Help for the Holidays

2012 "because elves, after all, deserve happiness, too"
6.6| 1h24m| G| en
Details

Although she loves Christmas, Santa’s elf Christine (Summer Glau) wonders if there could be more to life than making toys in the North Pole. When Santa receives an emergency wish from a little boy in Los Angeles, he puts Christine on a special assignment, sending her to L.A. to give the VanCamp family—mom Sara (Eva La Rue), dad Scott (Dan Gauthier), and their two kids Ally (Izabela Vidovic) and Will (Mason Cook)—a holiday wake-up call. Will Christine fail her assignment and be sent back to the North Pole for good, or will the VanCamps come to their senses about the meaning of Christmas?

Director

Producted By

Larry Levinson Productions

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Reviews

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
HeadlinesExotic Boring
SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Christmas-Reviewer Review Date 3/9/2018 PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. I HAVE OVER 400 REVIEWS OF "CHRISTMAS RELATED FILMS & SPECIALS" WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY " C H R I S T M A S " MOVIES AS I CAN.Now Someone keeps reporting my reviews. I guess they are jealous because I do tell the truth. I want to point out that I never make snide remarks about actors weight or real life sexual orientation. If there acting is terrible or limited "I talk about that". If a story is bad "I will mention that" So why am I being "picked on"? IMDB? When one of my reviews gets deleted IMDB will not even tell me what someone found offensive. Well on to this review.Although she loves Christmas, Santa's elf Christine (Summer Glau) wonders if there could be more to life than making toys in the North Pole. When Santa receives an emergency wish from a little boy in Los Angeles, he puts Christine on a special assignment, sending her to L.A. to give the VanCamp family-mom Sara (Eva La Rue), dad Scott (Dan Gauthier), and their two kids Ally (Izabela Vidovic) and Will (Mason Cook)-a holiday wake-up call. Great family film. Children will enjoy and parents will not bored. The film has a nice pace and decent actors.
hellraiser7 I'll admit I'm normally not a person that watches anything from "Hallmark" mainly because there simply not my movies, however this film is probably the only exception I'll make for them.It's not exactly one of my favorite Christmas films nor a classic in my book, but all the same I like it because it has a fun charm to it as well as surprisingly made me care and feel good, but of course has an actress I really like is in it which makes it even better.I like the story, it's a typical fish out of water story but it's one of those ones done right; it's almost a bit similar to the story in the claymation special "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" since that was about a Christmas character coming into contemporary reality and giving cheer where needed.I really love the character Christine whom of course is played by Summer Glau. I'll admit what drawn me to the film is her since I've seen and a fan of "Firefly" and "Serenity", she is just fraking hot and a capable/underrated actress to boot. I really love her performance in this film, I bought she was an elf. Her character has charisma, has just this infectious charm that could just win anyone even by just a mere smile which on a side note is a great one, she's selfless, energetic and cheerful.Two of the things I really like are how disoriented she is with real world customs, which makes sense since she is an Elf from the North Pole; and it funny how she tries to fit in which of course doesn't entirely work, from the way she behaves and certain things she does the supporting characters know she's a little strange. But just simply the humanity of her character which makes her three dimensional, the fact that she wants more in her life, which is a normal human trait with anyone. And of course she experiences both the ups and even the downs, when things are really down for her, you can't help but feel for her but that all the more makes us want her to win.Supporting characters are solid, Eva La Rue also hot and yeah watched a little of "CSI Miami" her character Sara VanCamp is a mom whom is unfortunately all business, she is plenty successful in her career but shamefully doesn't equal toward her family life. She not a bad person the problem is her head is in the wrong place. She does care about her family but she doesn't spend enough time with them even when she should. And of course that mistake soon catches up with her. Her character also has humanity once this begins, she starts to let Christine in a little realizing she isn't happy and needs some help.Another supporting is Dave Gariel (John Brotherton), I like that he doesn't look like a typical pretty boy, but handsome all the same. He's got a sort of rough charm to him, has some charisma, like that he's likes Chrismas just as much as Christine which is one thing they have in common. I do like the chemistry between both of them, it's not the greatest romance I've ever seen but I take it over any crap fest romance comedy/soap anytime. But both have a solid back and forth, I bought the developing relationship between the two sparks were flying, but I love the fact that he accepts her for what she is, sure Christine seems a bit strange but in a good way let alone she's not boring.The film of course does have good messages about the importance of putting family first and also how everyone does deserve happiness.Overall it's a solid simple Christmas film that's worth a watch.Rating: 3 stars
Stojan Majdic I'm a little late with my review, but still ... To be honest, I watched the movie exclusively because of Summer Glau. Otherwise I'm really not in Christmas movies. So, I started watching the movie with no expectations but to see another good performance of gorgeous Summer Glau. But, who would have thought ... I actually liked a movie! A lot! Not only that Summer's performance was excellent, also other actors delivered very good performances and even the story was good. I actually liked Santa in this one. Sure, you can't expect deep psychological studies, elaborate relationships, social criticism from a Christmas movies. They're here to entertain, to cheer us up and this movie succeeded in each and every aspect. The story's nice, the actors good but what overwhelms the most is really Summer's outstanding performance. It's simply amazing, how she manages to capture the viewer with only a smile and makes even the worse dialogues good (not that there were any bad or stupid dialogues in this movie). I think that she's one of the most underused actresses in this business. It's really funny that she even manages to curb the ratings of the episodes where she has guest appearance. Eva LaRue was also excellent. i know her from CSI:Miami and this was something completely different but she managed it with flying colors. Well done Eva! The other actors were not quite so good (at least for my taste), but still far better than 90% of performances in other movies. Pity that we don't get a sequel this year. It would be nice to see how Christine and Dave managed to fit in into real life or if Vancamps managed to keep the Christmas spirit. Nice movie, meant to entertain and it managed it perfectly.
interfear This is one of the best new Christmas movies I have seen in quite awhile. I think Steve Larkin is the best Santa I have seen since "Miracle on 34th Street"! His laugh is contagious! I felt a more touching side of Santa. The fact that Santa also knew what his Elf wanted helped to bring the whole story up to a more of a loving caring level. Summer Glau (Christine Prancer) is a very cute Elf. I like the whole Elf ear thing, but don't want to include any spoilers here :) Christine Prancer's Elf friend Gabby (played by Jessie Lande) filled the best friend roll well. The story line is well written, and not just a typical Scrooge changing, Christmas, Love Story. The plot brings to light that Christmas is an important family time and that the spirit and enthusiasm for Christmas can be changed by even the smallest of the family members.