NOELLE on Disney+

REVIEW BY: ROBERT CHANDLER

* NO SPOILERS*

I was wanting a bit more from NOELLE on Disney+, if only because its writer/director, Marc Lawrence, made one of my favourite movies: MISS CONGENIALITY.

He also wrote and directed MUSIC & LYRICS and THE REWRITE, two very good Hugh Grant romantic-comedies. Marc Lawrence makes the kind of films people love. His films belong to a genre that’s difficult to get right, but critics rarely write about them in any meaningful way.

So, why the disappointment? NOELLE borrows too much from ELF in its tale of an innocent from the North Pole - in this case, Santa’s daughter - at large in the real world, saving people through her naive belief in the Christmas spirit. The polar world from which she comes - Santa’s home, where all the stuff gets done for Christmas each year - doesn’t feel thought through enough. It looks like a small town in New Hampshire or Aspen celebrating the festive season.

Anna Kendrick is Noelle, while Bill Hader is her brother, Nick. Support from the elders comes in the form of - be prepared to cheer - Julie Hagerty (hoorah!) and Shirley MacLaine (HOORAH!)

Unfortunately, Bill, Julie and Shirley are wasted in a story that doesn’t give them enough to do, especially Shirley, who, with elfin ears, accompanies Anna on her sleigh ride trip to the city. In this case, Phoenix, Arizona.

But... Anna Kendrick keeps at it, gamely. Gradually, her perky bright innocence and lovely presence on-screen work their magic. By the third act, she had won me over. When Noelle talks at the Town Hall about the value of giving, in a scene that could have been unbearably mawkish, the story gears engage and the film lifts off... just like her sleigh, which had trouble earlier getting started without the correct instructions to the reindeer.

NOELLE ends up being delightful and heart-warming, and shamelessly Christmassy.