Love, Kennedy (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Jason Hansen has a seemingly perfect family life, but tragedy strikes when his oldest teenage daughter Kennedy is diagnosed with terminal juvenile Batten disease.  As their family grapples with this new reality, they soon find that there is hope even in the hurt and that God does have a plan for Kennedy even if her life will be shorter than usual.  Together, they find that God’s plans are always greater than people’s plans.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

T. C. Christensen has always had a commitment to professional productions, and Love, Kennedy demonstrates this commitment by having good video quality, above-average camera work, and fine audio quality.  However, there are one too many musical montages as a lot of the film is saturated with music.  Sets, locations, and props are realistic and appropriate, however.  The main thing that keeps this production from being all that it could be is the choppy editing that contributes to an awkward story-telling style, but for the most part, this production is above average and professional.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Though it’s basically obvious the T. C. Christensen pushes Mormon messages in his films, at least he tends to craft films about real life stories and events.  Regardless, the true story of Love, Kennedy is unfortunately stifled by unnecessary heavy-handed narration, which also stunts character development.  Since these characters are based on real people, we need a chance to get to know the characters better, but this chance does not materialize.  Unfortunately, this makes the slight Mormon message-pushing more noticeable since the dialogue is rushed and empty.  It seems like the characters get swept along in the predictable plot progression without any choice of their own.  Elsewhere, Christensen includes his typical magical elements that are a bit much.  As a whole, Love, Kennedy is a nice try but not quite good enough.

Acting Quality (2 points)

Overall, the acting of this film is mostly fine with no obvious glaring errors.  However, the acting is not dynamic either, and there are a handful of minor issues that add up over the course of the film, such as some half-hearted performances and some odd portrayals of cast members.  Moreover, as a whole, this section is mostly above average and is better than a lot of films on par with it.

Conclusion

Christensen and his team outpace many other Christian groups in film making when they make clear efforts to build professional productions and to coach above-average acting performances.  The Mormon message-pushing may be off-putting and not much better than other Christian message-pushing (see: Christiano Brothers), but at least it’s packaged in a semi-acceptable way.  Nevertheless, this still isn’t good enough to get past the halfway mark, so maybe it will be better luck next time for the Excel Entertainment team.

 

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 10 points

 

Advertisement

July 21, 2018December 31, 2018 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2017, 4.5 points, Bailee Michelle Johnson, Brennin Williams, Danna Louisa Wilson, Eliza de Azevedo Brown, Excel Entertainment, Heather Beers, Jasen Wade, Nathan Osmond, Paul Wuthrich, Purdie Films, Remember Films, Ron Tanner, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Scarlett Hazen, Shona Kay, Steven A. Lee, T.C. Christensen, Tatum Chiniquy, Tony Hill, Trinity Roberts, Yvonne D Bennett 1 Comment

Christmas Oranges (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Rose is an orphan girl who lives in Mrs. Hartley’s orphan home.  However, when Mrs. Hartley and some of the children die of illness one fateful month, all of the orphans are sent to other places.  Rose and some of her friends are sent to live in the orphanage of the angry Mr. Crampton, who has strict rules and doesn’t want children messing around with his stuff.  However, the more Rose learns about Mr. Crampton, the more she learns that he is hurting during the holiday season and needs someone to love him.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

As usual for John Lyde and his creative teams, Christmas Oranges is a professional production.  This is evidenced by good video quality, audio quality, and camera work.  The soundtrack is somewhat generic, but it is fine for the genre.  Locations are mostly fine, even though there are few of them, but the sets are limited in scope.  There are also some random scenes that are poorly lit for no clear reason.  However, on the flip side, the editing is surprisingly effective.  On the whole, this is a high quality effort that has become commonplace from this group.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

In a different turn from other stories from John Lyde and company, Christmas Oranges has a uniquely substantial plot that contains the accessible struggles of relatively believable characters.  Though there is narration that hurts things, the child characters are actually pretty good, even if the orphan premise is slightly cheesy.  There are also some silly ‘kids’ sequences and montages, along with some strawman characters.  However, for the most part, the dialogue and the ideas therein are mostly meaningful and do their best to avoid cliched Christmas concepts involving orphans.  Probably the best element of this storyline is its use of realistic character backstories to humanize the ‘bad’ characters.  On the whole, while this movie did not go as far as it could have, it is still enjoyable and is worth a watch.

Acting Quality (2 points)

While most of the cast members are definitely professional, this section still tends to be a mixed bag.  Some cast members seem to be overdoing their performances just a bit.  However, on the whole, emotions are realistic, and line delivery is on point.  As a side note, costuming is historically authentic.  Overall, this rounds out a very professional effort.

Conclusion

The Covenant Communications\Paulist Productions\Mainstay Productions collaboration has been working for years to make respectable films, and for the most part, they have succeeded.  However, they have been plagued by an inability to get over the last proverbial hill that stands between them and film greatness.  Nonetheless, they have all the tools necessary to do so.  Thus, we believe that sometime in the near future, they will finally break through and make that dynamic film that has alluded them for years.

 

Final Rating: 5.5 out of 10 points

 

December 21, 2017January 2, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Christmas, Historical, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2012, 5.5 points, Abigail Hiller, Abigail Scott, Aiden Beagley, Aimee Lynne Johnson, Anne Burton, Annie Milne, Bailee Michelle Johnson, Barry Evans, Ben Sowards, Benjamin Lyde, Bill Gillane, Brandon Avery, Brooke Wight, Bruce Newbold, Caitlin E.J. Meyer, Cate Allen, Christian Vuissa, Christmas, Cooper Daniel Johnson, Covenant Communications, Danna Louisa Wilson, Danny James, Demitria Cline, Edward Herrmann, Elizabeth Hales, Emily Hallows, Ethan Hunt, Ethan Lyde, Ethan Scott, Grace Hallows, Hannah Hunt, Historical, Inspirational, James Schafer, Jaren Riley, Jaxon Hunt, Jenny Krompel, Jill Adler, John Lyde, Joshua Hunt, Juliette Lyde, Kelsey Carter, Kenneth Applegate, Kenzie Carter, Kimball Stinger, Koleman Stinger, Linda Bethers, Lisa Spurrier, Madalynn Wight, Maggie Scott, Mainstay Productions, Max Moody, Michael Hughes, Nancy Stafford, Norma Olsen, Paul D. Hunt, Paulist Productions, Ron Brough, Rylee Kaye Stones, Sage Adler, Sahara Yasmin Krompel, Sally Meyer, Savanna Kylie Lewis, Stephanie Breinholt, Sydney Peebler, Taryn Bedore, Thomas J. Post, Tyler Doyle, Yolanda Wood Leave a comment