Northpole: Open for Christmas

source: Northpole: Open for Christmas

Incredible piece of shoe-horning of the the story into a budget. Storyline necessitates the "saving" of an old guest house as a metaphor for "saving" the spirit of Christmas in Loughlin's character. Truth is, the tightwads in the Production company got hold of a cheap hire on a set and that drove the script. Good and energetic performances from the Butler and the visiting Elf-Girl. Unfortunately the lead actor, Loughlin is vanilla nothingness, just a brown paper bag of a performance and as a viewer I could care less if she saves the Hotel (and herself) or not. The Love interest is just a plank of wood with a neat jawline - the Ivy was more animated. Some young actors needed this film to get a step up in their career but unfortunately, they were in the control of a cheap Prodution firm who were determined to do no favors for anyone. Too bland. Too thin. No investment emotionally, commercially, artistically or creatively in this project - and it showed. I really had no idea who Lori Loughlin is but half-recognised her face...some Googling shows that she's been charged with Fraud by the USA High Court in 2019. I suppose she really didn't know anything about honesty and spirituality in real life- so why would we expect her to act out those concepts with any skill ?

Northpole aired on the Hallmark channel as part of their Christmas in July programming. Cute movie starring Lori Loughlin, Bailee Madison, & Dermot Mulroney. The movie is actually a sequel, but it is not necessary to have seen the first installment. Mackenzie (Loughlin) inherits her Aunt's inn in Vermont and ponders selling it and getting back to her high powered lifestyle in the city as soon as possible. What follows is Mackenzie's journey to rediscover her Christmas spirit and what truly is important to her heart.

I love the chemistry between Lori Loughlin and Dermot Mulroney. I wish Hallmark paid better attention to pairing up couples in their movies because the more recent ones lack great chemistry. Though this is a family Christmas movie, it makes it more interesting when the actors "gel".

This Christmas Movie may be fun to watch for kids, but is really odd for adults. The romance plot could not be more linear and the part of reviving someones christmas spirit has been played exactly like this hundrets of times....also some of the dialogues and lots of coinsidences are really weird and just there to make up they had no clue how to give the plot a constant flow.

This is a lighthearted story about Santa and elves and a nostalgic inn. There isn't a lot of plot and what story there is rambles and gets convoluted. But for those who are willing to forget reality and just ride along, it is enjoyable. I've watched a few movies where Santa and/or the elves get a little too silly and childish in an effort to draw out humor. This movie uses a lighter touch with the mythical characters. There is still plenty of fantasy and fun. Lori Loughlin and Dermot Mulroney are both over 50 at the time of the movie, but you sure don't notice that, at least with Loughlin. They work together well enough, but it's not their relationship that's magical. For me, the real star of the show is Bailee Madison, as Clementine the elf. This young actress impresses me every time she does a Hallmark movie and this movie is no exception. Here, although she is only 16 at the time, she is starting to come into a role that isn't necessarily for a teenage actress. She interjects energy and optimism and a little wonder.

Not long after the original Northpole film aired, Hallmark announced that a sequel to the film under the working title Northpole 2 before being now called by its current name Northpole: Open For Christmas was in production and like most Hallmark fans, I had an open mind to see it. To me, this has to be one of the best sequel films Hallmark ever made. Now for the plot. Clementine the elf was given a new task by Santa to help a workaholic Real Estate agent (played by the ever wonderful Lori Loughlin) restore her late aunt's Inn which actually serves as beacon for Santa's sleigh while at the same time helping her regain her true spirit of Christmas she lost as a kid. As far as we know, Bailee Madison was the only actress from the original film to reprise her role as our favorite lovable elf Clementine. Santa Clause unfortunately was no longer played by Robert Wagner as in the previous film and was replaced with Donovan Scott for this film and his role as Santa was actually equally as wonderful as how Robert portrayed him. All the actors did an amazing job in this film especially Ava Telek (April Telek's daughter) as the widowed carpenter's daughter. Like the original, the movie was shot in Montreal, Canada, but at a different part of the city. All in all, this is a great sequel film. Wonderful acting, good plot though there were some flaws, and good special effects. Like the original film, some people may love it, some may not love it, but hey, everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

Story was great, plot heartening, and spirit-uplifting. No doubt a 10/10 score. Though one thing about Clementine... From Northpole to the sequel - does she make a habit of bringing her mission- related outsiders to the city in the North? Master Bailee Madison did fantastic work portraying the optimistic, cheerful elven operative, but sometimes her smile and frequent excitements... that was a little bit much, along with a lot of cold puns(reminded me a bit of Master Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze). Wonder if there's a second sequel, will there be someone stoic, stern and serious intercepts her mid-air and asks her, "Okay, Clem. This is, like, the 20th outsider you've brought inside our perimeter over these years. Do you really enjoy making a habit out of it?" Think someone should bar her access back to Northpole homebase while Clementine's on assignment; think if anything can up the difficulty and challenge of her assignments, this can. Do these protagonists REALLY need to see the Northpole city to believe in Christmas, to meet Santa in person to believe in Santa, to actually witness something magical to believe in the Spirit? What happened to taking leaps of faith and believing things based on absolutely nothing but blind faiths? I'm from one of those countries that DOESN'T celebrate Christmas like the rest of the world do, and even I miss those days! The mere term, "Christmas Spirit", sounds sacred, and the first time I hear it, it gave me a strong feeling that this is nothing to be seen, but to be believed in. It's like taking leaps of faith, believing in something that I might never witness just because I believe it, with no evidence to prove it true. In my mind, these Christmas magic are things of unconventionally high purity and divinity that it does not belong in the presence of the mortals or in front of mortal eyes. If everything has to be seen to believe then there's gonna be a lot of stuff gone. Christmas was never an item materialized. It never was, is, and it never will be. I hope the future Santas in the Christmas movies - they display their magic at 65% runtime(basically when the male and female protagonists falling out) to show disappointment, and not in the finale to show their magic to make the grumpy characters to finally believe - if they are doubters and don't believe they don't deserve to witness the sacred magic. A line I've been working out: 'He looked back. In his eyes there's no benevolence, love, joy or warmth, but only cold disappointment. "You are a good kid. Shame you couldn't take the leap of faith. Goodbye." Then he turned on his sleigh, galloped his reindeers and flew away, without even a backward glance.'

Lori Loughlin finds a sense of place, falls in love with handyman Dermot Mulroney and, oh yeah, saves her aunt's country hotel and Christmas while she's at it, in the second of Hallmark's annual "Northpole" series. "Open for Christmas" grafts a standard Hallmark romantic comedy onto NORTHPOLE's elaborate magical thesis in a workmanlike fashion. However, there is little in the way of dramatic tension to make this worth watching. Ms. Loughlin inherits her aunt's hotel; it has no guests and no source of income. Even so, there is little sense of financial urgency about the outcome once Donovan Scott as Santa tells Ms.Louglin he is depending on her, despite the occasional histrionics. The performances are fine. I won't claim that Donovan Scott has cornered the market on Santa, but he has performed the role once or twice a year for more than a decade. Pierre Jodoin's cinematography is excellent; he manages to capture that grey afternoon snowfall light that shows up around Christmas. Yet the script itself never manages to make the viewer think that the inevitable romcom happy ending is ever in doubt.

Watching these 2 fifty-somethings sleepwalk through the twilight of their career gives this movie a special place in the film school case studies of corporate, group think, cookie cutter productions. How do you fill 90 minutes with dialog without really saying anything? "Northpole: Open for Christmas" is your answer. My XMas advice? Get to bed early...