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As kids, Belle (Livi Birch) and Josh (Benji Russell) considered
themselves penpals forever, and the highlight of their year was when they
met a few days before Christmas at Santaland, an annual Christmas event at
Josh's parents farm. But then one year when they were fooling around,
Belle fell into the pig sty and became the center of ridicule - which led
to Belle making a hasty escape, and the two never met each other again,
with Josh not even answering Belle's letters. But what's worse, Belle lost
her bracelet with good luck charms in the pig sty. It's 25 years later,
and Belle (now played by Jenn Gotzon) is a super model on the decline, who
remembers her old bracelet which she had loved very much back when, and
she decides to go back to Santaland to go looking for it. She of course
also meets Josh (Jim E. Chandler) there, who now runs his parents' farm
and also Santaland and is also a pastor and widower. At first their
reunion is sort of awkward, but Josh's daughter Adele (Adele Chandler)
takes an instant liking into Belle - and thus soon Belle and Josh start
liking each other again. And Belle even finds out that Josh didn't stop
writing her but her mother intercepted his letters and sent them back.
Belle also learns that Santaland is financially on the decline and might
close down completely after the season, so she pulls a few favours to do a
big charity show for the place - and it seems there's nothing standing in
the way of Belle and Josh becoming romantically involved ... when Belle
finds out Josh has been lying about never having found her bracelet all
along, something she thinks she can never forgive. But all of this is
about more than just a bracelet while the bracelet has a history Belle
doesn't know about yet ...
Now don't expect this film to be very subtle - after all, this
is an unapologetic Christmas movie, which is a genre not very big on
subtleties. Instead, it pretty much follows the genre formula, which
includes many feelgood moments, the undying faith in Christmas miracles,
and of course the obligatory happy ending including a saccharine message -
and really, as an obvious Christmas movie, this one gets away with it,
thanks to a very spirited central performance by Jenn Gotzon, supported by
a very solid cast (including Corbin Bernsen as the film's central father
figure), and also thanks to the film just wearing its heart on its sleeve,
despite all the cheesiness the story actually feels true to a point. Now
certainly not for everyone, but one of the most likeable Christmas movies
in quite some time.
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