Despite the story for 'Memories of Christmas' not sounding like anything special and having heard and seen mixed reactions (positive, negative and in between), it was still seen anyway. Being somebody who loves Christmas and can't get enough of seeing Christmas films, specials, cartoons etc every year. Not just the seen-over-and-over classics adored since early childhood, but also the new discoveries and it's the latter that lately has fascinated me more.
Am in the in between category in my opinion of 'Memories of Christmas'. It is not one of the best of the many recently seen Christmas films as part of a quest (most released between 2016-2019). It is also not one of the worst, having suffered through the likes of 'A Christmas Village'. It is somewhere in between and left me conflicted, some good things but for me there were a good deal of short-comings. And this is coming from somebody who did try to judge it for its intentions and what it was meant to be, having seen plenty of films of this to know what to expect, and found that it didn't do a good job on this front.
'Memories of Christmas' looks nice enough, the scenery is quite striking and captures the seasonal atmosphere very well. The soundtrack could have been used with more subtlety but was suitably upbeat and nostalgic in all the right places. There are moments that amused and also some heart-warming parts.
Christina Milian, Mark Taylor and Jaime M. Callica give better than average performances considering the material and do show signs of an amiable chemistry together.
There were times though when they did seem a bit stiff together, while the supporting cast try too hard throughout. The poorly defined character writing, with even the three leads being underdeveloped cliches, and the often cheesy and strained dialogue fight them every step of the way.
Likewise with a story where light-hearted charm doesn't come consistently and where the Christmas cheer and spirit isn't particularly strong. That every single story element had been done to death in so many films and better in most part is only part of the problem, more problematic were the drawn out pace and that some of it feels very scattershot and confused.
On the whole, a long way from a must avoid but didn't care for it personally. 5/10
