Christmas Angel (2011) (aka: My Angel) Joseph Phillips, Janet Dibley, Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall, Mel Smith, Celia Imrie, Isaac Stanmore, Jassa Ahluwalia Movie Review

Christmas Angel (2011)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Timothy Spall in Christmas Angel (2011) (aka: My Angel)

I Believe in Angels

Eddie (Joseph Phillips) is like most teenagers, he can be a little stroppy but deep down he loves his mum. And so when his mum is left in a critical condition, having been hit by a car, it leaves Eddie and his brother, Stewart (Angus Harrison), shocked and fearing they could end up orphans at Christmas if their mum dies. But then Eddie is visited by his mum in his dream who wants him to find a halo which means finding an angel. When he tells his brother he thinks it is ridiculous as do others, such as Mr. Lambert (Timothy Spall - From Time to Time), the R.E. teacher. But Eddie's dedication and conviction in finding a halo begins to have an effect on others.

Okay, on paper "Christmas Angel", which is also known as "My Angel", sounds like it could be a good movie. To start with what a cast with Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall, Mel Smith, Celia Imrie and Janet Dibley, who you might recognize from appearing in "Doctors". Then there is the storyline which sees a young boy in need of a Christmas miracle in order to save his mum who is in a critical condition in hospital. And there are subplots surrounding the various characters such as the R.E. teacher and the headmistress.

But that is on paper and sadly in real life "Christmas Angel" ends up one of the most dreary Christmas movies I have watched in recent years. On one hand what we get a lot of is Eddie travelling around and then on the other we get actors such as Brenda Blethyn and Timothy Spall playing to type, doing the same things they have done in other movies as if their characters here hadn't been written. And that leads me to think that maybe behind "Christmas Angel" was this story which on paper was good but when they tried to turn it into a movie it lost what ever it was which made it special and then it had to be padded out to stretch it towards the 90 minute mark because that is how it comes across.

What this all boils down to is that "Christmas Angel" was neither the magical or moving Christmas movie I had hoped it to be and in truth considering the supporting cast it was a bit of a disappointment.

Tags: Christmas Movies


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