I saw the trailer and thought it looked like a fun Christmas film for the family so gave it a go.
The films cast is good although there is no star power or standout performance, Steve Zahn maybe (he is always pretty solid) but the rest give average performances, I was thinking where is the Macaulay Culkin, Tim Allen, John Candy Or Will Ferrell, bigger than life star but there isn't one here.
The kids don't gel like a goonies or stand by me as there is very little development of the characters and they don't have much chemistry (maybe the lead and his sister do have a bit).
The production value of the movie also is poor, a Christmas movie is made in the music (thinking of Polar Express, Home Alone, Elf and Arthur Christmas) but I don't believe there was a song in this until 30mins and each song seemed muted when it started, the tension music was poor and not Christmassy, it's one of the few films I watched where I was thinking I hear lots of talking but no feeling or crescendo or sadness through the music.
Finally the story, it is a simple story and could have worked but don't end on a sad note for a Christmas film, I mean we want to finish feeling joyful but this film tries to shove some sentimental message in at the end which was totally unnecessary. The rest of the story is ok but poor compared to other family and friend comedies (like the Original Diary of a wimpy kid or the National Lampoon Vacation films) it didn't make you believe they were a family or friends and the comedy scenes drew a few laughs but not enough. As for the narrator and the daughter it was a weird set up, you didn't believe that he was a grown version of the kid, or that he would play video games and the daughter came across unlikable and uninteresting (not sure what the current trend is for portraying kids as too cool who only want to play in their phone, it's probably accurate for many kids but it doesn't come across well as a movie character)
I wanted this to be great but it just wasn't and It will not be part of my repeat Christmas viewing.
The films cast is good although there is no star power or standout performance, Steve Zahn maybe (he is always pretty solid) but the rest give average performances, I was thinking where is the Macaulay Culkin, Tim Allen, John Candy Or Will Ferrell, bigger than life star but there isn't one here.
The kids don't gel like a goonies or stand by me as there is very little development of the characters and they don't have much chemistry (maybe the lead and his sister do have a bit).
The production value of the movie also is poor, a Christmas movie is made in the music (thinking of Polar Express, Home Alone, Elf and Arthur Christmas) but I don't believe there was a song in this until 30mins and each song seemed muted when it started, the tension music was poor and not Christmassy, it's one of the few films I watched where I was thinking I hear lots of talking but no feeling or crescendo or sadness through the music.
Finally the story, it is a simple story and could have worked but don't end on a sad note for a Christmas film, I mean we want to finish feeling joyful but this film tries to shove some sentimental message in at the end which was totally unnecessary. The rest of the story is ok but poor compared to other family and friend comedies (like the Original Diary of a wimpy kid or the National Lampoon Vacation films) it didn't make you believe they were a family or friends and the comedy scenes drew a few laughs but not enough. As for the narrator and the daughter it was a weird set up, you didn't believe that he was a grown version of the kid, or that he would play video games and the daughter came across unlikable and uninteresting (not sure what the current trend is for portraying kids as too cool who only want to play in their phone, it's probably accurate for many kids but it doesn't come across well as a movie character)
I wanted this to be great but it just wasn't and It will not be part of my repeat Christmas viewing.