Review of Angela's Christmas

"Angela's Christmas" is an animated half-hour movie from 2017 and I think if I remember correctly I already intended to watch this one last year briefly after its release, but it was pretty difficult to find in my country. Anyway, one year later it is much easier and I got a hand on the German dub here. So I did not hear the voice of Ruth Negga and I am surprised how many people already forgot she is a very recent Oscar nominee. Also in it is Brian Gleeson, yep one of Brendan's sons indeed, but honestly these days it seems almost impossible to find an Irish film that does not include a member of the Gleeson family. So yep if you have seen some Irish animation from recently, allso Oscar-nominated films even, you know it's doing pretty well. However, this one we got here does not look as mythical as some of these Irish animated films, but really looks pretty American. This is not to be understood as a criticism. I really liked the looks. The sceneries and landscapes were very nice to watch and the characters were only slightly inferior. As for the story, it is fine overall. It is all about a little girl stealing a little doll of the Holy Child because she wants it to be warm. There is some slight unintentional comedy to this plot and the film as a whole, also the idea of some people thinking they met an angel inside the church etc. Slightly too much maybe. But it is made up by other good inclusions, for example the arguing brother-sister relationship felt very real. And there is a feeling of warmth to the film as a whole that makes it a really good watch during the holidays. People are good in here. Mostly. They care for each other. They also did not stretch the story that she took the doll longer than necessary. She did not try to hide it from her mother, but they found a nice plan how to return it and doing so, they picked the most honest way. But the best moment by far about this movie is the police officer scene at the very end and his comment about how (Holy) children need to be with their families during the holidays. That was really touching in my opinion and it was very well worth waiting through some mediocre scenes before that to feel that moment. Sadly the arrested father plot felt a bit rushed and was not as effective and I also felt it did not add too much story-wise that the entire thing was narrated by the title character's son. But yeah, this is based on a children's book I think, so no blame there. Not every inclusion can be a huge winner. In any case I think this is a good watch for the entire family between very young and very old. Looks-wie and plot-wise a success and I loved the harmlessness and innocence of it all. go check it out if you can.