I’ll admit I was slightly bored by the American Girl series by the time I got around to this one, but while Samantha remains my fave (till Kit Kittredge next year, at least), this is probably technically the best of them to date. Maya Ritter, who plays Molly, is 10 times as natural as AnnaSophia Robb was in the first (I didn’t update my review there, but the one thing I would’ve added is how incredible it is how Robb’s acting has improved since that debut – she’s pretty bad there, though no less cute), and even Molly Ringwald is good as her mother. More interesting to me was the Emily Bennett character – I found her even more interesting than Molly. I was about to ask there, where’s the movie, doll and book about her? But of course Google has the answer, and the last two of those do at least exist I just found the whole “Christmas Carol” thing too sweet. Like, I knew it was coming at the end but it still totally overwhelmed me. Tory Green is great as Emily, anyway – she’s Australian, apparently which would explain her slightly OTT British accent … but if OTT British accents are okay anywhere it’s surely here. These are definitely gonna be an annual Christmas thing for me, I think … I hadn’t actually realised till today that all of them take the same round-the-seasons structure (though I’m assuming that Kit being released in June won’t be the same?). Very cute

It struck me while watching Samantha again in preparation for the other two parts in this series … these movies are so the kind of movies – or the books they’re based on, at least – you imagine Lisa Simpson to be awed by, lol. This one ups the whole feminist side of these stories quite a bit, in the etiquette classes Felicity takes, summed up in a great line from the tutor, that she’s preparing them “to take your places in society”.

I originally watched the first American Girl movie ‘cos of AnnaSophia Robb, but it was good enough overall for me to keep an eye out for the other ones. There’s something about these movies, though they’re by no means classics of any kind, that feels right. To just take the same type of character, to bottle up a chunk of history in a way that will subtly raise interest,in young girls in particular, without preaching too much and at all times really just telling a cute and happy story. This one features a lot of one of my favourite combinations in movies – girls and horses. It might not ever reach Velvet or Dreamer levels of wonderment, but it held my attention and I’m sure some girls will go nuts over it.

“If it’s corny, or if it’s going to ruin your outfit, you don’t have to wear it.”
“I like corny. I’m looking for corny in my life.”

Maybe it’s the higher threshold for cheese thing that comes with the time of year – but it’s not like I’d ever have watched this at any other time, so we’ll never know – but though there are so many things wrong with this movie, not least the Cameron Diaz side of the story (though Jude Law and his two girls eventually brighten it no end, I still need to ask – was this movie made by two entirely different film makers each side of the Atlantic?), I don’t know if there was a moment here where I wasn’t either smiling, laughing or fighting back tears.

I honestly thought I would absolutely hate this movie, not just from reviews I’d read but also from my general hatred of anything that overuses male/female stereotypes (I know, I know – but we’ve all got our hang-ups, and that’s mine). I started the movie almost already annoyed, particularly when I saw the running time of 2 hours 15. But it was somewhere during Kate Winslet’s little crying session following Rufus Sewell’s “dumping” of her, my attention started to veer more towards the screen, and within about 10 minutes, I could barely look away.

It reminded me of the novel I picked up on a whim a few years ago and fell completely in love with, Robyn Sisman’s Weekend in Paris – Kate Winslet’s character is so much like Molly there I kept thinking the only thing that would’ve made the movie better would’ve been if they’d scrapped the Diaz side completely and just done that adaptation, lol. Rufus Sewell is fantastic as a guy who basically amounts to her little trap in life. She can’t look at him without falling in love again, but though he’ll cross an ocean to surprise her, he’s beyond loathsome in the way he always lets her down. Winslet’s final “gumption” scene resonated with me on a level that surprised me.

The movie is all about surprises – people surprising themselves and each other, sometimes pleasant surprises, sometimes not so pleasant. That’s life. Hans Zimmer’s score is very catchy, even integrating with Jack Black’s composer character quite beautifully at times (incidentally, I really didn’t think I’d be so impressed by Black as I was here – his irrepressible self slips in sometimes, but more often than not he’s downright dapper), and the Eli Wallach subplot is a little classy icing on a very Christmassy treat, one of my biggest movie surprises of the year to be honest

Now if nothing else, at least this one is a little Christmassy. It doesn’t get much more cutesy than hiding cute little dawgies from the mean man It’s about as by the numbers as the other Christmas movies I’ve watched so far this year, but I don’t know, this one just appealed to me more. It has a really nice score that hints at tons of carols and songs etc, and there’s something about even the worst Depression era movies that always manages to tug at the heart strings. Jordan-Claire Green (omg, one of the groupies in School of Rock, lol, just let out a little yelp at how she’s grown) is perfect in the lead.

