Eine Weihnachtsmelodie (TV Movie 2015)

Eine Weihnachtsmelodie: Directed by Mariah Carey. With Lacey Chabert, Brennan Elliott, Kathy Najimy, Kevin Chamberlin. A gift of music transports people back to another time and place where they find their truest feelings.

“u0026#39;A Christmas Melodyu0026#39; definitely had interest value. Hallmark have shown more than once that they were capable of making watchable and more films, a lot of them actually being a lot better and less mundane than they sound on paper. Lacey Chabert and Brennan Elliot have been quite good in other things, both have been in some not so good films but both are often among the better things of them. Expectations though were also quite mixed, as is the case with a lot of Hallmark films.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNamely because despite admiring Mariah Carey as a singer (beautiful and distinctive voice with a unique and quite insane vocal range), her acting in u0026#39;Glitteru0026#39; left a lot to be desired and she somehow sounded like a very odd choice for director (first time for her too). u0026#39;A Christmas Melodyu0026#39; actually turned out better than expected, some of the usual Hallmark flaws can be seen here as well as a couple of new ones but there are also a lot of strengths that help make it watchable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are quite a number of good things. Chabert and Elliott are both immensely engaging and radiate in charm, playing likeable characters that have personality, have some character growth and any flaws are not overwritten. They connect beautifully together in their chemistry, they look at ease with each other and it was clear they at least cared for each other. The relationship didnu0026#39;t feel like it took too long to develop and doesnu0026#39;t move too fast. Fina Strazza gives one of the better child performances seen in a Hallmark film in some while, they have always varied in this aspect but Strazza was a natural in front of the camera and doesnu0026#39;t come over as too sickly sweet or petulant (her character actually came over as one of the more realistic ones.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKathy Najimy is fun in her role. The chemistry between the cast is natural and any conflict does have some tension that doesnu0026#39;t feel dragged out. The story is far from perfect, but generally doesnu0026#39;t feel dull and is amusingly good natured, endearingly light-hearted and it has a warm heart without an overload of sappiness. The script flows naturally generally and doesnu0026#39;t come over as too cheesy or sentimental. The characters are not meaty but arenu0026#39;t too sketchy, while this is a case of the music being infectious and nostalgic. Most of u0026#39;A Christmas Melodyu0026#39; looks good, especially the scenery.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBy all means, itu0026#39;s less than perfect. It is not at all hard to figure out how u0026#39;A Christmas Melodyu0026#39; is going to end, with most of them following a similar formula with not much variation complete with many long well worn out cliches. There are glimpses of that in u0026#39;A Christmas Melodyu0026#39;, especially later on. The ending expectedly is a bit too rushed and too neatly resolved. It is a bit cheesy and routine early on.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA couple of the most distracting flaws involve Carey, whose scenes did not gel with the rest of the film and felt like they were inserted from another film made in another time slot. She still sounds great (though there could have been a little less emphasis, even for a film centered around it), but if she was trying to make her fairly irrelevant character impossible to like let alone root for she not only succeeded she also goes well overboard on it and does it in a monotone way. Didnu0026#39;t think much of her direction, too much of an over-reliance on unfocused close ups when sheu0026#39;s on screen that also have too much of a u0026quot;look at meu0026quot; quality.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eConcluding, above average but not great. 6/10”