User Reviews

PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY " C H R I S T M A S " MOVIES AS I CAN.

Now Someone keeps reporting my reviews. I guess they are jealous because I do tell the truth. I want to point out that I never make snide remarks about actors weight or real life sexual orientation. If there acting is terrible or limited "I talk about that". If a story is bad "I will mention that" So why am I being "picked on"? IMDB? When one of my reviews gets deleted IMDB will not even tell me what someone found offensive. Well on to this review This is the 3rd Time I am posting this review

In this film Olivia Mead has one wish: that her single mom (Teri Polo) would find someone that she can call dad. She and her classmates soon discover that the answer to all their wishes lies inside a mysterious abandoned house.

This film is full of good cheer and believable performances. The late Della Reese gives a stan out performance.

What was nice about this film was is was about "respecting others" and "learning when to help when you can help".

This film does take place at Christmas but its one of those films that is perfect to watch any time of the year. It is very enjoyable and one of those films that makes you feel good about life.

Now that is a film worth seeing in my book!

The girl Olivia Mead (Izabela Vidovic) is raised by her mother Melinda Davis (Teri Polo) alone. Her best friend is the boy Lucas (Tyler Humphrey), who is the son of Daphney (Tamera Mowry-Housley) and Jeb Conroy (Jaiden Kaine) that work with Melinda in a bakery of their own. Near Christmas, Olivia's class has to present each Christmas wish and Olivia and Lucas believe that the abandoned house next door to Melinda's house grants the wishes provided they throw a rock at it. Soon the owner Dr. Nathan Davis (Kevin Sorbo) wants to stop the children from throwing rocks at his house and the snoopy Olivia discovers that he is the landlord of an old lady that lives in the house. Her further investigation shows that the neighbor is Elsie Waybright (Della Reese), a successful jazz singer that interrupted her career and vanished. When a couple of Olivia's schoolmates fulfill their Christmas wishes, the girl believes that Elsie is an angel and she wishes a husband for her lonely mother. Meanwhile Dr. Davis gets close to Melinda, but Olivia prefers her substitute school teacher for her mother while she gets close to Elsie. What will happen until Christmas Eve?

"Christmas Angel" is a beautiful and heartwarming TV movie, with a pleasant history of family, love, faith, sympathy and other values that are at least neglected or forgotten in the present days. The lack of chemistry between the gorgeous Teri Polo and Kevin Sorbo is impressive. The girl Izabela Vidovic steals the show with her performance. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Anjo Mora ao Lado" ("The Angel Lives on the Next Door")

In Louisiana, Melinda (Teri Polo) is a single mother with a VERY precocious daughter, Olivia (Izabela Visovic). At school, Olivia's teacher assigns her students to present an oral report on "my most impossible Christmas wish". Some kids want a million bucks, others a new automobile for the family. For Olivia, it is a romance for her mother, even though the little gal knows her mother likes her single life and beloved LSU football. Meanwhile, someone moves in next door to Melinda, in an old Victorian house, but no one knows who. Also, two possible suitors come to town as well, a new doctor, Nathan (Kevin Sorbo), who often stops for a visit at the mysterious mansion, and a new gym teacher. This is fodder for Olivia, who tries to arrange meetings with the bachelors for her mother and find out what the heck is going on with the neighbors! All too soon, the young girl discovers that an ailing singer (Della Reese) is the woman next door and that Nathan is her physician. The singer also seems "in" on the pursuit of granting impossible Xmas wishes, too, when some of Olivia's classmates requests show up in her mailbox. Could this be an angel in the disguise of former singing sensation? Also, romance doesn't seem to be in the air for Nathan and Melinda after all, when Nathan proves to be the sort that stands folks up. In this sweet little town near the bayou, what else is brewing for the holidays? Here is another wonderful made-for-television film with a sweet and relevant story. The cast is terrific, especially little Visovic, while the setting, costumes, and fine direction offer up a entertaining treat for Christmas time. True fans of family films with romance in the offing will want it year round, too.

Christmas movies, while not strictly a genre of their own, have certainly become a distinct subset of films. Since the late 20th century, Hallmark and more than one other television channel have run movies set around Christmas for the holidays. And, Hollywood produces an occasional Christmas time film. They can cover the full range of genres - comedy, drama, musical, mystery, tragedy, war and Western. The most prolific are the romantic dramas that often include some light comedy.

The latter are so formulaic that one after another of such films seems a repeat or copy with just slight changes from the previous one. Many of these can seem like daytime soap operas, and after a while the films of this type become mundane and hardly interesting. The challenge for these films, to hold interest of viewers is to provide something new and different enough - still keeping their romance theme.

This TV movie for 2012, "Christmas Angel," fits that bill. There is enough difference in it, that it's almost too complicated a story to tell well in just under 90 minutes. A single mom and a daughter live next door to an old abandoned house with boarded windows. Melinda works as an events coordinator for a bakery, bistro and catering shop owned by her friends, Jeb and Daphney Conroy. The setting is in Louisiana. Daughter Olivia's best friend is the son of the Conroy's, Lucas. One day, he throws a stone at the old house and makes a wish as some sort of superstition that I never heard of.

