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MOVIE REVIEW
Moonlight & Mistletoe:
A Family Christmas Movie from the Hallmark Channel starring Tom Arnold (Roseanne), Candace Cameron Bure (Full House, The Wager, etc...), Barbara Niven (Pensacola: Wings of Gold, A Carol Christmas, Wedding Daze, etc..).
CAST:
Tom Arnold ... Nick
Candace Cameron Bure ... Holly
Barbara Niven ... Ginny
Christopher Wiehl ... Peter
PLOT:
From Rutland Herald.com:
The film, produced by Edgewood Studios of Rutland, tells the story of a Widower, aptly named Nick — played by actor Tom Arnold — who operates a Christmas theme park that is threatened by a real estate developer.
His daughter, Holly, played by Candace Cameron Bure, who starred in the 1980s sitcom Full House, returns to help her father keep the park and in doing so rediscovers the true meaning of Christmas.
From Hallmark Channel:
It’s always Christmas in Santaville! But now, tiny Chester, Vermont’s year-round yuletide attraction is losing its widespread appeal. On the verge of bankruptcy, the resident St. Nick is hoping for a Christmas miracle to keep his dream from being bulldozed into another mini mall in “Moonlight & Mistletoe,”. Tom Arnold (“True Lies”) and Candace Cameron Bure (“Full House”) star in the inspiring family film.
Nick Crosby (Arnold) is the owner of Santaville and head Santa. One day he is smiling with visitors, the next, he is juggling a cascading stack of bills, unable to pay the rent and blissfully thinking a solution will magically appear. When his daughter – and onetime Number One elf, Holly (Cameron Bure), returns home, she is shocked to learn of her father’s situation. Holly recruits Peter (Christopher Wiehl, “Jericho”), Nick’s employee and master wood craftsman, to devise a solution to the money woes.
But the issues between Nick and Holly are deeper than dollars and cents. Beneath his white beard and red suit, a naïve Nick can’t see beyond his quaint town. He loves his life and is getting close to Ginny (Barbara Niven, “Eli Stone”), the beautiful waitress who works at the Santaville Inn. Holly, however, has had no trouble distancing herself from the setting, as she gladly left the make-believe behind to focus on a big-city career. As the years passed, her separation from Christmas became psychological as much as physical, as Holly consistently refused her father’s offers to come home in favor of working long days at International Global Gifts in Boston. For Holly, Christmas is just another day.
Soon a helpful stranger will step up to bail Santaville out of debt, but it quickly becomes apparent that his motives are somewhat less than charitable. Now, father and daughter must race against time – and the bank – to come up with $50,000 by midnight on Christmas Eve or lose their mythical wonderland.
Filmed on Location:
Chester House Inn, Vermont
Movie Review:
I thought this story was very sweet - somewhat predictable - but very sweet. Sometimes in life it is nice to have predictability and its even nicer to have a Hallmark Happy Ending.
Candace Cameron Bure played Holly well, as the all business daughter, concerned, first of all, of her father's well-being... then she becomes increasing attached to life back at home in Santaville. She falls in love with Peter, who she knew briefly years ago, and he has a story all of his own... handcrafting Nutcrackers out of wood. One of my favorite scenes is when he eplains to Holly how he creates each one and he says... "It's a face you know you want to look at the rest of your life." That is such a sweet, romantic scene.
I remember going to the The Nutcracker Ballet as a little girl at Christmastime. I loved it... especially the beautiful ballerinas in their lovely white and pink tu-tu's dancing about the stage. So, I was taken with this story of The Nutcracker within the story of Moonlight and Mistletoe.
This was one of my favorites among all the TV Christmas Movies of 2008!
See or Skip:See, with your family!
Extras:
Click Here for the Candace Cameron Bure Beliefnet Interview
Candace also talks about the film on her blog, Click Here
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