It's a low budget movie. You can see that based on the few locations and sets. Also, it's a very childish movie for adults. There's no deep message on it. It's just for children's entertainment. And there's no much of comedy on it either. I love Christmas movies but I almost gave up on this one. But it's not that bad. But as I bought it, I wanted to see it. Surprisingly, the acting is not bad at all. Kevin Pollack is the usual bad guy here. And there's no much of "country" on it although it was produced by Kix Brooks of "Brooks and Dunn" and Tracey Atkins made a very small appearance on it. It will go directly to my local community library.
9 Reviews
Bad on so many levels
Simply-Red22 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The Good: most of this movie is acceptable for small children and there are some lessons learned. The children are reminded that they are disobeying their parents in a way by sneaking out to see and hide Santa and his elf. And Santa pays a price for breaking the Santa rules by stepping in to save a sick woman's life. So there is some redeeming quality.
Oh, the cameo appearance of Trace Adkins was cool...gotta love him
The Bad: The acting. This movie is so bad regarding the script. Yes, if you want simple minded dialog for a 5 year old, some of this movie works well; the problem is the writers have the children speaking at a vocabulary and structure level way beyond their years...it's simply not believable and especially the little boy/brother is nearly painful to watch speak, it's soooo corny. If you yearn for the days of bad 1950's and 60's series shows, this movie is for you.
The reason this movie is PG is because the mother had terminal cancer and Santa cures it...which means Santa broke the Santa Rule by intervening, thus he is stripped of his Santa-hood and made a mortal, and his sidekick elf then becomes Santa. Without the cancer element, this movie is on about 4 to 7 year old mental level, then they throw in such a depressing twist with the cancer and Santa (who is a wonderful endearing character) becoming mortal and replaced by the elf. That is a mental twist for small children.
A lot of people love this because it is steeped in religion, which is the reason for the season of course, but Santa, as we see him in the modern world has nothing to do with religion anymore. Our kids are seldom taught the origins of where the fable of Santa comes from and why he is part of our Christmas.
Christians are so desperate for anything that frequently refers to "the man upstairs" and entertainment with a thick dose of Jesus in it, they are going to love this movie because Christianity is under attack by secularists in America. This kinda feels like a "Christian" movie but fails to complete the idea properly.
I just did not like this movie. I would rather watch something about the ACTUAL story of Jesus including the crucifixion. If we are going to teach kids about death and faith, that would be a good start. Santa is not a healer, Jesus was.
Oh, the cameo appearance of Trace Adkins was cool...gotta love him
The Bad: The acting. This movie is so bad regarding the script. Yes, if you want simple minded dialog for a 5 year old, some of this movie works well; the problem is the writers have the children speaking at a vocabulary and structure level way beyond their years...it's simply not believable and especially the little boy/brother is nearly painful to watch speak, it's soooo corny. If you yearn for the days of bad 1950's and 60's series shows, this movie is for you.
The reason this movie is PG is because the mother had terminal cancer and Santa cures it...which means Santa broke the Santa Rule by intervening, thus he is stripped of his Santa-hood and made a mortal, and his sidekick elf then becomes Santa. Without the cancer element, this movie is on about 4 to 7 year old mental level, then they throw in such a depressing twist with the cancer and Santa (who is a wonderful endearing character) becoming mortal and replaced by the elf. That is a mental twist for small children.
A lot of people love this because it is steeped in religion, which is the reason for the season of course, but Santa, as we see him in the modern world has nothing to do with religion anymore. Our kids are seldom taught the origins of where the fable of Santa comes from and why he is part of our Christmas.
Christians are so desperate for anything that frequently refers to "the man upstairs" and entertainment with a thick dose of Jesus in it, they are going to love this movie because Christianity is under attack by secularists in America. This kinda feels like a "Christian" movie but fails to complete the idea properly.
I just did not like this movie. I would rather watch something about the ACTUAL story of Jesus including the crucifixion. If we are going to teach kids about death and faith, that would be a good start. Santa is not a healer, Jesus was.
Caitlin Carmichael Saves this film
Christmas-Reviewer30 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.
