A Magical Christmas Village Review

In this A Magical Christmas Village review I'll give you a look at the Hallmark channel's latest countdown to Christmas movie. Is there magic in the cast and story, or is this one to skip? Read on and I'll give you the inside scoop on how this one stacks up to the rest of the Christmas movies this season.

A Magical Christmas Village Story

Marlo Thomas plays Vivian, the mother to Summer (Alison Sweeney). When Vivan finds herself without a place to live for the holidays, she moves in with Summer and her daughter Chloe. Vivian brings her Christmas village decoration with her and her granddaughter Chloe is infatuated with the village. Not just because of the pretty decorations, but because Vivian tells her the story about how there is magic to the village.

Every night Chloe spends time with the Christmas village and adds figurines to different locations in the village. She secretly makes a wish and hopes that the magic of the village is real.

Summer is an architect overseeing the City's building that will be used for the holiday festivities. It's there that she meets Ryan (Luke Macfarlane) who is in charge of the toy drive this year. He shares her love of architecture and it's this common interest that gets them chatting and eventually leads to a date. After their date they keep bumping into each other around town. And coincidentally, a lot of these situations tie back to where Chloe setup the Christmas village the night before.

Could there really be magic in the Christmas village after all? Chloe wishes for the best Christmas ever, but will it really come true? Tension between Summer and her mother goes all the way back to childhood when Summer had to take care of her mother's finances after her Dad died. She has always had to be the adult and take care of things. So there is resentment from Summer and it's hard for her to accept her mother's hippy-dippy ways.

A Magical Christmas Village Cast

The best part of this movie is Marlo Thomas. What a treat to see her on TV and she is a real spit-fire as Vivian. The type of person who drinks green smoothies for breakfasts, tells strangers in the grocery story not to buy processed foods, and is using feng shui to help her find the perfect home. Her untraditional methods are completely contrary to her more uptight daughter Summer.

Alison Sweeney is always a treat to see in a Hallmark movie, but I didn't find that this was the best pairing for her. While Luke Macfarlane and she were OK together, I just never felt true romance or sparks between them. I think that Maesa Nicholson as Chloe was a real treat too. She did a wonderful job and her enthusiasm for the magic of the Christmas village was infectious and made the story more appealing.

My Review of A Magical Christmas Village

This is another Hallmark Christmas movie that falls in the middle of the pack, at least at the moment. Since it first aired on November 4th it's only the 9th movie in Hallmark's countdown to Christmas. I think the story was cute and I enjoyed seeing Marlo Thomas on screen again, but other than that the movie was just meh. There's no real spark between the characters, no memorial moments, and nothing that makes me want to jump back and watch it again. I really like Alison Sweeney, but I'd much rather watch one of her other movies. Or, her Murder, She Baked series.

Recap of A Magical Christmas Village Review

I still don't know where my A Magical Christmas Village review will place the movie on my final ranking of the best 2022 Hallmark Christmas movies. But, for right now it's in the middle of the pack. It's not terrible so you may enjoy it, but if you're short on time I'd stick with Jolly Good Christmas as a must watch for this season.