MOVIE REVIEWS

Review by r96sk

A pretty good take on the classic Scrooge festive storyline. <em>'Ghosts of Christmas Always'</em> features a cast that is, I'd say, a step up from the usual standard that Hallmark normally produce. Kim Matula and Ian Harding are good, I like how the latter's character is aware of the clichés and reimaginings of Scrooge from real life. Matula is joined as one of the ghosts by Reginald VelJohnson and Lori Tan Chinn, which is strong casting. I would've liked to have see more of them in truth, though both are still positive additions - particularly Chinn. Christopher Innvar is solid in his role too, even with the major Jonathan Hyde/Sam Parrish vibe his character had going on. They do well in connecting all the dots in the story, I especially enjoyed the stuff with Matula's Katherine (Marley... nicely done) and Liana Hunt's Betsey, which is rather sweet. The last chunk of the film is real nice, in fact. The music is also relatively neat, there's a bit of it that reoccurs and it kept reminding me of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pd1dctTmIU" rel="nofollow">main theme</a> in 2004's <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/the-polar-express/" rel="nofollow">The Polar Express</a>'</em>; which I adore, so every time I heard those similar notes here it did give me Xmas vibes. All in all, a more than watchable flick; one I'd happily revisit.