A World Record Christmas | 2023 Christmas Movies

I think we had a Christmas movie about Guinness world records last year. This year we have A World Record Christmas. Is this a new trope?

Charlie (Aias Dalman) is an autistic boy trying to win the approval of his deadbeat dad. His town is trying to win the “Most Wrapped Gifts In One Hour” Guinness World Record so, while the adjudicator is in town, he decides to try to beat the “Most Jenga Blocks Balanced On One Upright Block” record. With help from his mother Marissa (Nikki Deloach), her husband Eric (Lucas Bryant) and his best friend Amy (Daphne Hoskins), he tries to stack 1401 Jenga blocks.

First, I’d like to say that I applaud Hallmark for casting an openly autistic actor as an autistic character. It gave the movie a little more depth than if they hadn’t.

With that said, this movie was nice but it felt like it was lacking a little something. I think it was the fact that there was no real “villain” in the story. Sure, we had Charlie’s biological dad, Peter (Matt Hamilton), basically ignoring him but that isn’t much of a villain story. Especially since the blame is mostly placed on a wrong email address. Maybe if Peter was a little meaner about not being around for Charlie or something like that. We’re also told that kids make fun of Charlie for being different but we never see that either. Actually, all of the other kids we see are really nice to Charlie. As a result, the big obstacle is just…autism. Thankfully, Nikki Deloach and Lucas Bryant are strong enough actors to carry the movie with their relationship alone.

Rating: The tallest tower built on the smallest block

Scaredy Cats | 2021 Halloween Movies

Did someone call 2021 “The Year of Family Friendly Movies” or am I just very out of touch with the usual Halloween movie releases? I thought I would be watching a lot of slasher horror movies. Instead I’m watching movies about 12-year olds and magic. I’m not complaining. This is just not what I expected.

Scaredy Cats is the story of Willa Ward (Sophia Reid-Gantzert). On her 12th birthday, her father (Michael Teigen) gives her a cat-shaped necklace that belonged to her mother (Lauren McGibbon) who is no longer with them. Soon, Willa finds out that the necklace is magic and her mother was a witch. Now that the magic has been activated, two bad witches, Sneak (April Telek) and Wanda (Carolyn Taylor), are trying to steal it from the young witch. Willa gathers her two best friends, Scout (Ava Augustin) and Lucy (Daphne Hoskins), to help her defeat the evil witches and save their town.

Again, we have a series instead of a stand-alone movie. This one is aimed at rather young children. It’s created by the same people that did the Air Bud movies. (And all of the other movies - Snow Buddies, Santa Buddies, MVP, etc.) The reason this series is titled Scaredy Cats is because the three girls turn into cats. Frequently. At least once each episode. But at least it is cute.

When I read the synopsis, I thought this was going to be so dumbed down that it annoyed me. Instead, the series is actually good. Well, the CGI is bad but I didn’t expect cinema-level graphics. The story is quite interesting - a witch who leaves her daughter a gift to help her protect the town. They even make fun of the fact that Willa is 12. Her mother’s instructions were to give Willa the necklace when she “comes of age.” Apparently, her dad thought that meant 12. Everyone else thought it would be 18.

This is definitely a Halloween movie for elementary school aged kids. There isn’t anything particularly scary about it, despite the fact that Netflix has “fear” listed on the G-rating warning. So, if your kids are looking for a Halloween series to watch this season, this is it. The episodes are, on average, a half hour long...except for episode one, which is about 45 minutes. Just long enough to keep the little ones entertained before their attention span runs away.

Christmas She Wrote | 2020 Christmas Movies

Around the time Christmas She Wrote aired on Hallmark, Danica McKellar dropped some TikToks showing the behind-the-scenes magic of making a Hallmark Christmas movie. I don’t know if this changed what I thought about the movie but it definitely changed how I watched it!

Kaleigh (McKellar) is a romance columnist in New York. She goes home to Pineberry, CA when the newspaper’s new managers fire her. Realizing they made a mistake, the newspaper owner sends the new editor, Tripp (Dylan Neal), to Pineberry to hire her back.

Hallmark and Lifetime tend to rotate the same group of actors through all of their Christmas movies. Danica McKellar has done her fair share of these. (I gave up counting at six.) Thankfully, she is a delight as an actress. She makes even the worst script enjoyable to watch. Dylan Neal, on the other hand…not so much.

Normally, when we get a story about a writer, they are looking for a big scoop or they need to write their next big article. Having her get fired is a nice change of pace. The story can focus more on Kaleigh as a person instead of making her character solely about her job. Her job is important to her but it’s not the end of her life.

Tripp, meanwhile, isn’t as rounded of a character. He isn’t the type that is sighing and groaning about having to follow orders but he also isn’t particularly personable. I don’t quite understand why everyone in Pineberry likes him so much. The writers even throw in a past boyfriend to compete for Kaleigh’s heart but he is barely in the story so he’s not really competition.

Is it worth watching Christmas She Wrote? Absolutely. I think Danica McKellar’s bright star can outshine all of the problems in the movie. I look forward to seeing what Christmas movie she is in next year.