Northpole aired on the Hallmark channel as part of their Christmas in July programming.Cute movie starring Lori Loughlin, Bailee Madison, & Dermot Mulroney. The movie is actually a sequel, but it is not necessary to have seen the first installment.Mackenzie (Loughlin) inherits her Aunt's inn in Vermont and ponders selling it and getting back to her high powered lifestyle in the city as soon as possible.What follows is Mackenzie's journey to rediscover her Christmas spirit and what truly is important to her heart.

Watching these 2 fifty-somethings sleepwalk through the twilight of their career gives this movie a special place in the film school case studies of corporate, group think, cookie cutter productions. How do you fill 90 minutes with dialog without really saying anything? "Northpole: Open for Christmas" is your answer. My XMas advice? Get to bed early...

Story was great, plot heartening, and spirit-uplifting. No doubt a 10/10 score.Though one thing about Clementine... From Northpole to the sequel - does she make a habit of bringing her mission- related outsiders to the city in the North? Master Bailee Madison did fantastic work portraying the optimistic, cheerful elven operative, but sometimes her smile and frequent excitements... that was a little bit much, along with a lot of cold puns(reminded me a bit of Master Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze). Wonder if there's a second sequel, will there be someone stoic, stern and serious intercepts her mid-air and asks her, "Okay, Clem. This is, like, the 20th outsider you've brought inside our perimeter over these years. Do you really enjoy making a habit out of it?" Think someone should bar her access back to Northpole homebase while Clementine's on assignment; think if anything can up the difficulty and challenge of her assignments, this can.Do these protagonists REALLY need to see the Northpole city to believe in Christmas, to meet Santa in person to believe in Santa, to actually witness something magical to believe in the Spirit? What happened to taking leaps of faith and believing things based on absolutely nothing but blind faiths? I'm from one of those countries that DOESN'T celebrate Christmas like the rest of the world do, and even I miss those days! The mere term, "Christmas Spirit", sounds sacred, and the first time I hear it, it gave me a strong feeling that this is nothing to be seen, but to be believed in. It's like taking leaps of faith, believing in something that I might never witness just because I believe it, with no evidence to prove it true. In my mind, these Christmas magic are things of unconventionally high purity and divinity that it does not belong in the presence of the mortals or in front of mortal eyes. If everything has to be seen to believe then there's gonna be a lot of stuff gone.Christmas was never an item materialized. It never was, is, and it never will be. I hope the future Santas in the Christmas movies - they display their magic at 65% runtime(basically when the male and female protagonists falling out) to show disappointment, and not in the finale to show their magic to make the grumpy characters to finally believe - if they are doubters and don't believe they don't deserve to witness the sacred magic.A line I've been working out: 'He looked back. In his eyes there's no benevolence, love, joy or warmth, but only cold disappointment. "You are a good kid. Shame you couldn't take the leap of faith. Goodbye." Then he turned on his sleigh, galloped his reindeers and flew away, without even a backward glance.'

Although it seems to me that Christmas in America has turned into Black Friday for adults, every year I look for a Christmas movie(s) with adorable kids, lots of silly magic, and a simple plot. Unfortunately, most Christmas movies are adult romances with not a child in sight. Because Bailee Madison (Bridges to Terebitha, Cowboys and Angels) and Ava Telek (Flowers in the Attic) are listed as main characters I acquired this and was happily surprised. Bailee is one of the few child actors who has become even more adorable as a teenager and together with Ava, they light up the screen with their smiles. Even now, days later, I giggle thinking about them. They remind me nostalgically of my girls when they were small and Christmas happy.OK, the plot is a remake of a hundred other kid and matchmaker and Santa Claus movies. Thats fine with me, I like the variations of this often repeated story and, year after year, try to find the movie that does it best. This may not be the very best of all time (Miracle on 34th Street and The Grinch Before Christmas might be), but I clapped at the end. I also might note that the opening credits montage is worth the price of admission. Also, I hope Bailee continues to do family movies and doesn't get sidetracked into depressing teenage sex and drugs chic flicks.