'Next Stop, Christmas' is a wonderful Hallmark Christmas movie: cute, fun, and entertaining. The story is clever and creative, the script is punchy, the emotional beats land, and the cast is charming and enjoyable to watch on screen. Hands down the best thus far this 2021 holiday season. The storyline revolves around Angie (played by Lyndsy Fonseca),a busy neurosurgeon who has, for some years, been avoiding her family during Christmas time. Her last fond memory of Christmas was ten years ago when her parents were together and her sister and she were on the same wavelength, a time too when she turned down a marriage proposal from the now-famous (and very handsome) sports commentator Tyler Grant (played by Eric Freeman). One evening before Christmas, after work and a drink with a friend, Angie grabs the last commuter train home to Yonkers to start her quiet and relaxing Christmas holiday alone. However, these plans are soon derailed by a mysterious ticket agent and conductor (played by Christopher Lloyd),as she finds herself on a magical train that takes her back home to that Christmas 10 years earlier. Her mission now is to figure out what she needs to do to get back to the present. And so our story begins, as we watch Angie relive her Christmas of ten years past, getting second chances and learning lessons about love and family along the way. This Christmas twist of the popular film 'Back to the Future' (BTTF) is well written with some fun and entertaining dialogue and scenes throughout. The writers also do a very good job of developing multiple sub-plots in 82 minutes, all while subtly introducing links to BTTF. As many reviewers have pointed out, the writers not only draw from BTTF, they also pay homage to the film, featuring two of the original stars Leah Thompson (playing Evelyn, Angie's mother) and Christopher Lloyd. One weakness of the story was the romance between Angie and Ben (played by Chandler Massey). Simply put, it was underdeveloped. There were not enough scenes of the two to develop their chemistry on-screen, unfortunately. The ending too is not ideal, though this is a minor fault. The acting, overall, is outstanding. Hallmark did an excellent job with casting in this one. Fonseca was brilliant. She had a quirky, yet warm, vibe to her performance, which was enjoyable to watch. The supporting cast too was outstanding. Finally, the film has a fairy-tale-like feel to it with some beautiful (and festive) props and sets, which will no doubt get you into the Christmas mood this holiday season. All in all, it is a cute, fun, and festive Christmas movie, with some impressive acting, a nice new addition to Hallmark's 2021 line-up. I highly recommend it.

Well, I think my wife and I have pretty much watched all of the best-known Christmas movies down the years so I think it's off to Hallmark's TV movies we will merrily go this year for our annual fix of seasonal viewings. Of course we knew what to expect, an attractive, comfortably well-off family somehow isn't quite feeling the Christmas spirit as the big day approaches. The plot centres around an attractive young female doctor who is too busy at work to return to her Smalltown U. S. A. Home-town to be with her family. We also learn that ten years ago she passed up on the chance to marry an impossibly handsome boy-friend who has since become a TV celebrity sports journalist, while in the background, her parents are now living apart and her sister and her husband have just regretfully given up on their IVF-assisted attempts to add to their lone-child family, not to mention the boy-next-door who's always carried an unreciprocated torch for her, which he'd love to re-kindle.

Well, there's only way to turn all this around and that's for our heroine to board Christopher Lloyd's time-travelling subway train which takes her back ten years and the chance to rearrange the events of that particular Christmas so that everyone will live happily ever after in the here and now.

Honestly, with its mostly white cast of rich Americans living in luxury sorting out their Christmas problems, this super-light movie looked and sounded as if it could have been made back in the 80's. I liked the mildly fantastic device of Lloyd's magical tube-train-turned-Hogwarts Express as it effectively Groundhog Day's Elaine in the past until every little wrong is righted.

It was all very pleasant, sentimental and yes, clichéd but easy-on-the-eye family entertainment. The genial Lloyd inevitably steals the show as the mysterious old train guard but the rest of the lesser-known cast support him enthusiastically too. With nicely dressed Christmassy sets, effective special effects for the train journeys and plenty of Christmas cheer, it would take someone with the heart of a snowman not to warm to this festive entertainment. It's probably worth taking 90 minutes off from putting up your tree this year to give it your attention.

When I sat down to watch the 2021 Hallmark Christmas movie titled "Next Stop, Christmas", it was because I hadn't already seen the movie, but also because the movie have Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson on the cast list.

For a Hallmark Christmas movie then I will admit that "Next Stop, Christmas" was actually a bit more entertaining and enjoyable than most other Christmas movies. Sure, it has the same type of sappy contents to it, but the storyline in "Next Stop, Christmas" just offers a bit more. And truth be told, then the whole traveling back and forth in the past with the magical train was just a nice touch. And that is what made the movie outstanding.

Writers Samantha DiPippo, Andrew Gernhard and Christy O'Connor actually managed to put together a wholesome storyline that had a nice feel to it.

The acting performances in "Next Stop, Christmas" were good. Just a shame that Lea Thompson and Christopher Lloyd didn't have bigger roles in the movie. I wasn't at all familiar with the rest of the cast in the movie, but they did perform well enough and carried the movie nicely.

While "Next Stop, Christmas" is not going to be a Christmas classic for me, this is certainly a movie that is well-worth taking the time to sit down and watch, especially if you enjoy Christmas movies.

My rating of director Dustin Rikert's 2021 movie "Next Stop, Christmas" lands on a six out of ten stars.