Soon, Olivia sees blue light shining through a window of the old house at night. She is curious and goes snooping. An old lady lives there - Elsie Waybright, a one-time famous singer, Olivia discovers, who chooses to live in seclusion. Olivia also bumps into Dr. Nathan Davis leaving the house one day. She and her mom learn that he owns the house and had lived there at one time. As they all gradually get to know one another over time, and Olivia and Elsie hatch a sort of Christmas angel plan to answer wishes that people drop by in a box they put at the front gate, the mystery of who this woman is, who Dr. Nathan is, who Olivia's teacher is, and the unusual relationship of all of those people, unravels. And that is the key to this film keeping one's interest up. The romance between Melinda and Nathan is a foregone conclusion and is a small part of the story.

There are some plot holes in this film - there's no accounting for Olivia's father at all. Did he die? There's no mention if Melinda was a widow or divorcee. Or, was Olivia born out of wedlock? In time, one learns that Nathan is divorced and that his wife left him several years earlier because he couldn't have children. He wanted to adopt but she wanted to have her own children, so she left him and was now married and had three children.

There are more surprises about Elsie and a heart-rending moment for her toward the end. Izabela Vidovic is very good as the young Olivia - about 11 or 12 years old. Her persona with her quickness, smarts and frankness reminds one of that young girl, Addie Miles, in what has become a Christmas classic, "The House Without a Christmas Tree" of 1972.

At times, the acting with the two children, Olivia and Lucas, seems a bit forced and overly done. So, it doesn't come across quite real for kids. Maybe the producers were trying to impress on viewers that this was really a Christmas movie about kids.

Well, the story is different and interesting enough, and the cast and acting for the most part are good enough. So, this turns out to be a notch above the average film of this type.

Christmas Angel is one of my favorite modern Christmas movies, one I look forward to watching with my family every year. It's charming, heartwarming, and uses one of the main characteristics of Christmas as the plot: giving.

In the story, a little girl and her friend, Izabela Vidovic and Tyler Humphrey, believe an old, abandoned house in their neighborhood has the power to grant wishes. Before long, everyone in school is shouting their wishes outside the house, hoping they'll be granted by the Christmas Angel. In the meantime, Izabela's mom, Teri Polo, meets the owner of the house, Kevin Sorbo, and sparks fly.

In addition to Andrea Gyertson Nasfell's heartwarming script, the wonderful acting makes Christmas Angel soar high above the other slightly corny Christmas movies. It isn't just another flick you'll see on the Hallmark channel-or in this case, a slightly more religious channel-but instead a movie that will remind you of the importance of family and of the old adage that giving is better than receiving. Della Reese, the title character, is extremely likable and will inspire a lump in your throat on more than one occasion. Teri Polo is also very likable, and her delivery of her lines is so incredibly natural, it'll make you think she truly is her character rather than an actress. You can imagine other actresses in her part, and they would have made the character and script cheesy and bland. She adds so much to the film.

As does little Izabela, who, at only eleven years old, has a tremendous presence. I hope the charming, adorable child enjoys an upward surge to her career; she's someone to keep your eye on as the years roll by. She has a great and natural chemistry with all her adult costars, but I don't know if credit is due to her or to the director, Brian Herzingler. Usually, when everyone in the cast gives good performances, I tend to credit the director, who must have helped foster their talent and chemistry. Everyone in Christmas Angel plays very well off each other, from Teri and Kevin's awkwardness to Izabela and Tyler's camaraderie.

Give Christmas Angel a try this holiday season, and unless you have a strong aversion to films with religious overtones, you'll probably really like it. It's so very sweet!

The year is 2015, its X-Mas, and your humble reviewer has been slogging through one horrific made-in-Canada "holiday movie" after another because (explained in my other reviews) the lower-cost Loonie, and the taxpayer-subsidized Canadian film industry, have more or less taken over the entire "holiday" genre. Most films in this class now unabashedly feature terrible scripts, minimal budgets, and the same familiar set of Canadian faces (the so-called "character actors", all five of them) in each production.

Against this backdrop I was positively in heaven to stumble on Christmas Angel. A solid script. Great acting, especially the little scene-stealer Izabela Vidovic. Even Kevin Sorbo gives what might be the best performance of his one-note career. And to see Della Reese in front of the camera again is always a pleasure.

Good direction, engaging, nice twists, keeps you interested until the end.

Would recommend.

I watched this on UP Channel last nice. The story is about a little girl named Olivia played by Izabela Vidovic who wants to help people that need help. She was raised by a single parent.

She does not know what to do and she meets a older female neighbor who she befriends. The neighbor Elsie Waybright is played by Della Reese. Elsie has a basket to put in written requesting asking for God's help for these request. They are prayer request and Olivia puts her request in Elsie's basket. They talk about God and his love.

