Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa

Practically indistinguishable from the original, which I guess is a plus for a made-for-TV sequel.

'Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa', like the 2017 film, is lacking something. There's again nothing particularly negative about it, it's just missing a thing to turn things up a notch to create a fun festive film. The plot change-up is solid, it doesn't improve upon the first's but it's just as OK.

Jill Wagner is a step up from Ashley Williams, though the latter was good too. Mark Deklin, however, is a step down from Teddy Sears. I didn't buy into the relationship of Lisa (Wagner) and Kevin (Deklin), I didn't sense enough chemistry - same with the secondary love story, featuring Holly Robinson Peete (Michelle). I do like how they did the continuity, at least on the surface, despite the cast changes.

Overall though, like its predessceor, it's too bland.

Evergreen is beautiful! A perfect Christmas town! Would have loved to see Ryan and Zoe and more Ashley Williams.

TheSTORY-1.25

This is a wonderful addition to the Christmas In Evergreen Series. Writers, Zac Hug and Rick Garman give the audience a lighthearted and heartwarming Christmas romance with a smidgen on Christmas magic.

They bring us into a town where we would all love to be this Christmastime. Filled with loving and friendly people. Always helpful and open.

Though this town is created from imagination and, in general, unrealistic it is something we want to believe in and that is a hook in itself, especially in this season. It helps us to get out of the ordinariness of our lives.

The strongest element that helps the audience believe are the characters. Each is different, realistic and believable. It's just that no bad people live in Evergreen.

Then when you bring in Nick, the guy who plays Santa every Christmas, who just might be Santa every day, I was fully hooked and my heart was wholly warmed.

theDIRECTION-1.25

Sean McNamara has a good eye for composition and utilises the towns Christmas lights to their maximum potential. They add to the joyous atmosphere and are perfect to frame the leads when they walk through an arch of fairy lights. Everything has a magical feel when the sunsets.

When the sun rises McNamara lets his actors and actresses instil the feeling and emotion in the movie while he frames them perfectly in the scene.

theTEMPO-1.25

As with most films of this ilk, the pace is set at one tempo and McNamara knows the best pace is a jolly trot. This story flows superbly and carries the viewers along to the beautiful, though highly, predictable ending.

theACTING-1.25

Everybody in this Christmas tale gives their best and nobody stands out above the rest. This works brilliantly to add to the believability of the story. Never do you stop to think, hey this can't be real... this never really happens... people are not like this.

theGRATIFICATION-1.25

This is one of those films that I would be happy to watch every Christmastime as it has everything a Christmas film should have. For that reason, I'm happy to recommend this movie to everybody. So turn on the fairy lights, grab the cocoa, settle down, and enjoy.

theSCORE-6.25

Please feel free to come and check my Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas Belles list to see where this wonderful tale landed in my ranking.

First I am a fan of Jill Wagner Hallmark Films. She is always good in.all of them. Second, this movie was so much better than the original "Christmas in Evergreen". Ms. Wagner's character was so relatable throughout the film.and the supporting cast was great. Holly R. Peete's character was much better as well. In the first "Evergreen" film her character was depicted as a whiny character who couldn't get anything done without the lead character's help. Very annoying. Totally opposite in this film and Ms. Wagner and her male lead had good screen chemistry. This movie made me cry at the end because of the side plot relating to the male lead and I look forward to watching this again.next year when Hallmark airs it.

This was a sweet and heart warming Christmas movie. However, I had to stop thinking of it as a companion movie to Christmas in Evergreen because there were to many things that didn't make sense. For example, the store Lisa was trying to help didn't seem to exist in the first movie nor its owner. Also said owner was said to have taken over the Christmas celebration from Henry's mom but in the first movie they said it was the first year Allie wasn't doing it and it was a different character that took over. Despite that, Jill Wagner was excellent and I'm greatful this was a movie where it made genuine sense as to why she was returning to Evergreen after so many years away.