Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas

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source: Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas

Moviecut—Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas

Dolly herself was very engaging and fun to watch, but the show was all over the map. She preached Jesus then catered to the "free-spirited" crowd. She wore antlers when female deer don't have antlers, though the overall effect was cute, admittedly. My biggest disappointment was her closing song, "When It Gets Better" (at least that's the chorus). She basically said don't act on your faith until things get better. That has nothing to do with the faith I practice, which is to NOT wait until things get better but to get on your knees at once and believe, no matter what the circumstances. Otherwise, why faith?

I didn't give it 10 stars bc here's the deal, I just want to watch Dolly sing, and hear her tell HER stories of her family. Remember her Christmas special during lockdown that was low budget where she just stood on a stage and sang beautiful Christmas songs? It was AWESOME!! Each song had a different beautiful background, and she stood there and sang and that was all we needed. And that's STILL all we need. Dolly is so utterly phenomenal that we judge everything else around her by her already perfect standard, and, well, by that standard everything else that's going on around her just comes up lacking. Dolly doesn't need anything but herself standing up there and telling stories about her life and family and then singing. See, I don't think NBC, or even Dolly herself, could rewrite something better than JUST DOLLY HERSELF! You can't improve upon perfection and that's what this show seemed to try and do. So, for 2023, I want a Dolly Christmas special like her Covid lockdown special. Just Dolly, and maybe a few guests SINGING. No fluff, and no glitz that isn't Dolly, bc you can't have anything glitzier than Dolly and when you try....well it fails. So, Dolly, we just need YOU. We have always needed JUST YOU, and we will continue needing and wanting...ONLY YOU. Just you, on a stage, singing and talking to us. Like your tours, and when you perform at the Opry. Just you. Thanks Dolly.

I oved the words of the songs, the music, the colors, the costumes, and I can relate to humble beginnings as well. You are proof that big dreams do come true, and in every good thing we do, Jesus is the reason. I'm really impressed with Dollywood, how you have given back to your community. I also really liked (loved) Christmas of Many Colors Circle of Love. Your Christmas movies are exciting, and keep things true. Mrs. Parton, I love what you're doing, and I look forward to many more Christmas specials from you, boy do they touch the heart, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

I don't get it. Dolly has lots of money and mega talent. Why do a Christmas special just for the sake of knocking off another one? This so called special begins with her talking about making a special. Perhaps a throw back to Mickey Rooney's "Let's put on a show" theme. Then she wastes your time with a romp down the streets of Dollywood singing as she goes. It's cheesy as you might expect as she sits and sings with an imaginary Willie Nelson. The coup de grace was a song in which she stands up and repeats "Go To Hell". Not once but many times. Christmas is a time for family and especially for children. Exposing them to this kind of message is very counter productive and defeats the meaning of love at Christmas time. I had to shut off the TV after that number. I had just watched her accept a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination the week before and it rekindled my love of her music. If you're producing shows for the sake of the almighty dollar perhaps it's time to consider censoring yourself.

The Miley Cyrus and Jimmy Fallon segments were great. My only complaint was half the songs were not very Christmasy. One was about Satan. 'He's Alive' sounded like an Easter song. It's a Christmas special, so in my opinion every song should have been a Christmas song. There are plenty of them! The acting segments were also a bit much. I don't really want to watch Dolly Parton acting like a diva or "boss" in a Christmas special. I get she probably wanted to show another side of herself, the "business side." But in a Christmas special it was distracting and a bit jarring. Overall I would recommend it.

Somewhere I got the idea this was going to be a movie rather than a variety special. I guess it was both, because it was the sort of fictional story about preparing for a TV special which, for the most part, never actually aired. Instead, we see rehearsals, taping of musical numbers which will not air live, fantasy segments where Dolly is by herself (but not really), and preparations, with fictional characters played by actors who were supposedly in charge. So we have all the elements that would have gone into a real special, without ever seeing most of what actually would be broadcast. And if you ignore all the details about preparations and pretend all the musical numbers and other content were in an actual special, most of it is pretty good. Now I won't say Dolly Parton can do no wrong. I say this about Willie Nelson, who did well but really showed his age. Of course I like Dolly. Everyone likes Dolly, right? But I didn't care for all the songs she performed. Of course she's talented and despite her age still has lots of energy. I just don't like some of the styles of music she performs, and she has done just about every style there is. I prefer the more traditional style country or Americana, and the 70s country sound that wasn't really country. But the various pop styles and Christian music that she also performed just don't happen to be my taste. Southern gospel is fine, and of course the European classical composers and other traditional styles of Christian music. But for a Christmas special, I mainly like the more traditional styles of music. I like rock and roll from when it was still called that, but at Christmas? And I certainly don't care for something called "Go to Hell", regardless. Don't you think kids will be watching? There were kids in it. It was probably longer than it had to be, but there was a lot of good stuff here.

Seeing Willie Nelson is always a treat. I'm not like a lifelong Dolly fan club member or anything but I tell you what, she showed optimism, thoughtfulness and talent. Much respect for the way of life that Dolly presented and the joy and fun that she brought to our home. The kids watched it too, not knowing who she is but just being avid consumers of streaming family content and now Christmas themed shows in particular. Not to spoil anything but I have to say it got better as it went and climaxed at the end with a song I am still thinking about the next day. Glad we came across this one. God bless Dolly Parton! Also was introduced to a new singer Zach Williams who sounded great I am planning to find more of his music.