I guess I'm not a skeptic as so many of these reviewers seem to be! I loved this movie. Just take it for what it is - a cute, cuddly Christmas movie that makes kids (and adults!) believe in the magic of Santa. Totally harmless. Yes the acting is not "sterling" but I love the story line. I love the part where Santa says "now you see it; now you don't". At first it works. Then it doesn't! DOH! I just found that humorous. The child actors are "precious" but appealing in their portrayals of the kids who must save Christmas.And I must say I'm a sucker for movies with talking animals, even though their mouths aren't even moving. (See "My Dad is Scrooge") I really enjoyed watching this. Good for all of the family.

When the movie begins, fifth-grader Zach sees Santa Claus deliver his presents on the night before Christmas.Outside of Hope, Arizona, Zach and his sister Miley live at their parents' Logan Lazy L Ranch. Everyone is looking forward to Christmas, but there is a grinch. Senator Max Schmucker thinks it is ridiculous to believe in Santa Claus and he has gone so far as to outlaw belief in this symbol of Christmas. At the kids' school, no one is allowed to mention Santa, and a Santa poster is removed from the wall. Miley brings it home.One day the kids see a suspicious light in the barn, and it turns out to be Santa Claus and his nasty elf Elliot. Santa doesn't know how he ended up in the barn. He and Elliot were doing their rounds to find out who was naughty and who was nice, but something went wrong with the portal that transports them from place to place. Furthermore, he can't seem to return and his magic powers are starting to disappear. He figures out that it must be because people have stopped believing in him. And there are rules: he can't just appear to people. Santa accidentally let himself be revealed to the Logan kids but this can't happen with everyone.Santa and Elliot can turn invisible, at least as long as their powers work. Or they can hide. The kids have to work hard to make sure no one finds out their secret. This is made quite challenging when some of the animals get into the reindeer feed, which leads to some entertaining visual effects. Meanwhile, the kids' mother Renae has a doctor's appointment. this is almost never good.The kids scheme to persuade the senator to debate whether Santa Claus exists. Miley makes a video challenging the senator to debate her, and the kids play hooky from school and sneak it into the local TV station. All of a sudden they are celebrities. Now, will the senator accept the challenge? Will any of this do any good? Will the kids be able to stop Santa Claus from disappearing completely?This is a mostly pleasant movie, funny and appropriate for kids with the usual challenges that they must overcome. But it does get really serious at times.The young actors do a great job, for this type of movie. Abraham Benrubi really stands out with his booming voice, sort of Donald Sutherland trying to be Darth Vader. And Mikey Post offers a contrast with his sour attitude.The edgy "Dr. Quinn" bartender becomes a kind and loving father, and Joey Lauren Adams is so sweet as usual. But there are some difficult scenes, because Renae has to explain her situation to the kids, and the kids have to cope with the problem. Trace Adkins has a cameo as an intimidating cop. He's pretty much what you'd expect. I didn't see how this ended so I can't evaluate how everything turned out. I was recording two movies at once and they both got cut off about 30 minutes early, including commercials.In both cases, a magical fantasy figure who entertains children was in danger of going away, and a child held the key to making things better.But you have to believe everything turned out all right. This was rated TV-G when I saw it, so surely some miracle occurred before the end.From what I saw, this was a nice Christmas movie to entertain the entire family.

I don't like to slam movies in such a harsh way, but the reasoning is clear enough.Let's start with the fact that they are trying to put Santa is the place of God, in many different areas. Not cool. Next to all of that hogwash is the horrible acting. They have even used popular actors, but next to them is poor performances. The acting could have been straightened up, but it was pretty bad. It really reminds me of One Magic Christmas. Someone could die and no one acts like it matters.If you like watching Christmas movies, you may want to skip this on your list. However, I am willing enough to say that it's at least worth watching to judge for yourself.

It's a low budget movie. You can see that based on the few locations and sets. Also, it's a very childish movie for adults. There's no deep message on it. It's just for children's entertainment. And there's no much of comedy on it either. I love Christmas movies but I almost gave up on this one. But it's not that bad. But as I bought it, I wanted to see it. Surprisingly, the acting is not bad at all. Kevin Pollack is the usual bad guy here. And there's no much of "country" on it although it was produced by Kix Brooks of "Brooks and Dunn" and Tracey Atkins made a very small appearance on it. It will go directly to my local community library.