Many of these request are answered so Olivia thinks Elsie is an angel.

Elsie is sick but relies on God and trust Olivia. Together they have a bond. During the movie this bond is tested.

The movies teaches, love of God, sympathy for others and ways to show love. It is heart warming and can bring tears to your eyes. This is a truly beautiful and loving movie. The acting is so sincere and genuine. The little girl that plays Olivia portrays her character beautifully. See it if you can.

My mother and I watched Christmas Angel for an hour. The story was magical and heartwarming. The acting was excellent and the characters delightful.

The only problem we had was the constant loud music throughout the movie, so that you could not hear each word clearly. The music drowned out the voices, especially when there were tender moments when the actors spoke softly. We turned the movie off after an hour and gave it a poor review, since we could not hear it all, understand the movie nor finish it. There should be no music while there is general speaking. Music should only be used during an action or climatic scene. This music never stopped and it never stopped being loud ruining what could have been a good movie.

What a pleasant surprise amidst the onset of Christmas TV movies which appear this time of year without much substance or that are just plain silly. A gem of a story, well acted and filled with truthful moments about the true meaning of Christmas. Great entertainment for the whole family. Kevin Sorbo as well as Teri Polo, Della Reese and young Izabela Vidovic gave wonderful performances. I foresee a bright future for young Miss Vidovic. Hats off to writer Andrea Gyertson Nasfell for a heartwarming script. Two scene standout moments for me occurred first, with Ms. Reese's character, Elsie Waybright and Izabela Vidovic's character, Olivia Meade, as Elsie's character opens up to her young, new and very inquisitive friend Olivia about her daughter. The second scene was when Kevin Sorbo's character shares his story with young Olivia in the church. The thoughtful writing of both scenes and honest performances moved me very much. Well done and thank you as a viewer.

Most of the time Christmas movies tend to he a little silly...albeit I still enjoy watching them. This movie was not silly at all! It even got me to tear up a little. I really enjoyed Della Reese's character but I thought all the acting was pretty good compared to most of the "made for TV" productions out there. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good family movie with good values...which is not something I often say because I don't enjoy most of the attempts at it and belonging in the younger generation not something I'm usually looking for. A solid 10 for me and towards the top of any movie I've seen in a while, Christmas or not.

This is not a story about an angel from heaven, or an actual Santa who makes wishes come true through miracles. It is more of a secret Santa trope. But even that doesn't cover it all. There is also a very precocious yet extremely lovable elementary school girl who refuses to stand by and let others suffer if there is anything she can do about it.

For a while it appears this young girl, played fantastically by an 11 year old Izabela Vidovic, has all the maturity and gumption of someone much older, but Olivia soon overstretches badly.

Della Reese at 81 puts in a credible performance as the woman who jeopardizes her privacy to fulfill "impossible" wishes.

I respect Teri Pollo more and more for her gentle, caring characters especially after watching both this and The Christmas Shepherd. Kevin Sorbo also does well as the man who takes interest in Teri's Melinda.

I almost hate to bring this up because of the antagonism it may generate, but this is a movie that talks about God, with characters, especially Elsie, who know that some of life's problems must ultimately be dealt with by God, whether we like the answers or not. Still, I would not consider the movie to be heavy on the preaching.

There is one incident that I could do without, especially in the era of #MeToo. I am not in favor of censorship or banning, but I do wish that movie makers would avoid behavior that falls into the category of things that #MeToo is trying to prevent.

Happened upon this on UP channel. I am a Teri Polo fan so decided to watch. Enjoyed it very much. Highly recommended! Olivia is adorably obnoxious. Very persistent. Della Reese does another fine job of playing a reclusive benefactor to those in need. I'm a huge Hallmark Channel fan and watch most everything they produce. However, so many of their shows have redundant plots. This movie has a real story and can be emotional at times.

Prepare to have your heart lifted and to believe in the magic of Christmas... Or just faith in Good people and God.

After getting into a fight with Joey the class bully on the playground to defend her best friend, Lucas, Olivia is sent to detention. This was where she got a lesson on how to behave at school from her substitute teacher, Mr. Brennan. Learning how to protect a friend from school who is getting bullied by using words or telling a teacher or a principal and letting them handle the situation is the lesson she learned and using your fists or hurting others is not acceptable and what I have to say about the part where Olivia went to detention for tackling Joey and beating him up on the playground when it wasn't her fault because he was picking on Lucas is that you should never put your hands on another student. I understand Olivia was just trying to protect Lucas from Joey but the best way to stick up for a friend from school who is getting bullied is to use your words instead of violence. You should never physically hurt anyone to protect your friend from school that they're bullying. If you see a friend of yours from school getting bullied, use your words to stand up for your friend from school who is getting bullied and if words don't work, then get a teacher or a school leader involved and never use violence towards anyone to stand up for your friend from school that they're bullying. You have to stand up for your friend from school who is getting bullied by using words instead of starting a fight. Fighting is never the answer.