Set in Ireland in the 1910s, ‘Angela’s Christmas’ is a funny, heart-warming and poignant story about the power of family and the innocent desire of a child to ensure everyone is safe, warm and loved at Christmas time.
The new heartfelt mini-movie, “Angela’s Christmas,” has arrived on DVD and Digital, just in time for the holidays. It’s an animated film about a family a few generations back in Ireland. If you have thirty minutes to spare, sit down and watch this sweet little animated flick with your kiddos, but more than likely, you will get more out of it than the children. Though it’s sweet, it’s a little slow and not on par with the pace of the children today.
Angela lives with her poor family, with her three siblings and her mother in Limerick back before cars were a thing. They go to church but run late thanks to the little girl who is the narrator’s mother. The family is so poor that the oldest boy doesn’t even have a coat to wear to mass and Angela has to wear her brother’s coat with a button falling off. At church, they make a scene showing up late, but Angela doesn’t care. She sees another girl with a teddy and just wants someone to love and care for who isn’t mean to her like her brothers.
During the service, she sees the Christmas Nativity scene and a statue of baby Jesus with just a swaddling cloth, and she wants to warm up the little king so after church she steals the baby and takes him on a journey back to her home as she tries to warm him up. She tries to hide her little treasure but a few people see her with the fake baby and wreak a little extra havoc into her day. Her own brother turns her into her mom, and her mom helps her to understand the importance of babies and how her own babies changed her life.
Angela decides baby Jesus needs to go home to his own mom and swaddles him up to take him back. The church people are out searching for the important statue when the family sneaks back to return the baby and return the statue. Still, the priest shows up with the police, and her family, including the brother, defends Angela’s actions. The police officer teaches the priest a lesson in understanding others’ actions, one that won’t make much sense to children but will warm the hearts of mom’s watching.
It’s a sweet story with a purpose, but the purpose fails to hit the mark. It’s like “The Little Match Girl” but without a quantifiable purpose except for a sweet little birthday present for baby Jesus. Kids aren’t going to get a message from this movie, nor will they relate to the story. Even moms will be grasping at straws, with a sense of enjoying the movie but not getting why they liked the cartoon. As the film doesn’t take a lot of time, give it a chance as it’s still a sweet story despite missing the mark on the message.
Now available on DVD & Digital from Mill Creek Entertainment
