Yeah, I know, we are normally on hiatus, but being Christmas and all..........
Spoiler-free review
A Christmas Story Live was shown live on the Fox Network on 12/17 (and hopefully will be sold on DVD at some point) and filmed on the famous Warner Brothers Lot in Burbank, California.
Some personal background. Years ago, a film called “Scrooged”, a modern day adaptation of A Christmas Carol had a plot centered around the live filming of A Christmas Carol. I always thought that was a really cool idea and would love to have seen that as a real thing, not just a fictitious plot in a movie. Background part 2 – A Christmas Story is my absolute, hands-down, favorite Christmas Movie ever. Ever.
So, I was very excited to see this come true. Admittedly, I also was concerned, I didn’t want anything to even remotely tarnish the memory of my most favorite Christmas movie. So, I went in with excitement, and hesitation. And I was NOT disappointed.
I don’t want to say much, because I don’t want to spoil the experience in any way, as I hope people will have the opportunity to view it later, perhaps on DVD or rerun or both. But I do want to say – the crew did an OUTSTANDING job turning a backlot in sunny California into the cold winter town of Holman, Indiana. Within minutes, the viewer would easily believe this was filmed on location.
The major, and most glaring difference (no spoiler) between this and the movie is that this was also part-musical. And guess what....it worked!!! The musical numbers fit perfectly.
The script stayed true to not only the original movie, but also to the chapter in Jean Shepherd’s book, and was an excellent vision of both, without being a rerun of either.
The choice to cast Matthew Broderick as the narrator (or grown-up Ralphie) was simply genius!!! I can’t even imagine it being done by anybody else after watching it.
The cast was tremendous and talented and engaging to watch. I’d like to tell you about some clever nuances, but I won’t as I don’t want to bring any spoiler to this review at all.
For some reason, for me, the ending, after they had dinner, was particularly touching, I can’t put my finger on it, but like the original movie, this will also live in my Christmas memories forever.
Some would say that I might be one of the toughest critics of this venture, being that it is my favorite Christmas movie and I have yearned for such a concept since seeing Scrooged. So, with that in mind, I would have to say, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the viewing of this should it come around in some repeat fashion – and if it becomes available on DVD, it’s worth the purchase!
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