An aspiring singer is stalled on her path to success by her stepmother and two wicked stepsisters. When she starts working at a job to help her dreams come true, she starts to fall for the handsome new Santa.
Now, I rated this movie a 3 and 1/2 stars but this is for the Made-For-TV Christmas Movie Drama category. I’m not comparing the movie to your favorites. However, for a Christmas movie on Hallmark, Lifetime, or equivalent channel, this movie is pretty decent…to watch with your 12-year-old daughter. Adults may want to find a more grown-up version or move on to a more suitable option.
While this film is based on one of the most replicated plots in the world, it comes with its own Cinderella spinoff based on Christmas. Kat Decker (Laura Marano) desperately needs a Christmas miracle to get away from her prerequisite evil stepmom and step-sisters. Her dad, of course, died a few years back, leaving her to fend for herself as mommy dearest turns her into a little house-elf. Deirdre, the stepmom (Johannah Newmarch), takes all of her stepdaughter’s tip money and does all the cleaning while serving Deirdre’s biological daughter’s but she does so with the corny overacting you would expect in a Disney movie for six-year-olds.
To make matters worse for Kat, she has to stay with Deirdre and her step-sisters until she turns 18 so she can get the inheritance her father left for her when he died. At 17 and a few months, she just needs to make it four months longer. Along with her best friend Isla (Isabella Gomez), she tries to hold on to both her dignity and sanity while she waits out the new year working as an elf for Christmas and delivering singing telegrams. Along the way, she falls in love but not with prince charming, no she falls for Santa. Okay, just kidding, she falls for a guy dressed like Santa who happens to be Nick Wintergarden (Gregg Sulkin) whose father basically owns the town they live in.
Instead of a ball, she needs a fairy godmother to get her into the Wintergarden Christmas Party but her vain stepmom stops her from attending. Let’s go back to the godmother, or lack thereof. No magic, no wise old lady, nothing. I felt cheated! Every Cinderella story needs a little magic and a kindly or sassy godmother. No such deal here. I pressed on and finished the movie anyway because Kat could sing and her friendship with Isla (Isabella Gomez) drove the plot forward as did Kat’s interactions with Nick. You will have to watch for yourself to see if she manages to get her guy and ruin her stepmother’s life, but it’s a Hallmark movie so you should be able to guess.
If someone else had played the stepmom or the writing for the stepfamily had been a little more grown-up, the movie would have rated much higher. Johannah Newmarch has been showing up in a few Made-For-TV movies lately but I just can’t figure out why. Her acting leaves so much to be desired, but it was on par for the ridiculous plot for the step-family. Everything else was a full step or more up for the rest of the actors almost as if the two writers chose different angles and went with it.
A few other things annoyed me. If Kat had a trust fund, how did her stepmother spend it or have access to the money? Why was an 18-year-old boy expected to make a plausible Santa Claus? I could go on but it’s not worth it for a cutesy rom-com. If you like predictable fairy tales, then give this one a watch. I wouldn’t recommend spending a lot on the movie as it will probably be on Netflix or Hulu soon enough. It would go great in a pre-teen’s stocking though.
Now available on Digital HD and on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack & DVD October 29th
