The Christmas Train Parade (2023)

AKA Meet Me At The Christmas Train Parade.

A small town. A person looking to change that small town with some big development money. A tradition that ended some time ago, but could be ripe for resurrection. The Christmas Train Parade has exactly what you expect this kind of film to have. There's also the nice atmosphere that is both chilly and cosy, a pair of leads who start to grow closer very quickly, and no jagged edges to interrupt the big hug that it delivers in the predictable finale.

Emma Johnson is Charlotte Atkins, our lead character, who is spurred on by her son, Benny (Maxwell Jones), to see if there's a way to bring back the Christmas train ride tradition that used to symbolise the strong connection between the town and those neighboring it. If she can make it work then that will also show a united front against the developers who want to muscle in. Thankfully, she will be helped by a local teacher, Zackary (Ryan Northcott), who has a lot of knowledge about the history of the town. More importantly, he also has a friend, Oliver (John Hudson), who seems to know a thing or two about repairing trains.

Writer Nathan Usher may only have two full features and a short to his name, but he knows what is needed in this piece of fluff. It helps that Dylan Pearce is directing, considering he has, like a number of others, made quite a few of these snowy sweet treats. I'm amazed that I've not actually seen any of the other titles directed by Pearce, not YET anyway, but most of them look as if they could comfortably fit on that Letterboxd list titled "Christmas movie posters with white heterosexual couples wearing red and green." Which feels like an endorsement when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Johnson and Northcott are perfectly fine in their roles, but this film managed to help me figure out the problem that films like this sometimes have. When the plot makes use of a child in the way that this does then these Christmas films tend to infantilise the adults, at least in the scenes that have them sharing screentime with the special and wise youngster. Which wouldn't be so bad if the child actors were exceptional, but they rarely are. Jones is in line with many other child actors I've seen in these movies AKA not exceptional. Michelle Todd, Sue Huff, and Will Brisbin don't do too bad as the three mayors who need to be convinced on the merits of bringing back this particular tradition (all three have various reasons for being hesitant), and Maureen Rooney shows her face whenever the film needs to add kindly grandma to any scene, reminding viewers that this is a quest to help the town, a family, and multiple generations.

While this isn't great, not by a long shot, it's mainly cute and harmless enough to make it the ideal background fodder that most of these schedule-fillers aim to be. Nothing ever feels as if it will be a problem for long, lessons are learned along the way, and train enthusiasts may enjoy the few actual shots of the train. Please note, however, that I am already at the point this month when I cannot be sure if I actually enjoyed a movie . . . or if I was just relieved that it wasn't as bad as some of the worst ones I decided to put in front of my eyes this year.

4/10

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