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“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive early access to the movie in exchange for this review and post.

I {adore} Kirk Cameron. I grew up watching him on Growing Pains, and fell in love with him in Fireproof. I don’t know about you, but Fireproof saved my marriage. I was beyond *thrilled* when I was chosen as one of the bloggers to interview Kirk Cameron about his life and upcoming movie, Saving Christmas.

Things I learned about Kirk:

• He met his wife on the set of Full House where he was a guest. Kirk’s mom said, “You know, she is more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside. I hope the girl you marry will be just like her.” A year later, they were engaged.
• They homeschool their six children
• If given the chance, he would NOT go back to Growing Pains…”It’s kind of like high school. Yeah, sure it was fun, but I don’t want to do it again! I love being a father and being married and being a filmmaker.”

I got early access to Kirk’s newest movie, Saving Christmas.

Saving Christmas

Here are my honest thoughts on it:

The introduction was slow. The five of us were in our queen-sized bed watching it on my laptop, and my 6-year-old passed out before the introduction was over. Not knowing about the movie prior, I would have thought this was how it was going to be throughout it, which made me a little nervous. I kept looking over at my 9-year-old to check if she was still paying attention. Thankfully she’s got a longer attention span than my 6-year-old.

The movie starts with Kirk Cameron attending his sister’s huge Christmas party that she throws every year. The house is gorgeous–everything is decorated beautifully, there are a ton of people and lots of food. Kirk asks his sister where her husband is, and she explains he’s just not feeling Christmas this year. Kirk then goes out to the car where he finds his brother-in-law sulking and grouchy, complaining about how all of this STUFF isn’t what Christmas is really about! How it’s all Pagan!

Kirk goes on to combat each one of his brother-in-law’s objections about the Christmas traditions; the Christmas tree, Santa, Christmas lights, and gifts. Each objection is given a story. My 9-year-old’s favorite was seeing Santa beat a guy up! You’ll have to watch the movie to find out why Santa beats this man up:)

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. Some parts were really corny, but I think that was Kirk’s intent. They poked fun at Pentecostal Christians. There were several scenes where I found myself saying, “I don’t understand how this fits?” or “I don’t feel this explains his intent very well.” Santa was spot-on, but a lot of the explanations seemed like a very high-level overview that left me feeling a lot like Concrete Blonde’s lyrics:

These little conversations
Well for me they’ll never do
Now what am I supposed to do with
Broken sentences of you?
Like a book with missing pages
Like a story incomplete
Like a painting left unfinished
It feels like not enough to eat.

I would have loved to see more depth to the stories told. 

The movie is about 69 minutes long, 30 minutes of which had content…the rest was just, “fluff”. I’m not sure I would spend $10 at the theater for it. It’s more suited for a TV special.

Towards the end of the movie, there is a hip hop dancing scene that made me really uncomfortable. From reading the credits, I understand this is some sort of faith-based hip hop dance crew, but I felt it wasn’t very appropriate for the movie. I wouldn’t consider myself a prude, either…it just felt odd.

If you ignore those minor details, I think you’ll enjoy this movie, too! This was unlike some of Kirk Cameron’s movies that are more like a documentary–this was part story, part documentary I think.

Check out the trailer below:

 

I think what sealed the deal on the film was what Kirk said in summary,

“We need to make traditions of our own.  We need to infuse old symbols with new meaning.  We need to arrange our lives and our homes so that every single thing points to Jesus. “

Also,

“Remind your children that every character in God’s story has a place.”

You can check out the official Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/SavingChristmasMovie

Win Swag!

Pictured below, you will win an AUTOGRAPHED movie poster, the Saving Christmas soundtrack, and a car air freshener that smells like Christmas trees!

Saving Christmas Swag

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification. US and Canada Only.