Review of The Christmas Candle (2013) by Cyndie W — 16 Dec 2013

The Christmas Candle is an uneven Christmas tale with good intentions.I found it a big surprise that a film like this would come to the big screen at all. It looks pretty, the cast is mostly good, (aside from Susan Boyle who has the acting chops of a candlestick). The themes are nice, but the way they are presented didn't flow for me. I felt unfulfilled at the end. Aside from a one or two emotionally developed scenes, this film is rather lackluster in terms of screenplay.

But this is not why I saw it. I saw it for one thing only, and that was Samantha Barks. She doesn't get a lot of screen time, but when she's present she glows. I can't wait to see where she will go.

Celebrity crush aside, The Christmas Candle is a nice family film, that will probably be taken in by local Sunday schools. It wasn't my cup of tea, and I probably will never revisit it, but depending on your personal state of spirituality, you may find something to grasp on to. I watched this with my mom and some of the later scenes made for some water works, but I don't think that had much to do with the movie itself.

Overall, it is probably the least satisfying movie experience I had in the theater all year. Not that the message wasn't a good one, but because both the aesthetics and script were lacking. I can't really recommend this The Christmas Candle. If you want to bring your family to the theaters this week see Frozen instead. If you have already seen it, see it again.