kz917-1 Ack. When the most entertaining thing in the movie is (direct from Nashville) Blake Shelton sporting a mullet, the movie has serious problems.Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Rebecca Gayheart, Rob Lowe (for a few scenes), and a little bitty Angus T. Jones this movie really should have been better!NPH is a doctor returning to his hometown after losing someone on his operating table. He meets and falls for Gayheart who is the new teacher in town.Too many people in this movie have life threatening medical conditions. The writers needed a does of reality and their conditions and the activities they were doing don't really compute.Skip it - this one was a mess.

wagdiddy OK. When a movie is REALLY bad, I don't watch the whole thing. My threshold for bad movies is usually about 10 minutes---that's all I can take before I vomit, and that's a mess so I try to avoid that. I did watch this entire movie, so that's a plus. My fist suggestion: fire whoever did the casting for this movie. Neil Patrick Harris' "dad" looked younger than he did. Neil Patrick Harris' girlfriend looked way older than he did. Rob Lowe's character looked younger than Neil P. Harris'. Lydia, Neil's dad's girlfriend, looked way older than Neil's dad. The only person who was cast well was Angus T. Jones as Charlie. He looked the correct age. His "dad" looked more like his grandpa, however. Again, fire that caster. Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day. You have just spread another round of incorrect information that thousands will now be sharing and it results in an entire generation remaining ignorant. Cinco de Mayo was merely a battle. Mex. Ind. Day is September 16. Another point: when Neil P. Harris gets to the hospital and sees the boy that had been in the accident on the gurney, a gift falls out of the boy's pocket. Neil picks it up and puts it in his own pocket, and then we never see that gift again. Was something cut out of the movie? They made such a point of him picking it up that I felt sure it contained something important that we would see again. Not so. Cutting room floor? The writing could have been tighter. Such flawless and witty repartee does not come out of normal people's mouths. No one stuttered, no one cleared their throat, no one made a mistake. Unbelievable. My husband said it's the only "feel-good" Christmas movie he's ever seen that left him not "feeling good"---the child dies in the end. No blessing there! My husband was so depressed. It was exhausting to try to cheer him up. The movie was filmed well---it didn't have that "cheesy" look and feel that so many budget movies have. It also obviously did not have a boiler-plate plot, and the settings were very pretty. Again, this movie was not awful, but it could have been so much better had the producers done a better job with casting, more believable writing, and maybe a happy ending for everyone. Charlie's dad got no blessing, and he's the one that gave up the most.

wes-connors As we follow a certain pair of red shoes from the earlier TV movie "The Christmas Shoes" (2002), handsome lawyer Rob Lowe (as Robert Layton) appears briefly. He'll reappear later, but does not play a significant role in this sequel. This time, our hero is boyish doctor Neil Patrick Harris (as Nathan Andrews). He promises to see that a teenage patient is home for Christmas, but the young man unfortunately expires during surgery. Angrily throwing his doctor's smock down in the hospital hallway, Mr. Harris declares. "I can't do this anymore!" He goes home to live and work with auto mechanic father Hugh Thompson (as Jack Andrews). Playing "stick up" with Mr. Thompson further establishes Harris has some late-term growing up to do...While helping dad in the shop, Harris meets attractive single teacher Rebecca Gayheart (as Meghan Sullivan). Felled by a flat tire - a surefire way to find a date in TV movies - Ms. Gayheart thinks Harris is a "cute mechanic." She is learning to speak Spanish in order to be a better teacher, but tells her Vermont, USA class Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in Mexico as their Independence Day. The students are either too polite to correct her, or afraid to speak and be asked to leave the set. The main pupil is imaginatively bright, chubby and sad preteen Angus T. Jones (as Charlie Bennett). He is being raised by alcoholic single landscaper Shaun Johnston (as Tucker Bennett). All of the aforementioned characters have physical and/or emotional flaws...The holy spirit of Christmas, without being too heavy-handed, seems to bring the characters together. Some may live and some may die - but all will benefit from getting to know each other. God is a fan of tear-jerking melodramas, obviously, and Heaven isn't such a bad fate for believers. It is tempting to knock "The Christmas Blessing" for mediocrity and predictability, but each of the stories in the movie series accomplishes something that is becoming increasingly rare - character-driven drama without bombastic special effects. The plots and characters created by novelist Donna Van Liere are handled well by the production team and actors. Lord knows you could find less engaging ways to spend your viewing time, without even looking.****** The Christmas Blessing (12/18/05) Karen Arthur ~ Neil Patrick Harris, Rebecca Gayheart, Angus T. Jones, Hugh Thompson

powerforjesus My family and I enjoyed this movie very much. Is it possible that it will be coming out on DVD anytime soon. We look forward to watching The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessings for years and years to come. These are great family movies and even if you do not cry that much you better still have the tissue sitting right beside you. It really gets to you but in a great way. It also has great family values that are wonderful. We really need more of that. It would be wonderful if they could make another sequel to this one or think of others to do like this one. We need more things to remind us what is really important. Like is the job more important than family and friends. Is your childs life on the bottom of the totem pole compared to working constantly. I guess I think of it in more of a day to day blessing because my husband works and I stay home and take care of the kids. So that they always have a parent here to talk to. Thank you.