With today being Thanksgiving, I wanted to share my thanks to all the followers of 18 Cinema Lane. I am grateful for having a reason to keep writing and sharing my thoughts on film! For this Blog Follower Dedication Review, I decided to select a movie from one of my recommendations. In fact, the film I chose has been on my Pinterest Film Recommendation board for so long, it has been on the very bottom. That movie in question is 2010’s The Night Before the Night Before Christmas! Suggested by a reader named T. Ann, this is a film I actually recall watching before. Though the only clear memory I had of the movie was the teenage daughter being upset over receiving a hamburger phone for Christmas. This isn’t the first time (nor will it be the last time) I revisited a film from Christmas past. One of my more recent movie reviews was The Christmas Choir, a title I had expressed interest in watching again. But in that review, I shared how I didn’t find the film as strong as I had initially believed. What will my thoughts be on The Night Before the Night Before Christmas? Keep reading my review to find out!

Things I liked about the film:

The acting: The Night Before the Night Before Christmas is one of those movies where I found it difficult to choose a favorite acting performance. That’s because the cast as a whole was strong! Expressions and emotions appeared genuine. Whether it was Hannah (portrayed by Rebecca Williams) looking forlorn when her younger brother, Toby, runs away or a volunteer named Yolanda (portrayed by Kim Roberts) being surprised when she receives an unexpected donation, the acting performances made watching the story unfold more enjoyable. There were even times when the strength of the acting talents helped characters become more likable. Two great examples are Toby and Nigel. The youngest member of the Fox family, Toby has such a sweet personality. Gage Munroe, the actor who portrayed Toby, does an excellent job showing what’s in his character’s heart through his face. In a scene where Toby and his mom are having a heart-to-heart conversation, Toby’s tear-streaked face and tear-filled eyes present how troubled he’s been over his parents’ decision to prioritize their jobs over their family. Meanwhile, Jordan Prentice’s portrayal of Santa’s head elf, Nigel, was very animated. His liveliness and comedic timing made Nigel one of the most memorable characters I’ve seen in a Hallmark, let alone Christmas, presentation! Out of the films I’ve seen (and reviewed) this year, so far, Jordan’s performance was one of the best.

Emphasis on giving: One of the interconnected conflicts in The Night Before the Night Before Christmas is the disappearance of Santa’s sack of presents. This particular conflict could have produced one of two types of stories; a villain stealing Santa’s sack in order to ruin Christmas or a selfish character taking the sack of presents for themselves. Instead, Santa’s sack of presents is mistaken for donations to those less fortunate. The recipients of the gifts and the volunteers of various non-profits are surprised and even grateful for the “donations” received. This decision in story-telling helps emphasize the movie’s major theme of giving. Toward the beginning of the film, Toby tells Hannah if they want Santa to give them presents, they should consider giving presents to others. What Toby said, as well as the movie itself, frames Santa in a way I hadn’t really thought of before; someone who has a reputation for giving. These two examples show the clever and thoughtful ways the creative team behind The Night Before the Night Before Christmas remind their viewers of an important component of the Christmas season!

How Christmas activities were incorporated: In Hallmark’s more recent Christmas offerings, activities related to the holiday feel like they’re incorporated into the story just for the sake of completing an unspoken checklist. This creative decision contributes to the network’s Christmas projects feeling repetitive. But in The Night Before the Night Before Christmas, whenever a Christmas activity was featured in the movie, it was there to compliment the story itself as well as the themes of the film. Santa losing his memory is the movie’s major conflict. In order to help Santa reclaim his memory, the other characters partake in activities like decorating a Christmas tree and baking cookies. Before the tree is decorated, Hannah and her mom talk about choosing a very tall tree because it looked similar to a tree the family had years prior. The activity of picking out a Christmas tree expresses one of the story’s main themes of sharing and keeping memories. What I selected as the examples for this review show how the creative team behind The Night Before the Night Before Christmas put effort and thought into how the aforementioned activities were included in the script.

What I didn’t like about the film:

A drawn-out sense of urgency: As I mentioned earlier in my review, the major conflict in The Night Before the Night Before Christmas is Santa losing his memory. What gives the film a sense of urgency is how Santa must reclaim his memory before Christmas Eve so he can successfully deliver presents. While this conflict was eventually resolved, it ended up being drawn-out. The drawn-out nature of the conflict was caused by the story trying to divide its time between Santa searching for his memory, the whereabouts of his missing sack of presents, and the Fox family learning to reconnect. At one point in the movie, Nigel, as well as the other characters, frantically search for Santa’s sack of presents. The search then becomes interrupted by the characters’ attempts to help Santa get his memory back. These attempts last for about fifteen to twenty minutes, with the characters going back to looking for the sack of presents. This balancing act between the main conflict and subplots stretched out the story’s sense of urgency as well.

Things that don’t make sense: Christmas movies, like any fictional story, require the audience to suspend a certain amount of disbelief. But in The Night Before the Night Before Christmas, a few things didn’t make sense, sometimes requiring more than enough disbelief to be suspended. Like I said earlier in this review, Toby runs away. Santa and Toby’s mom find him riding on a carousel. As Toby’s mom and Santa are about to share a heart-to-heart conversation with Toby, the carousel is still moving. This raises the question of how Santa and Toby’s mom got on the carousel while it was still in motion?

Mrs. Claus’ minimal involvement: At the beginning of The Night Before the Night Before Christmas, Santa shares a heartfelt moment with Mrs. Claus. The on-screen chemistry between R.D. Reid and Marcia Bennett was so sweet and adorable, they effectually sold the idea of the loving relationship between Mrs. Claus and Santa. This aforementioned moment with Santa and Mrs. Claus is one of the few times she appears in the movie, as she is only featured in two scenes within the hour and twenty-eight-minute film. Personally, I found Mrs. Claus’ minimal involvement in the story disappointing. She could have played a larger role in helping Santa regain his memory sooner or locating his sack of presents faster.

My overall impression:

In the introduction of this review, I said The Night Before the Night Before Christmas was suggested by one of my readers. Looking back on the 2010 picture, I can honestly say I’m glad it was recommended to me! The Night Before the Night Before Christmas is, in my opinion, one of Hallmark’s better films, especially among their collection of “older” titles! The acting alone helped make my movie-viewing experience enjoyable, as every actor and actress gave a solid performance. How Christmas activities were incorporated into the story was a breath of fresh air. They ended up complimenting the story itself and the film’s themes instead of trying to complete an unspoken checklist. The story’s emphasis on giving was woven into the script in clever and thoughtful ways as well. Even though The Night Before the Night Before Christmas has its flaws, it felt like the movie’s creative team got more right than wrong. A film like this one makes me wish Hallmark went back to creating titles that didn’t rely too much on a formula, tropes, and/or cliches.

Overall score: 8 out of 10

Have you seen The Night Before the Night Before Christmas? What “older” Hallmark Christmas movie would you like to check out this Christmas/holiday season? Share your thoughts in the comment section!

Have fun on Thanksgiving!

Sally Silverscreen