.

The main characters are Kate and Chris. They are both twin sisters who have grown rather distant ever since their Mom died. They used to be close but that was a long time ago. Their father tricks them into having dinner together and after a spirited argument they agree to do the body swap. They figure nobody will notice the difference and each person’s life is so much easier that it’ll be like having a vacation. In a lot of ways the swap itself is easy but the tough part is that each of the main characters falls in love with a guy while in disguise. This is naturally not good for a lot of reasons. The main one being that this will cause a lot of drama when they return to their own lives. They have to find a way out of this predicament but can they do it?

In a lot of ways Chris really shined the brightest here. She got to show off her artistic talents, knowledge of children, and was just a great team player. She was really acing every part of her day and really fulfilled her end of the bargain. From the two characters she also just seemed like the nicer member. Her eating habits may not have been as healthy as Kate’s, but Chris still gets the job done in the end which is what counts. Naturally that isn’t to say that Kate’s a bad character. She does a reasonable job at making the edits to the school play. The main difference is that she was showing a lot of resistance at first which almost put the job in jeopardy. Keep in mind that a large donor has asked to change things up and yet Kate still tries to block this at first. She comes around later on but seemed slower on the uptake.

Both of them were shaky with allowing romances to develop during the swap though. That’s definitely the last thing you need to be doing at this point. It all ends up working out pretty nicely for the characters but it could have easily gone very wrong. Definitely a high risk play if you ask me. The core plot can be a bit weaker than some of the other Hallmark titles. I’d say from all the ones we saw recently this one just felt the least focused on Christmas. It was more accidental than being a core/focused part of the story. Not to overstate that, we still do have two Christmas parties and a lot of lights everywhere of course but it still didn’t feel quite as big here. Maybe that’s just because the main part of the story was really about the swap and because of that the rest feels like background elements.

This movie did go for a bit of a different kind of story from the norm though so I appreciate that. Usually you have the girl who ditches her fiancée or gets dumped by him and then meets someone else. They hit it off and the lead learns to have a little more fun on Christmas. This time around none of that happens as both characters do like Christmas, Kate just tends to be too busy to really celebrate it all that much. By the end of the film she has learned to make time though.

The two guys Tom and Greg are decent enough I suppose. They aren’t great at knowing which twin is which though as it probably takes a long time to really master that. In a lot of ways their personalities are super similar. Tom is a rich guy who enjoys spending time with his family and wants to make sure that the school year starts off well for his kid. Then you’ve got Greg who just enjoys helping out with the party decorating. Both of them seem like pretty decent guys so that’s always good. Then you’ve got Chris’ kids who fortunately don’t appear all that much so they don’t hold the film back or anything like that.

Overall, this is another solid installment. As always the writing here is pretty solid. The characters are good and you’ve got a pretty well rounded movie experience. There’s perhaps a little less going on for this film compared to a lot of Hallmark’s other titles but I still wouldn’t say that there’s anything here to really hold it back either. It’s got a unique premise and that’s always good since it shows that Hallmark is still trying new things. With two main characters to follow that means there is a little less screen time for each one but still enough to tell a full story. If you want to watch a good Christmas film then this is a solid option to check out although I would sooner recommend other Hallmark films at the ready. With this title complete, Hallmark continues its streak of always delivering quality experiences.

Overall 7/10