Monday, December 7, 2020

Netflix Picks: Christmas on the Square

As part of my commitment to see as many holiday-themed movies as possible, I decided to watch the movie musical from Netflix called Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square. Featuring (and produced by) Dolly Parton herself, this movie has the typical Christmas Scrooge-type character (played with class and perfection by Christine Baranski), one who gets divine intervention from her guardian angels leading to a happy ending for everyone in the movie. 




The movie starts with the people of a small town eager to celebrate the holidays, including the town Pastor and his wife. It is during these celebrations that Regina Fuller arrives to announce that, as owner of the land where the town is built, has decided to sell the property and was giving everyone a notice of eviction for Christmas. Naturally, the town is alarmed and mad at her for her decision and they band together to find a way to stop the eviction. 

Regina, on the other hand, is determined to sell the land because of all the bad memories she has from the town. It was the town where the boy she loved broke her heart, and it was because of their reputation in the town that her father had decided to give up the child she bore out of wedlock. With her father dead, she wanted to give up the town for good, grieving the loss of her father and the child she never got to see grow up.

Thankfully, two angels (played by Dolly Parton and Janine Mason) intervene and show Regina the error of her ways, opening up her heart enough to change her mind about everything. As can be expected, everything ends up working out for everyone just in time for the film’s happy ending. 

From the start of the movie it already gave me the feel of holiday movies from when I was a child. This is the type of movie that is about learning the lesson of love and spreading the spirit of Christmas through music, dancing and singing. I was happy to see familiar faces in the movie like Dolly Parton, Janine Mason, Christine Baranski, and Josh Segarra. It was a little weird watching Segarra singing and playing a good person (a Pastor at that) since I was used to him being the bad guy pretending to be a good guy on a season of Arrow. Every time he smiled it felt a little creepy, but I was won over by his role in the end during that sermon scene.

I have to add that I was happy that the Pastor’s wife is played by a plus-sized woman. I’m so used to everyone looking like models in movies so watching a person in my size makes me believe that the movie is encouraging people that plus-sized people can also be leads in their own stories.

The plot of the show is not that complicated, and the theme is as wholesome as can be. Some people may call it cheesy or corny, but I loved it. I enjoyed it so much that I found myself in tears at the end during the scene when Regina asks God for help for that little girl who got into an accident.  I was crying even more during thar sermon/reveal. My heart was so moved by everything. 

If you want to watch a holiday-themed movie with your kids, Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square is something I’d recommend watching. It has drama, singing, dancing, family-themed stories/plot lines, and just a lot of hope and Christmas spirit. It’s about how we sometimes have to look deeper to understand the intentions of the people who we believe have wronged us and how we should not assume the worst in people. It’s about learning to listen to others, learning to forgive, and believing that God’s angels are working hard to open our hearts to love, which is what Christmas is all about.

Let me know if you have seen this and tell me what you think of it!
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