Movie Review: The Christmas Quest (2024)
Synopsis: Stefanie Baxter's mom spent most of her life and Stefanie's childhood searching for a mythical treasure in Iceland. When a wealthy benefactor, Victor Grimes, offers her a new clue that could allow her to complete her now-deceased mother's life's work, Stefanie decides to go on a Christmastime quest to Iceland. However, she needs help from her ex-husband, Chase, an expert in Norse languages and must contend with old feelings while trying to find the treasure before someone else does.
Who's in it? The movie stars Lacey Chabert, Kristoffer Polaha, Derek Riddell, Aldís Amah Hamilton and Erin Cahill.
Review: My wife and I had already seen one Lacey Chabert Christmas movie on Netflix around Thanksgiving, but I was somewhat intrigued by Hallmark's The Christmas Quest because the previews made it look like an interesting action/adventure movie as well as a romantic holiday film. My wife and I watched it last night during its debut and weren't disappointed.
One thing I've mentioned about other Chabert Hallmark movies is they tend to feel a bit like something you would expect to see on the Travel Channel. In fact, I jokingly told my wife I think Hallmark just lets her choose a vacation destination and writes a movie that fits that location. This film wasn't an exception to that observation. I probably learned just as much about Iceland's customs, traditions, architecture and food from this movie as I did from any other source.
That said, the movie did end up being a fun film to watch. There was quite a bit of mystery surrounding the hidden treasure, including whether it even existed. Plus, there were additional mysteries that added to the main one, such as Victor Grimes' (Riddell) motivations for wanting to find the treasure and who the mysterious other treasure hunter (Hamilton) was. In addition, there were subtle clues suggesting someone might have already found the treasure.
The chemistry between Chabert and Polaha as Stefanie and Chase was reasonably decent as well. It was clear their characters still had feelings for each other but at the same time, it was easy to see why they felt the need to get a divorce even though they still loved each other. Watching them reconcile and acknowledge their mistakes but also lack of regrets was heartwarming. And as I've said in the past, I do tend to prefer romantic movies that remind people relationships take work over films that just focus on love at first sight without any real obstacles.
The twist at the end involving the truth about the treasure probably could have been done slightly better but for this kind of movie, it did work, even though I personally would be asking who lit all those candles inside a supposedly sealed room.
My only real complaint about the movie is it doesn't do anything to justify the whole "need to find the treasure by Christmas" plot point. Based on the description given by various characters in the beginning of the movie, the clues leading to the treasure could only be seen in the thirteen days leading to Christmas. However, not only did none of the clues seem to have a time element to them, but most were also hidden in places that made it hard to believe the treasure went undiscovered for hundreds of years. In other words, the Christmas part of it just seemed to be thrown in to justify making this a holiday film.
Final Opinion: As a Christmas movie, this film barely meets the minimum standards. However, as a romantic adventure, I thought it was pretty decent and would recommend watching it.
My Grade: A-
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