Plot Summary
When Lynn Brandt and her two children, Thomas and Sara, leave her alcoholic husband behind, they find themselves free from pain but low on funds. As they struggle to make ends meet, Lynn realizes that she will not have enough money to give her kids Christmas gifts. So when she hears about a charity that will help kids whose families cannot afford Christmas gifts, she jumps at the chance. Kevin and Jenny Morrell cannot wait to have their first child, even as he tries to hide the fact that his business is struggling. Jenny decides that they need to help someone else for Christmas and chooses two children to buy gifts for. All of their lives intersect during the Christmas holiday in ways they never could have planned.
Production Quality (2 points)
The good thing about Up Entertainment is that they care about making respectable productions. The camera work in Paper Angels is mostly good and the video quality is on par. The sets and locations are realistic and down to earth—Christmas decorations are used wisely. However, the audio quality could be better as it is sometimes inconsistent and the soundtrack is just stock. The editing could also use a little improvement by cutting out some wasted filler scenes. But overall, this is another good effort from Up.
Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)
Though this is sort of a generic ‘good cause’ storyline, we strongly believe the writers’ hearts were in the right place. The plot is a little safe and pedestrian, but the creative work of Travis Thrasher can be seen in the non-typical Christmas subplots. The characters feel like realistic people in that we can connect with their circumstances and understand what they’re going through. As previously mentioned, this holiday film is not ‘overly-Christmas’ but treats the situation normally. While the plot is mostly down to earth, there are a few cheesy elements that feel forced and unnecessary. The end is slightly predictable, but the thought does count. Overall, this type of plot should be the baseline of Christian film.
Acting Quality (1.5 points)
This cast has their good moments and bad moments. Sometime they seem a little too wooden and insincere, while other times they are fine. However, as a professional company, acting should be an area where Up has little to no problems as they should employ professional acting coaches. We kind of expect better here.
Conclusion
If anything, Paper Angels highlights the need for more Travis Thrasher movies. He’s got the resume and the content to be adapting his novels to screenplays, if anyone will have him. He has ties to both PureFlix and Up, so rather than spin out another generic Christian movie plot, somebody needs to pick up one of Thrasher’s books and bring it to life. Paper Angels is only the tip of the iceberg of what he has to offer. Nevertheless, this film can also serve as an example for how simplistic Christian movies should be. We would like to never see a film that goes below this threshold.
Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 