If you think that it's easy to make a cheesy Christmas movie then you should try to watch a bad cheesy Christmas movie. There are many of them to choose from, and I guarantee you that most of them are made by people who thought they could do the job in their sleep. 12 Toys Of Christmas is one of the bad ones. It's kept watchable, just, by the fact that Stephanie Perk is a perfectly fine, if bland, lead. There's very little else to make this worth your time though.
Perk plays Olivia, a woman who heads off to visit her grandmother, Magdalena (Debbie Javor) in Hungary. Not bothered by the fact that her Hungarian grandmother has no Hungarian accent, because why would she, Olivia spends her time finding out about her decased grandfather, and his Christmas tradition of doling out hand-made toys to select individuals. Olivia is helped by Andras (Gábor Kékessy), which helps to distract her from the fact that she also has a job to do for her demanding boss, Francesca (Nina Josephs).
Writer Alys Murray has a few other Christmas movies to her credit, which puts them on a better footing than writer Ric Forster, who seems to have made use of a familiar cast to churn out a whole heap of what seem to be live-action teen magazine stories in features that he also directed. As for director Adamo Halmo, this is their first feature. I doubt it will be their last, but we can live in hope. No, that is not me being nasty for the sake of being nasty. This is a film that reeks of laziness and disdain at every turn. You can almost hear Halmo saying "cut, that take will do, people who watch these movies will put up with any shit." Admittedly, there's some truth in that, but it's still nice to think of people actually making even the minimal effort to present something cheering and sweet.
The best Christmas films, whether they are cinematic features or Hallmark movies, give us an idealised version of the season. There's a good helping of cold snow, good helpings of warm cookies and hot chocolates, plenty of seasonal lights and trimmings adorning the buildings, and characters that at least feel as if they belong in the onscreen world. 12 Toys Of Christmas somehow gets too much wrong in a way that leaves nothing feeling right. The characters never feel natural, which may be the biggest problem, and that means that everything around them just feels like exactly what it is: set dressing.
As I already said, Perk is fine in the lead role. And when I say fine I mean mostly harmless. And when I say mostly harmless I mean . . . present. Kékessy is a bit weaker, but just has to remain handsome and kind throughout. Javor feels like she was asked to join in for a day or two, not told anything about her character, aside from the fact that she was a grandmother, and then wandered through an extra scene or two without any decent direction. Ferenc Köles isn't bad as the comic relief, although he doesn't live up to the name of his character, Hilarius, and Míra Korb is thankfully not overused as the obligatory "sweet" child.
While occasionally competent, this is an ultimately joyless experience, and if there's something you want to avoid in your Christmas movie then it's a feeling of joylessness. Even when compared to the many other movies this wants to sit alongside, 12 Toys Of Christmas is poor. Choose from one of the hundreds of better options instead.
2/10
If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do
consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A
subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share
No comments:
Post a Comment