6/10 - simply average and not entirely captivating (save for Holly Robinson Peete)

Lisa (Jill Wagner) and Oliver are retail experts in Boston. She takes a quick trip to her hometown of Evergreen. She left as a kid and she finds the beloved general store had closed a year earlier. The store owner had passed away and the mayor is trying to sell it to the right owner. She has a meet-cute with local Kevin Miller (Mark Deklin) over a truck breakdown and hires him to do the remodeling. They find an old key and a 25 year old letter to Santa from KM. Allie is visiting Florida and Michelle gets set up. It's the Evergreen shared universe from Hallmark. That's a good idea if done properly. It needs a stable of regulars with some connecting story elements. It is very Hallmark. You get what is expected and nothing more.

Contrary to some of the previous reviews respectfully, the first 'Christmas in Evergreen' film didn't quite do it for me while still being a watchable film. Saw 'Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa' out of curiosity, as someone who has been watching Hallmark Christmas films on and off for a while now, somebody who has liked Jill Wagner in other films she's been in and as a big fan of Christmas (a fact probably known by quite a few people now).

There is the debate of whether 'Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa' is better than the first or worse. In my mind, there are a couple of quite big improvements but generally 'Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa' is worse. It is a long way from being a terrible film and has its moments, but it is also not particularly good, has a fair share of major debits (some of which common Hallmark drawbacks) and not one of the films that shows that Hallmark is capable of making a good sequel (it has shown that by the way, just not here).

Am going to start with the good things. Am going to be another person that really liked Wagner here and feel that she is an improvement over Ashley Williams in the previous film. She is charming and gives her all throughout without trying too hard, her character is also very rootable. Hollie Robinson Peete, apart from one part, is fun support. In fact, to me most of the acting was above average considering the material.

Likewise with the production values. The scenery is absolutely beautiful, magical at its best, and the film is very nicely photographed throughout. The music has pleasant moments where it's nostalgically festive.

Was a lot less keen on Mark Deklin, a noticeable minus point difference for 'Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa' being a vastly inferior leading man, who is on the dull and wooden side and lacks charm. The chemistry between him and Wagner has occasional moments but most of the time it's barely there, and when it comes to the development it's both rushed in how too quickly the relationship evolves and also under-baked. The characters are too much like recycled cliches.

Something that is pretty much the case with most of the story too, especially in the final third capped off by the as ever too neat and hastily resolved ending. Everything is obvious and there are too many things that happen too conveniently or come over as contrived. The dialogue has too much awkwardness and over-sentimentality with a lot of cheese thrown in too. The music tends to be too loud and doesn't always gel tonally despite moments.

In conclusion, a bit lacking for me. 4/10