The Christmas Train (2017) Reviews

• An Enjoyable Ride!

  me-471692017-11-26

  I just finished watching the premier of Hallmark Hall of Fame​'s "The Christmas Train". It was a sweet story, with a well crafted script. The main 4 leads were perfectly cast. Joan Cusack, while always a little bit corky, had me smiling throughout the whole film. The back and forth between the films love interests (Kimberly and Dermot) was quite charming. It was fun to watch how Danny Glover brought out the best in his co-stars. While the parallel side mystery, kept me engaged. The only real issue I had, was that this film had a tendency to cut short quite a few scenes. Which also gave way to a few pacing issues. There were a couple times I found myself wondering, "did I miss something?" and "how did we get here?" Yet, even with these flaws, I still found "The Christmas Train" to be an enjoyable ride!

• Problem was I read the book....

  eapepin-011292017-11-25

  Having watched many Hallmark Christmas movies and reviewed a few of them, I realized my mistake with this one was that I read the book first. Well, listened, to be accurate. I use Audible and I listened to this book over the course of a two day drive. Hallmark is good, but trying to edit a David Baldacci book into a 2 hour movie and still keep the plot and the characters true is impossible. If you've ever read Baldacci, you know his plot lines are very, very detailed, convoluted and constantly shifting. So are his characters. You can read for two hours and be on the same character. By the time the book is over, you feel an intimate connection with all of them... even the truly nasty ones. None of that works in the movie. Had I not listened to the book, the movie would have been adequate. Not the most entertaining they've ever produced, but adequate. The fact is I did, and you can't go back and un-know what the movie left out. You can't realize how badly the plot line has been chopped and characters replaced and some not appearing at all. Casting wasn't bad, although Danny Glover didn't seem the right fit for the director. Conspicuous by his absence was a pretty main character, that of Danny Glover's assistant, who, by the way, end up with Lelia at the end. He is completely written out of the movie. Scenes that are glossed over or last no more than fleeting minutes take up hours in the book's plot Line. I found myself shaking my head wondering what parallel universe I had just been shot into. The snowshoe scene in the movie lasts 2 minutes and plays like an afternoon tea party with the most dangerous event being snowflakes landing on his nose. In the book, it spans into 30 pages of an overnight adventure that almost costs Tom and Elanor their lives. Everything item, character, and event is compressed, and granted, had you not read the book, you probably might not realize that fact. What you might notice is how the threads don't weave into a story that has any continuity. The long threads were shortened, cut and tied to the ends of other threads that were similarly cut. Character development, one of Baldacci's strong suits, is completely eliminated. You find yourself not connecting with any of them. Agnes, Roxanne and Regina make up 30% of the plot line. Their characters are so fully developed, you feel every emotion she possesses. In the movie they are almost an afterthought. In fact, I don't remember Regina having any dialogue at all. If you read the book you would have realized Berta, from Two and a half Men, would have been the perfect Agnes. Joan Cusack didn't come close to capturing her. I'm usually a pretty big cheerleader for Hallmark Christmas movies, but this one just didn't make the cut. I tried watching as if I had not read the book, but even in that mindset, there were too many holes and too few interesting characters. Actors too wooden; dialogue too basic and too many Christmas songs that just had no bearing on the movie or the plot. Sorry Hallmark. The commercials you ran during the movie were produced better.

• Hall of Fame???

  Jackbv1232017-11-29

  This was billed continuously leading up to the premiere as a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. It wasn't Hall of Fame worthy for me. Take how deeply I felt about it. I have watched literally dozens of Christmas movies this season and in a good percentage, still dozens of movies, I had tears in my eyes ranging from in one movie tears start to finish to other movies at least a couple times, and everywhere in between. For this movie, I had no tears, at all. Neither joy nor sadness. Take enjoyment. I sat through virtually the entire movie waiting to enjoy it. I think a big part of my problem was I couldn't get invested in the romantic leads. Is that because of their respective ages? I think it was more than that. Now I was attracted to Kimberly Williams-Paisley and her character, but not enough to make the whole movie fun for me. Take production and sets. There were lots of shots of model toy trains in the snow. One scene with everyone staring out the window at the leads had a totally cheesy appearance. All the outdoor sets were bad and the snow was fake. Take acting. OK here at least are a couple pluses. Danny Glover and Joan Cusack both did their parts very well. I already mentioned Williams-Paisley, but overall her acting was just OK. Dermot Mulroney lacked spark. Take story. This is the biggest plus. For being a story on a train, there was a surprising amount going on. And the ending was truly interesting!!! On the other hand, the climax wasn't that great and the rest after that was not all that inspiring. Yes, it was the usual Hallmark kind of ending, but not with as much impact as I'd expect. Was this movie watchable. Yes, I think so. I was just expecting so much more due to the buildup. The true measure is will I watch it again. I don't think so.

• Best 2017 Hallmark Movie, IMO

  bkornegayh2017-12-22

  This movie had an unusual storyline and an unpredictable ending. I didn't put the clues together and was surprised about how it all came together. Totally worth watching.

• Best of 2017.

  charlotteflick2018-07-10

  I have enjoyed this each time I watched it. Better than some Emmy winners!