Customer Reviews

Christmas Blessing

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The acting was not that great and the story was thrown together. I don't understand why the writers can't just try to script it from the book. It was just too far out there. In opinion, this is a terrible sequel to The Christmas Shoes.

I bought this movie because I already own The Christmas Shoes, and wanted to see the sequel. This movie was disappointing to me. It was okay, but mostly it didn't have anything to do with the first one. For one thing, on the Christmas Shoes, the shoes are left on Nathan's mother's grave at the end, and yet on the Christmas Blessing they are given to Good Will on accident while the father of Nathan is cleaning out his closet. This story involves Nathan, all grown up and being a doctor.. When Nathan loses a patient on the table, he decides to go home and visit his father. He becomes involved with a woman there, and then decides not to be a doctor anymore, and lies to her about his career. The movie jumps around too much, and doesn't get you absorbed until the end. Nathan meets Rob Lowe, the man who helped him pay for the red Christmas shoes at the ending. The movie is explained kind of choppy, like this review. I guess sometimes we just have to draw our own conclusion without watching the next movie. This one was one I wish I would've missed. Even my 8 year old liked the Christmas Shoes better than this movie.

Last night my sister found this at our local movie rental, and I was really excited because The Christmas Shoes broke my heart . . . in a good way. After watching this, however, all I can say is that it's interesting, enjoyable, and -- in a few places -- genuinely touching. I really wish they had done a better job with this. The plot is unfocused and flimsy. This guy Nathan (Neil Patrick Harris) loses a teenage boy on the operating table and is suddenly ready to give up his career as a doctor to return to his hometown and work in his widowed father's auto shop. To me, the motive for this sudden change was too weak. Perhaps if there had been a series of setbacks and dissapointments with his job . . . but they didn't make time for it. Soon he is attracted to a spunky young schoolteacher and starts dating her, not knowing that her health is in jeporady due to a bad liver. She is a lot like his mother was -- very compassionate, loves kids and helping people, etc; etc. His insecurities keep him from sharing with her about his decision to quit being a doctor, which causes problems in their relationship when she finds out later. Meanwhile Nathan and his dad have trouble understanding each other's needs, so there is some drama from that quarter. There are several underdeveloped and distracting sub-plots, the dialog is trite, and the scenes that were meant to be heartwarming usually get bogged down in syrip. But Neil Patrick Harris's bad acting during the last leg of the movie is the straw that breaks the cammel's back. He is able to potray Nathan as being attracted to his love interest, but he entirely fails to potray the emotions Nathan would have expirienced upon finding out she was very likely to die. There was no passion, no agony. . . just frusteration. They should have chosen a straight man for the role. I also missed the beautiful Christmas carols that were in The Christmas Shoes. The only singing in The Christmas Blessing was country music.

This is a real "down to earth" movie. It shows family love, God's love and the ability one can have when they believe and ask God for help in times of tragedy in their lives. There are very sad moments in this movie but the end is rewarding. Be ready for a lot of tears as you follow this family through one of the deepest tragedies one can incounter in this life!

I rented A Christmas Blessing yesterday. It is a good movie. I don't deny it that status. However, some of the other reviewers mentioned that it didn't live up to The Christmas Shoes The Christmas Shoes. I agree with that as well.

The story is not as deep as TCS was. It is definitely worth renting to watch it through once. After that, you can decide if you want to add it to your collection. As for me, I am not sure if I will or not. There are plenty of other horrible "Christmas" movies out there (Deck the Halls, Happy Feet, Christmas in Handcuffs, Christmas Do-Over, A Very Muppet Christmas and other low life trash), so this is definitely a better choice than those that I have listed.

** SPOILERS - DO NOT READ FURTHER IS YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT **

The one disappointing aspect of this story was Charlie's Dad. He was never totally developed as a character. He was also left 'hanging' at the end of the movie. It seemed like everybody else was set for a Christmas Blessing except the Dad:

- Nathan's Dad was getting his life back.
- Nathan's Dad was also looking at new relationship.
- Nathan and his girl were looking forward to a life together.
- Nathan was returning to be a doctor
- Charlie died but not in vain as his death gave somebody new life.

Charlie's Dad lost everybody and everything. It seems that he was going to wander off to continue his life as a lone drifter. I realize that this is reality in life, but I was hoping for more since this is a Christmas movie (life can be depressing enough as it is).

Watch it, enjoy it (as I do think it is worth watching) and then decide if you want to add it to your Christmas collection.

We enjoyed this video very much. Glad there was a follow-up to The Christmas Shoes.

This is a heartwarming movie that is well suited to the holidays. My kids enjoyed watching it and I think the story line is much better than most of the crap on TV now days.

This film shows the experience of many that have lost loved ones during the holidays. There are several plots going on. One of them is the breakdown of a marriage. I would have liked this film better if Mr. Lowe had put more into it. He seems to have very little emotion and even his expressions have little variation. The other actors do a very good job, especially the little boy who is very good. He was very well directed and gave an outstanding performance in a role very difficult for anyone, and more so for someone so young.

Video did not work. It only played for first five minutes.
Quality is very bad since the dvd was scratched and damage.

great movie, a nice sequel to the christmas shoes, so glad i bought this for my collection.
fred,
newcastle, me.