A Very Merry Toy Store / 4 Christmases & A Wedding
(Melissa Joan Hart, Mario Lopez, Arielle Kebbel, Corey Sevier, Markie Post, et al / DVD / NR / (2017) 2018 / Lionsgate Films)
Overview: Welcome home Lifetime®’s latest winter tales when 'Lifetime Holiday Double Feature: A Very Merry Toy Store and Four Christmases and a Wedding' arrives on DVD October 23rd from Lionsgate.
DVD Verdict: In truth, I'm a sucker for sappy Christmas TV movies and both the Hallmark Channel and the Lifetime Channel do them splendidly.
A yuletide tradition for so many families, these new Lifetime pictures are two of the sweetest, funniest, and most heartfelt yet. In 'A Very Merry Toy Store', two competing small town entrepreneurs come together during the season of giving after a large chain toy store arrives and threatens to put both of them out of business.
Starring the adorable pairing of both Mario Lopez and Melissa Joan Hart, this first movie is a hit right out the gate for me. Chock full of cuteness galore and all the actors (not just these two) were really good in their given character roles.
Warming my heart, these Christmastime TV movies showcase our old TV favorites - still ALL looking great, I'll add - in ways that still ensure they are adorable to us.
In 'Four Christmases and a Wedding', an event planner’s romance with the man of her dreams is complicated when he takes a job overseas, and despite crossing paths the following three Christmases, leaving them to wonder if they’ll ever be together.
So yeah, this is not your average, lovey-dovey Hallmark movie that hits the ground running from the off, please know that going in. A couple meet at a Christmas festivity. They dance and bond, but he is posting overseas for work and so they don't start a relationship.
Then, every year they meet up he's in a relationship ... until finally, well, you know what comes next, of course! For my money, Arielle Kebbel looks prettier than she did in 'Vampire Diaries' and is a gem here.
Corey Sevier plays here love interest and provides a good enough of charisma to ensure some on-screen chemistry; but not enough to overly sell it, sadly. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.
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