The final school play scene is what it’s all about, though – let’s just say this is the second movie I’ve seen this week whose title was not betrayed. And the final hug between Emma and her dad is just beeeeeyootiful This one will definitely go into my yearly Christmas viewing I think. In fact, if I can’t see Eloise again this year, I might just have to get this out again that soon just for the “poodle in a dog house” girl, lol

Ah, I thought this was gonna be the better-known 1998 Jonathan Taylor Thomas movie so, nice surprise, uh, kinda … Basically this is my third Christmas movie of the month and I really hope that ends the streak of disappointments, lol … I’m glad I got them out of the way first, I guess. This is just another Christmas TV movie by the numbers. It has its moments, it has Jack Palance … Ann Jillian is quite infectiously impish as the romantic interest. But nothing special.

It’s actually perilously close to a, “Dammit, man, you’re a doctor!” moment towards the end and when the doctor in question is the guy who brought the plane down in Airplane!, well, it’s harder to keep a straight face than it ever has been in TV melodrama. I kept waiting for the screen to dissolve and go into a flashback, lol. I think perhaps it might’ve been better if this had been the Jonathan Taylor Thomas movie afterall …

Yurk. You can’t help getting a little excited watching the opening credits of this movie – directed by Chazz Palminteri, a cast including Susan Sarandon, Alan Arkin, Robin Williams, Penelope Cruz, Palminteri himself; score by Alan Menken (the reason it caught my eye in the first place – but when they use that as a selling point on the DVD, I guess I really should’ve known what I was in for, lol), production design by Carol Spier and cinematography by Russell Carpenter. What on earth went wrong?

To be sure, its heart is definitely in the right place … but it’s such a backslapping affair and therapy-like, like a wannabe “Angels in America”. I can imagine the most appreciative audience being those who have already learned its lessons and just sit smug in the knowledge of how gosh darn “together” they are. I personally can’t understand anyone who would want to wallow in this kind of thing at this time of year. Even Alan Menken’s score is gloomily drab. It’s about the most miserable “seasonal” thing I’ve seen outside of the suicidal Christmas Day soaps, in fact. It really ain’t even all that Christmassy, to be honest.

I guess this is the Harriet the Spy for boys, in the coming-of-age/rites-of-passage department. And the moment I realised this, I began to really worry about writing yet another, “I know everyone else loves it, but I’m sorry …” review, lol. I still have to say, I didn’t find this the treat I expected as my first Christmas movie of the season, especially after meaning to finally watch it for quite a few years and never getting round to it. And it’s not just ‘cos it’s such a “boy’s tale” – though I won’t deny that’s a huge part of it … I won’t go there ‘cos ‘tis the season to be jolly and all.

Though I can completely grasp the intangible nostalgic love Americans in particular will have for this slice of Americana – it’s just not Christmas as I know it, that’s why I’m out mostly – I can’t understand anybody who would truly call it a great movie. It’s made by the guy who made Porky’s and it shows. But to each their own, I guess. I laughed enough – most particularly at the Santa version of the, “You’ll shoot your eye out,” line – but it won’t be appearing on my Christmas schedule again for many years to come. Pouts I would’ve loved a pink bunny costume for Christmas, lol.

“What’s the secret of time travel doing on Fry’s ass?!”
“It was bound to be somewhere ...”

Sometimes it’s surprising how pleased you find yourself to see something again, and this was certainly such a case for me. This straight-to-DVD feature is absolutely a fans-only affair, right from the opening almost entirely dedicated to gags on the whole “cancelled” situation. I don’t think there was a second here I wasn’t either laughing out loud or just beaming with some kind of nostalgia.

There really isn’t a lot for me to say that won’t be either preaching to those who are already gonna buy it anyway or plain make me sound dumb since I’m not a massive Futurama fan to begin with. It still bears the hallmarks and flaws of other animated TV-to-movie switchers, though it mostly avoids feeling too much like 4 episodes strung together and certainly has more fun with the time travel thing than 2005’s Family Guy movie. I laughed a lot more than expected (“I thought you were happy! Your tail was wagging!”), and honestly, the twist at the end is one of the most surprisingly moving things I’ve seen in a movie this year – in the context of Futurama, it’s up there with the last episode, that stuff with the flute, I forget the details except how beautiful I found it at the time. It really got me so much I was almost inclined to give this 5 stars. It’s definitely close for me. There’s even a massive festive element in the second half – making me kinda wish I’d saved this for my Christmas viewing, hehe … but maybe I’ll watch it again that soon anyway