Christmas Angel [DVD] [2012]

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I watched this on UP Channel last nice. The story is about a little girl named Olivia played by Izabela Vidovic who wants to help people that need help. She was raised by a single parent. Now usually when it comes to Christmas movies there is usually a stand out performance, one actor who delivers and carries the movie but in "Christmas Angel" all the actors play their parts well. Teri Polo and Kevin Sorbo bring plenty of warmth and charm to their roles, typically appealing, but they also bring just enough emotional depth when it comes to their character's emotional baggage. And of course there is Della Reese who fills her role with warmth, beauty, wisdom and generosity making Elsie the sort of grandmother you would love every child to know. But there is also Izabela Vidovic who makes Olivia cheeky but also kind and she lights up the screen with her smile.

In this film Olivia Mead has one wish: that her single mom (Teri Polo) would find someone that she can call dad. She and her classmates soon discover that the answer to all their wishes lies inside a mysterious abandoned house. I almost hate to bring this up because of the antagonism it may generate, but this is a movie that talks about God, with characters, especially Elsie, who know that some of life's problems must ultimately be dealt with by God, whether we like the answers or not. Still, I would not consider the movie to be heavy on the preaching.This is not a story about an angel from heaven, or an actual Santa who makes wishes come true through miracles. It is more of a secret Santa trope. But even that doesn't cover it all. There is also a very precocious yet extremely lovable elementary school girl who refuses to stand by and let others suffer if there is anything she can do about it. What was nice about this film was is was about "respecting others" and "learning when to help when you can help". In the story, a little girl and her friend, Izabela Vidovic and Tyler Humphrey, believe an old, abandoned house in their neighborhood has the power to grant wishes. Before long, everyone in school is shouting their wishes outside the house, hoping they'll be granted by the Christmas Angel. In the meantime, Izabela's mom, Teri Polo, meets the owner of the house, Kevin Sorbo, and sparks fly. For a while it appears this young girl, played fantastically by an 11 year old Izabela Vidovic, has all the maturity and gumption of someone much older, but Olivia soon overstretches badly. This TV movie for 2012, "Christmas Angel," fits that bill. There is enough difference in it, that it's almost too complicated a story to tell well in just under 90 minutes. A single mom and a daughter live next door to an old abandoned house with boarded windows. Melinda works as an events coordinator for a bakery, bistro and catering shop owned by her friends, Jeb and Daphney Conroy. The setting is in Louisiana. Daughter Olivia's best friend is the son of the Conroy's, Lucas. One day, he throws a stone at the old house and makes a wish as some sort of superstition that I never heard of.

Christmas Angel (working title: The Angel Next Door , and titled as Angel at Christmas in the UK) is a GMC original movie that premiered on November 24, 2012. In the meantime, Nathan and Melinda are starting to hit it off and he even forces a kiss on her. Go get her Sorbo. Nathan lets her know that he has a family member having serious health issues and was dumped by his wife because he was shooting blanks. He is looking for a family and Melinda needs a man. She realizes is when she tries to open a jar of jelly. I’m sure that wasn’t the first time she realized it or the most impactful but a man in the house would have been great to open the jar of jelly. If not a man, she could have run out to the store and got one of those squeeze bottle jelly things and she would have been in business.CHRISTMAS ANGEL has a predictable ending and it ends happy across the board. Although this is a movie with religious undertones, it’s not overbearing. They are not shoving the message up your ass every two minutes. The focus of the film was to show that giving is better than receiving and has some very good performances from the cast that they brought in. The writer, Andrea Gyertson Nasfell, also wrote SILVER BELLS, which I was not very fond of. This was a much better, less preachy film.

This film does take place at Christmas but its one of those films that is perfect to watch any time of the year. It is very enjoyable and one of those films that makes you feel good about life. Christmas Angel is one of my favorite modern Christmas movies, one I look forward to watching with my family every year. It's charming, heartwarming, and uses one of the main characteristics of Christmas as the plot: giving.At times, the acting with the two children, Olivia and Lucas, seems a bit forced and overly done. So, it doesn't come across quite real for kids. Maybe the producers were trying to impress on viewers that this was really a Christmas movie about kids.

This film is full of good cheer and believable performances. The late Della Reese gives a stan out performance. I respect Teri Pollo more and more for her gentle, caring characters especially after watching both this and The Christmas Shepherd. Kevin Sorbo also does well as the man who takes interest in Teri's Melinda. But of course "Christmas Angel" features something else, in fact a few things else but what I am on about is the God side as Elsie shows Olivia that some things only God can do no matter how much you want things to work out the way you think are best. And whilst "Christmas Angel" does have a religious side it isn't preachy but instead has a more of a wholesome nature as through Olivia's friendship with Elsie she learns how to be smart but also thoughtful when it comes to others. As does little Izabela, who, at only eleven years old, has a tremendous presence. I hope the charming, adorable child enjoys an upward surge to her career; she's someone to keep your eye on as the years roll by. She has a great and natural chemistry with all her adult costars, but I don't know if credit is due to her or to the director, Brian Herzingler. Usually, when everyone in the cast gives good performances, I tend to credit the director, who must have helped foster their talent and chemistry. Everyone in Christmas Angel plays very well off each other, from Teri and Kevin's awkwardness to Izabela and Tyler's camaraderie. Christmas movies, while not strictly a genre of their own, have certainly become a distinct subset of films. Since the late 20th century, Hallmark and more than one other television channel have run movies set around Christmas for the holidays. And, Hollywood produces an occasional Christmas time film. They can cover the full range of genres - comedy, drama, musical, mystery, tragedy, war and Western. The most prolific are the romantic dramas that often include some light comedy.The latter are so formulaic that one after another of such films seems a repeat or copy with just slight changes from the previous one. Many of these can seem like daytime soap operas, and after a while the films of this type become mundane and hardly interesting. The challenge for these films, to hold interest of viewers is to provide something new and different enough - still keeping their romance theme.