Christmas Takes Flight

Generally a pleasant movie. Of course it had the antagonistic leads and the build up to a crisis but the story was enjoyable enough. It was well served by the actors who were very natural esp the wonderful Katie Lowes.

Wow this was the dullest movie ever. Where do I begin? The actors the plot the dialogue all missed the mark. I don't think it was the social messaging that was the problem; the movie was just dull.

The lead actors were so mismatched. In fact , none of the actors made sense in the roles they were cast in. There was no chemistry whatsoever.

CBS has been trying with these Christmas movies. They only had one movie that I liked and it was from last year!

I don't know why I hung in there till the end. I guess I was hoping it would get better. Waste of two hours of my life I will never get back. They should have paid me to watch this mess!!😂

We know there will be some kind of Christmas miracle before it's all over, but what we don't know is what or how. Or how many people's lives will benefit from what has happened. I will only say there's plenty to make people happy, eventually.

Not having seen a lot of these Hallmark-type movies in recent years since I don't pay for the channel, I can't say whether this is better or worse than the others.

It's not outstanding. But there are some appealing characters and pleasant experiences in a small town up north.

I didn't remember seeing Katie Lowes' name in the credits and wouldn't have known her, but I do know her from 'Scandal" where she was intelligent and tough. Not the typical pretty and perky romantic comedy star, but good enough. Jenny has a nice personality, intelligence, courage and determination and you want her to succeed in getting what she wants. You want this small town to keep its biggest industry.

Evan Williams is supposedly good-looking but I didn't find that much appealing about him. He's the typical villain in movies like this, with little sense of humor and the attitude that the bottom line is important and people's happiness is not. But he does occasionally smile before the inevitable change in personality, and he shows signs of becoming more like we would want before what we just know will happen. I won't say he becomes easy to like, and he's not great, but he is typical of what would be expected.

Gabriel Jacob-Cross stands out as an enthusiastic kid with a dream of being a pilot.

There are a couple of nice scenes with another child who is scared to fly until Jenny talks to her, and then encourages others who are afraid.

I like Charlie's band, which is surprising. Jazz is not what one would expect in the tavern where they play, but what they do is mostly my kind of music. Later, there is a Christmas song I consider annoying which is also unfamiliar. People who like Christmas movies will probably like it.

Is this family friendly? Like the previous week's movie on CBS, it received a TV-G rating and I couldn't find anything wrong with it. And this movie actually has plenty of kids in a few scenes for kid appeal. Most of the movie is devoted to an event for the children which is threatened in several ways. So kids at least have that.

Put this one on your list, if you don't have too many.

Have been on a roll watching Hallmark/Lifetime etc Christmas films for a few years now. It has been an interesting and worthwhile endeavour, though a very inconsistent one. There was never the mentality of expecting a classic or the film in question to be flawless. Something that was never managed with pretty much all the films seen. There was always the expectation of seeing a film where one can see at least some effort rather than merely cash-in level. The former being obvious in most luckily.

'Christmas Takes Flight' is one of the Christmas films in the former category. 2021 was very hit and miss for Christmas films and for Lifetime, but 'Christmas Takes Flight' is somewhere around high middle in ranking. Can see why some will not like it and it does have issues that stop it from being a classic (never expect a classic with this company), but there was the expectation of it being a pleasant enough watch at least and to me it succeeded at that absolutely.

There were a lot of 2021 Lifetime Christmas films that started off slow and had characters that took time to warm to, and that was the case with 'Christmas Takes Flight'. It does take time to get going, is awkwardly written and the hostile banter is too much and overdone.

Also never really connected with Evan Williams' character and did find Williams bland in the role, so it did make his chemistry with Katie Lowes rather lukewarm (in a romance that was already on the underwritten side) and the too pat ending not easy to buy.

Luckily, Lowes won me over hugely and never stopped being engaging from start to finish. Actually did connect with her character and didn't find her too perfect or exaggerated. She is very well supported by Andrew Airlie, who does father figures beautifully, and cute Gabriel Jacob-Cross.

Production values are pleasing. It's not too drab or garish in photography, the editing didn't seem rushed or disorganised and the scenery has a real charm to it. The dialogue on the whole, when the film got going, has flow and doesn't get too cheesy or too schmaltzy. The story on the whole is light hearted and heart warming, while the direction is assured and unfussy and the music not too much.

Summing up, pleasant film and not too bumpy. 6/10.

I think they leaned into making the lead a jerk too much because he was unlikable. By the end he didn't deserve the leading lady. Not by a long shot. And they tried to have us forget that he was the reason the charity event they were all fighting for was canceled. Jerk! Her sacrifice for the Charity brought me to tears. There was no chemistry between the vivacious heroine and the guy. The romance they crowbared in at the end was out of left field. She was as surprised by it as I was. If it ended on a handshake between employer employee it would have made more sense. There should be a sequel were she find true love with someone else.