The fake backgrounds and props to pretend it's set in a wintry land are shocking in the terribleness of the quality; the sled race down the "hill" segment was so bad we couldn't even laugh at it. There must not have been anything left in the budget for the sets after hiring the stars and buying the toys to fill the shops. And then there's the random shot about 1h7m driving down the Centre Street Bridge in Calgary, AB, Canada passing the lion statues with the Calgary Tower straight ahead - if only they had actually filmed the whole movie in Calgary in winter, they would have had real snow and real mountains. As it is, the story is passable (although like most of the cheezy movies the ending isn't believable), but any of the outdoor scenery and backgrounds are so awful, so obviously bad fakes they completely distract from anything else going on, blemishing the star power of the actors. At least for a lot of the movie they're indoors and we can forget about it momentarily. If you can ignore that, and you like cheezy Christmas movies, or are a fan of the stars, ok, sure, watch this one, otherwise give it a pass.
Review of A Very Merry Toy Store
