Plot Summary
Angelica, a sixteen-year-old girl, is battling a rare form of cancer around the holiday season, and her family is struggling financially. She keeps crossing paths with a boy on the run from his past and a fellow cancer patient who tries to cheer her up. With everything going wrong for her family, as well as the boy she keeps meeting up with, for the holidays, could a miracle for just right around the corner for them?
Production Quality (2 points)
My First Miracle is basically a standard inspirational production with good camera work and good video quality, even if there’s some inconsistent audio throughout. As a whole, the audio is mostly fine, but the soundtrack is a bit generic. Sets, locations, and props are standard and good, and the editing is a bit average. As a whole, this production is above average without anything specific or significant to stand out about it.
Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)
My First Miracle follows the predetermined mold for an inspirational quasi-Christian Christmas movie as narration is disguised as characters ‘thinking’ even though the attempts at psychological elements are noted. It’s cheesy how the same characters keep crossing paths at Christmastime, and musical montages are used to fill the runtime. There are too many slightly unrealistic coincidences that drive the plot along, and there are plenty of filler scenes and references to the disease-at-Christmastime plot conventions. While there are some attempts to develop characters, most of the dialogue is pedestrian. In addition, the storyline follows a very predictable progression and even includes odd medical concepts and silly magical Christmas elements. To top things off, the epilogue fixes basically all the problems just in time for the holidays. In short, this is just another throwaway plot that had some potential that was wasted.
Acting Quality (2 points)
The acting is definitely one of the strongest points of this film as there aren’t any glaring errors throughout. Even still, there’s also nothing particularly dynamic about the cast although they are mostly professional. Coaching is evident as emotional and line delivery are good with only a few minor issues. In the end, this is just another average Christmas film to play in the background.
Conclusion
Streaming services have created a good home for films like this one because they are safe and benign and can be played while other things are being accomplished. If you’re going for this type of film, this is definitely a model to follow. However, if you want something more dynamic and culture-changing, this definitely isn’t the type of film for you.
Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 