A Country Christmas is a 2013 made-for-television Christmas movie In the film, a cranky US senator wants to ban belief in Santa Claus and succeeds in passing a law forbidding all images of him. This causes Santa to start losing his powers and he finds himself (and one of his helpers) stranded on a farm in a small town called Hope, Arizona. There he is found by the owner's children, Miley and Zach. Since the rules that govern Santa's existence forbid his revealing himself to the public or interfering directly, he's doomed to cease to exist soon. The children then set out to save him by publicly challenging the senator to an open debate over Santa's existence
There is a very heavy handed backstory in this film that Caitlin Carmichael proves she is an actress! Bravo to her. Her performance saved this movie. The film was going astray put she elevates the film from a problematic script. Also it looks like the hat that Elliot the elf wares would have been suitable if he was Mary Poppins!
The film is worth watching. However in the film we find out the children's mother has terminal cancer. If you just recently lost someone in your family don't play this for them!!!!!
A Country Christmas is a 2013 made-for-television Christmas movie In the film, a cranky US senator wants to ban belief in Santa Claus and succeeds in passing a law forbidding all images of him. This causes Santa to start losing his powers and he finds himself (and one of his helpers) stranded on a farm in a small town called Hope, Arizona. There he is found by the owner's children, Miley and Zach. Since the rules that govern Santa's existence forbid his revealing himself to the public or interfering directly, he's doomed to cease to exist soon. The children then set out to save him by publicly challenging the senator to an open debate over Santa's existence
There is a very heavy handed backstory in this film that Caitlin Carmichael proves she is an actress! Bravo to her. Her performance saved this movie. The film was going astray put she elevates the film from a problematic script. Also it looks like the hat that Elliot the elf wares would have been suitable if he was Mary Poppins!
The film is worth watching. However in the film we find out the children's mother has terminal cancer. If you just recently lost someone in your family don't play this for them!!!!!
not worth the time
Jay_Jay266431 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This is so bad it isn't worth the effort. Acting is bad, plot teaches kids its okay to lie to parents. Kids riding in cars without seatbelts. Music is drab.
It may be intended as an analogy of the war on Christmas but it falls way short.
Spoiler....Santa breaks a rule and displays healing power.
That causes him to become just a mortal.
After he becomes mortal he turns into a bibbed overall farm hands. The final scene the children open a present. The new Santa tells them "some rules are meant to be broken."
It may be intended as an analogy of the war on Christmas but it falls way short.
Spoiler....Santa breaks a rule and displays healing power.
That causes him to become just a mortal.
After he becomes mortal he turns into a bibbed overall farm hands. The final scene the children open a present. The new Santa tells them "some rules are meant to be broken."
HoRRiBLE!
sKiLLdEaL15 November 2014
I don't like to slam movies in such a harsh way, but the reasoning is clear enough.
Let's start with the fact that they are trying to put Santa is the place of God, in many different areas. Not cool.
Next to all of that hogwash is the horrible acting. They have even used popular actors, but next to them is poor performances. The acting could have been straightened up, but it was pretty bad. It really reminds me of One Magic Christmas. Someone could die and no one acts like it matters.
If you like watching Christmas movies, you may want to skip this on your list. However, I am willing enough to say that it's at least worth watching to judge for yourself.
Let's start with the fact that they are trying to put Santa is the place of God, in many different areas. Not cool.
Next to all of that hogwash is the horrible acting. They have even used popular actors, but next to them is poor performances. The acting could have been straightened up, but it was pretty bad. It really reminds me of One Magic Christmas. Someone could die and no one acts like it matters.
If you like watching Christmas movies, you may want to skip this on your list. However, I am willing enough to say that it's at least worth watching to judge for yourself.
Mostly pleasant family movie
vchimpanzee23 December 2015
This is a mostly pleasant movie, funny and appropriate for kids with the usual challenges that they must overcome. But it does get really serious at times.
The young actors do a great job, for this type of movie. Abraham Benrubi really stands out with his booming voice, sort of Donald Sutherland trying to be Darth Vader. And Mikey Post offers a contrast with his sour attitude.
