Believe the miracle, indeed.
David Richmond (Hans Matheson) has been assigned to become a minister for the tiny England town of Gladbury, famous for its' yearly tradition of The Christmas Candle. According to recent stories, the Christmas Candle is a candle lit by an angel every year on Christmas Eve. Unbelieving, David tries to change tradition with his style of preaching, causing controversy among the villagers. Meanwhile, the candle store owners witness the angel lighting the annual candle, and accidentally lose it in a pile of candles. What is the solution? Maybe giving candles to everyone and trying to convince that all are the "Christmas Candle".
Based on the novel by Max Lucado, The Christmas Candle extols strong Christian messages on the power of prayer and faith. All town members of Gladbury experience miracles as a result of getting the "christmas candle" and as the instruction tells, "Light it and pray". With the presence of these candles, the townspeople learn to accept their new minister and embrace him, as well as have a newly-found outlook on caring for others and helping others as well. In one strong scene, we see the citizens helping each other out unhesitatingly. There's also a nice outlook on the true meaning of Christmas.
The actors do a stellar job, with Hans Matheson bringing sincerity and heart to the role of Reverend Richmond. Other great performances come from Samantha Barks (Les Miserables), Lesley Manville, Sylvester McCoy (The Hobbit) and singer Susan Boyle, who also adds in a few beautiful-sounding tunes as well. The landscape of the English town is beautiful and just downright sincere. The way the Christmas season is handled here is also very traditional and refreshing, instead of more modern and Santa-focused.
I have very little negative to say about this movie. I will admit that it does take a while to get glued to the screen here. Things start off a little slow, and you don't quite get what's going on until 30 minutes into the movie. This isn't a really bad thing, especially for those who aren't familiar with the novel (I personally have never heard of it, even though I have read some of Lucado's work).
Christmas movies aren't coming out as often as they used to. It appears Hollywood is running out of ideas. So when one does come to the big screen, I always am excited, because regardless of what worldview they pursue, these movies always warm my heart and make me happy. Lately, however, despite a few really good holiday movies coming out recently, there really hasn't been anything that has a "traditional" Christmas feel. Those kinds of movies that embrace families coming together and an earnest, sincere message to go along with it.
I personally felt like The Christmas Candle was that "traditional" movie I had been waiting for. While Hallmark movies are becoming more and more modern and Arthur Christmas and Elf are focusing more on a modern sense of storytelling and humor, this inspirational and whimsical film is old-school Christmas movie-making at its' finest.
In a season where Christian-aimed movies have been coming out one after the other, its also great that Lucado's worldview is front-and-center here. The faith and religious themes here are certainly more than worth being commended for. And there's no mention of Santa anywhere, which also feels somewhat refreshing as well. Yes, I enjoy a good Santa movie, but if they pursued another movie with that character, it almost is beginning to feel a bit generic by now.
A must-see for the whole family, The Christmas Candle is a terrific blast from the past, and an inspiring and sweetly touching movie for the Christmas season.
Grade: A-
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: None.
Adult Content: None. Someone says "You should learn to keep your affections to yourself!"
Violence: One minor explosion. One character dies (its handled discreetly). Someone wrecks their carriage in a snowstorm (we only see the after-effects).
Drugs/Alcohol: None.
Other: Someone snarkily comments about seeing a pastor in his underwear.
