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Customer Reviews of The Christmas Box / Timepiece

And "Timepiece" is even better. It's a prequel, sort of, which tells the story about Mary Parkin and what happened to her family. Also very sad and pretty, and it has Naomi Watts and James Earl Jones as well.

Two wonderful TV movies that are just amazing to watch at Christmastime with your family.

Cheesy, only a little touching; horrible acting
My review is in two parts - First 'The Christmas Box':

Summary:
Richard Evans (Richard Thomas) his wife, Keri Evans (Annette O'Toole), and their daughter, Jenna (Kelsey Mulrooney), are new to Salt Lake and are struggling to develop satisfactory lives for themselves. Richard has just started a ski shop, The Ski Company, and is spending long hours getting it up and running. Keri, meanwhile, is a stay at home mother, though she also manages their apartment complex. But Keri isn't happy with their current apartment and wants something better for Jenna.

When they see an advertisement for an elderly woman, Mary Parkin (Maureen O'Hara), who is looking to have a young family move in with her to help her out, Keri jumps on the opportunity and soon the Evans family has moved in with Mrs. Parkin, an extremely wealthy elderly lady who desperately needs someone to love.

Quickly, the Evans family, especially Keri and Jenna, become friends with Mary, but it isn't long before Mary begins experiencing serious health problems and begins a quick descent towards her to death. But before she can go, she is determined to help Richard not make the same mistake her husband made: losing sight of the importance of family by focusing too much on providing for them. Mary accomplishes this with the help of angelic visitations to Richard's dreams by Mary's deceased daughter, Andrea. Eventually, Richard does realize how important family is and ends up cutting back on his work to spend more time with his wife and daughter. And, to everyone's surprise, Mary ends up leaving her monstrous house to the Evans family.

My Comments:
You'll notice that my summary didn't include mention of a Christmas Box. That's because the Christmas Box in the movie plays such a minor role that it really isn't even worth mentioning. As it turns out, it is just the location where Mary has stored letters to her deceased daughter and, though it plays mysteriously a few times, Richard is the only one that hears it. So, I have no idea why this movie is called The Christmas Box when the box is not at all central to the story. A better, serious title would have been 'Angel in the Avenues'. Though I think I am more partial to 'Ingratiatingly Cheesy Christmas Movie' or my wife's suggested title 'The Cheeseball Mormon, Pseudo-Christmas Movie'.

I also nearly fell off my exercise bike (this isn't a movie you can feel okay about watching while doing nothing else) when I heard the protagonists name - Richard Evans? That's the book's author's name. Wow, how original! Oh yeah, and did you catch the name of his company - The Ski Company. Obviously creative names were not very high up on the priority list for this story.

Speaking of the story, it was incredibly predictable and not at all engaging. I knew the Evans family would be chosen to live with Mary, otherwise why would it be part of the story? I also knew that Mary would end up loving the family and giving them the house, or at least a ton of money - otherwise why tell the story? There are no surprises. But my biggest problem with the story is that it doesn't follow a traditional 3 act sequence. By 45 minutes into the movie (1/2 of the entire movie in this case), there was no introduction of the major conflict. It was only at about this point that Richard began having his dreams, but even they didn't result in or resolve a conflict. As a matter of fact, there never was a clear conflict and the movie was nearly over before the movie explicitly states what it is supposed to be about - the importance of family.

As far as the acting goes, I really can't believe people continue to cast Richard Thomas in, well anything. He should be blacklisted just for being as annoying as he is. Every time he came on screen I cringed. He is utterly unconvincing, he overacts, and has no theatrical delivery. I've seen better child actors; a lot of them, actually. The only person I didn't want to see die in the movie is the only one that did - Maureen O'Hara. She wasn't outstanding, but she wasn't nearly as bad as the rest of the cast. Too bad she's had to die.

Overall, I definitely would not recommend this movie for anyone who has good taste or who appreciates good acting as this movie appeals to neither. It is painful to watch despite its aim at being a wholesome, uplifting movie. I should also note that the sequel is a better, though it isn't great.

Heartwarmers
As incredibly sappy as it sounds, "The Christmas Box" and its prequel "Timepiece" are heartwarming. Now both are included on DVD, letting us into the bittersweet story of the Parker and the Evans families, from the 1940s to the 1990s.

In "The Christmas Box," the Evans family is interviewed by elderly, wealthy widow Mrs. Parkin (Maureen O'Hara) for a live-in status, since their apartment is too small for them now. To their surprise, they are brought in on a trial basis, and mom Keri (Annette O'Toole) and daughter Jenna (Kelsey Mulrooney) rapidly grow closer to the old woman. But Richard (Richard Thomas) is often busy -- so busy that he's almost never there for his family. But Mrs. Parkin's mysterious past, a cache of old letters, and a strange question lead him back to the first gift of Christmas.

"Timepiece" shifts back in time to the end of World War II. David Parkin (Kevin Kilner) is the owner of a successful, extremely busy company. He takes on a new secretary, Mary Anne Chandler (Naomi Watts), and begins to fall in love with her. But she has a secret: She's pregnant and unmarried. Undaunted, David marries her and they raise her daughter as their own. But when David's friend Lawrence (James Earl Jones) becomes the target of a gang's racism, something tragic will happen to the new family.

The films are rather different in tone, although both will probably leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling, especially during the Christmas season. "Christmas Box" is a Christmas movie with a touch of mystery (who are the letters to? And what happened in Mary Anne's past?), whereas "Timepiece" is a straightforward family/friends story with a touch of tragedy and Christmas. They both have some major differences from the original novels, but the spirit of them is still in there.

The acting is more or less spotless in both movies. Richard Thomas and Annette O'Toole are fantastic as the couple who bickers a bit, but love each other dearly; O'Hara is astounding as Mary Parkin in her old age. James Earl Jones (of "Star Wars" fame) and Naomi Watts (of "Ring" fame) are also wonderful in "Timepiece." The child actors are somewhat flat at times (especially the kid who plays Andrea) but they don't detract from the stories at all.

Tis the season to be mildly sentimental, which is why people watch "It's a Wonderful Life." For a couple of beautiful, lovable films with good acting and a bit of heartbreak and a dollop of romance, this is a must-have. Genuinely charming.