The edgy "Dr. Quinn" bartender becomes a kind and loving father, and Joey Lauren Adams is so sweet as usual. But there are some difficult scenes, because Renae has to explain her situation to the kids, and the kids have to cope with the problem.
Trace Adkins has a cameo as an intimidating cop. He's pretty much what you'd expect.
When the kids try to hide the secret, it is made quite challenging when some of the animals get into the reindeer feed, which leads to some entertaining visual effects.
I didn't see how this ended so I can't evaluate how everything turned out. I was recording two movies at once and they both got cut off about 30 minutes early, including commercials. In both cases, a magical fantasy figure who entertains children was in danger of going away, and a child held the key to making things better. A year later I saw the ending of this one but now I don't remember it.
But you have to believe everything turned out all right. This was rated TV-G when I saw it, so surely some miracle occurred before the end.
From what I saw, this was a nice Christmas movie to entertain the entire family.
The young actors do a great job, for this type of movie. Abraham Benrubi really stands out with his booming voice, sort of Donald Sutherland trying to be Darth Vader. And Mikey Post offers a contrast with his sour attitude.
The edgy "Dr. Quinn" bartender becomes a kind and loving father, and Joey Lauren Adams is so sweet as usual. But there are some difficult scenes, because Renae has to explain her situation to the kids, and the kids have to cope with the problem.
Trace Adkins has a cameo as an intimidating cop. He's pretty much what you'd expect.
When the kids try to hide the secret, it is made quite challenging when some of the animals get into the reindeer feed, which leads to some entertaining visual effects.
I didn't see how this ended so I can't evaluate how everything turned out. I was recording two movies at once and they both got cut off about 30 minutes early, including commercials. In both cases, a magical fantasy figure who entertains children was in danger of going away, and a child held the key to making things better. A year later I saw the ending of this one but now I don't remember it.
But you have to believe everything turned out all right. This was rated TV-G when I saw it, so surely some miracle occurred before the end.
From what I saw, this was a nice Christmas movie to entertain the entire family.
Trigger warning! Terminal Cancer
stephaniejustice-858455 December 2021
What they fail to mention in the plot summary and trailer is that this movie takes a serious turn when the mother tells the kids she has cancer. The little girls starts crying and asks if she's going to die. We watched this with our three daughters, 11, 5, and 3. My husband has been battling lymphoma this year and we would not have watched this movie if we had known about this topic. Not only did is seriously upset our girls but also struck a nerve with my husband and I. If you're going to rate something for children you should be considerate enough to let parents know all of the topics discussed in the movie.
Cute movie!
musiclady-112 February 2017
I guess I'm not a skeptic as so many of these reviewers seem to be! I loved this movie. Just take it for what it is - a cute, cuddly Christmas movie that makes kids (and adults!) believe in the magic of Santa. Totally harmless. Yes the acting is not "sterling" but I love the story line. I love the part where Santa says "now you see it; now you don't". At first it works. Then it doesn't! DOH! I just found that humorous. The child actors are "precious" but appealing in their portrayals of the kids who must save Christmas.And I must say I'm a sucker for movies with talking animals, even though their mouths aren't even moving. (See "My Dad is Scrooge") I really enjoyed watching this. Good for all of the family.
A Country Christmas
tracecowgirl25 December 2013
I have known about this Christmas Movie for a long time because I am a huge Trace Adkins fan.
I saw the trailer for this movie several times and YES Trace Adkins is in the movie so the combination was the reason I bought the movie.
I waited until Christmas to watch the movie. I give it 10 stars.
This is a movie for a whole family to watch together. I will be purchasing more copies for Christmas gifts for next year.
I highly recommend! I really like the movie!
After the movie is over keep watching there is more to see!
You can also insert the DVD into your computer for more fun.
I saw the trailer for this movie several times and YES Trace Adkins is in the movie so the combination was the reason I bought the movie.
I waited until Christmas to watch the movie. I give it 10 stars.
This is a movie for a whole family to watch together. I will be purchasing more copies for Christmas gifts for next year.
I highly recommend! I really like the movie!
After the movie is over keep watching there is more to see!
You can also insert the DVD into your computer for more fun.
See also
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