Natal com Dolly Parton

I love Dolly. I don't particularly like Christmas movies in general. To be honest, this wasn't my favorite movie - it was too sugar coated and boring to watch for the most part. The songs are also kind of forgettable, after watching the movie, I can't actually remember even one of the melodies. And there was a LOT of this very mediocre music to fill the space. However, when the movie was approaching the end, the plot took some very touching and heartfelt turns, which actually made me cry. So if you decide to give this film a shot, just be sure to watch it until the very end, however clumsy the beginning might feel. It really surprised me positively towards the end, even up to tears, which was the last thing I expected to happen, based on the most part of the movie. PS. I love you Dolly, just keep being you.

If you ask anyone why they wanted to watch this movie, you'll probably be told it was because of Dolly Parton; after all, that's also why I turned it on.

The opening musical scene is generally where most viewers start to have regret for tuning in. I too was a bit overwhelmed with this bright, overly jolly, and way to long of an opening musical number (of that caliber) to start a down-home, feel good Christmas story. Unlike most reviewers here, I stayed tuned-in to see where this was going to go from here. I just wasn't about to give up on Dolly Parton yet.

This movie does have its ups and downs, but I started to realize that this is definitely 'I'm always happy and grateful' Dolly style and quickly dropped my preconceived idea of what this movie was going to be.

From the 30-minute mark going forward I started enjoying the story more and more, but I found myself looking at my phone during many of the following musical numbers, only to find myself watching again when the story returned. Not every musical journey was bad, and they did tie into the story itself, but in Dolly fashion they were very exuberant and busy on the screen.

Christine Baranski was a joy to watch in this film, and I believe they could have made this movie great without the musical numbers and a bit more of the storyline. With Dolly steering the musical direction of the film, she could have had a few beautiful and soon-to-be Holiday classics or even had a great duet with Christine. However, this movie was intended to be an off-Broadway style film with a simple storyline and lots of over-the-top numbers, and they certainly achieved their goal.

It's clear to me Ms. Parton and the entire cast wanted to cheer us all up through the musical numbers and have fun too. After all it's 2020 and why not watch a Holiday musical comedy with a few laughs and snarky quips sprinkled through the movie while adding a touching conclusion and good performance by Christine Baranski.

This movie is perfectly lovely. It is sweet and more grounded than your typical holiday movie. It has lots of cute moments too.

It does have the same trappings but it has more going on than them sort of movies. It runs rings around Hallmark movies as it is so inclusive and diverse. I will say it was a little bit too pious for me but that is just me and i guess some holiday movies are like that, it is about Christmas at the end of the day i guess.

I didn't love the dancing if i am honest too. It seemed a bit manic at time. It was hard to keep track of and it felt like there were just too much people all trying to dance together.

Christine Baranski is fantastic, i would watch her in anything. She is so great i was in fact kind of here for her being this no nonsense business lady just doing what ever she wanted. I don't think the movie wanted me to feel like that but she is just so good.

The acting starts to plummet from there though apart from Jeniffer Lewis and Dolly. I really didn't enjoy the pastor or any of the towns people to be fair. At times when watching just the towns folk i felt like it bordered on your local church group putting on a Christmas show. I even skipped some of their songs because it was pretty bad.

I think you could probably watch it if ou like this type of movie, like i said it does have something over Hallmark movies and it has Christine Baranski and Jennifer Lewis that is all you really need.

I love musicals and I love Dolly but wow this movie contains nonstop music. It was a little hard to get my head around it. I probably won't watch it again and I do watch movies I like over and over again.

I find musicals difficult to review as I always find myself trying to disentangle the singing from the acting, which, of course, does not work. Overall, it is a fun movie, especially if you like musicals. It is not a very original story, of course, as the "Scrooge" plot has been done many times. The twist here is it is done in a musical. Regarding the story, I did find the plot around building a mall a bit funny, given that they have been closing across the country. Anyway, the choreography (in the song and dance scenes) is fun and engaging. Indeed, the strongest scenes, I felt, were those when the full cast participated (e.g., the opening scene, the church scenes, the closing scene). The individual performances, I thought were mixed. The lead, Christine Baranski (as Regina) and Treat Williams (as Carl), both had good performances, even though they are not what I would call naturally good singers. Josh Segarra, playing the pastor, could really sing, but his acting was rather weak. I was unimpressed with Jeanine Mason's (as Felicity, the other angel) performance overall. The producers could have cast a stronger actor for this role, a pity really. Jenifer Lewis (as Margeline) and Matthew Johnson (Mack) were excellent, great voices/singing. And there was a cute performance by Selah Kimbro Jones as Violet; I really enjoyed her scene with Regina. Overall, a fun movie. However, if you are not a fan of musicals, you should probably sit this one out.