So So! (Rating: 3.00)
Review : I'm a big Melissa Gilbert fan ever since she played Laura Ingalls in one of my favorite TV shows, Little House On The Prairie, I have liked a lot of her made for TV and Cable movies but I was not all that impressed with The Christmas Coal Mine Miracle, she was good in the movie but I found the story itself a little dull. To be fair I will give it 3 stars instead of 2 because I was a kid when I saw it and maybe it's a movie that appeals more to adults then children so maybe I will watch it again someday and maybe I will like it better. I think this movie in it's original network TV debut was originally titled Miracle in Caulfield County but they changed the title to The Christmas Coal Mine Miracle so they could market it as a Christmas video, and this same movie is also sometimes called Christmas Miracle in Caulfield U.S.A. There are so many great made for Television and cable movies that Melissa Gilbert has made, I wish they would put them on video and DVD, especially With A Vengeance and her remakes of The Miracle Worker and The Diary Of Anne Frank, and also the delightful Christmas movie she made with Tim Mathison, Travis Tritt and Michelle Trachtenberg, I believe it is called Christmas in My Home Town.
Good, But a Little Disappointing/ PG (Rating: 3.00)
Review : I enjoyed this movie but it was a little disappointing, and was not at all what I expected. It was a very suspenseful, interesting and gripping story. It is not your typical Christmas movie though, and although it gives you a warm feeling at the end, it is quite depressing in parts. I thought Kurt Russell did an excellent job in his role as Johnny (He is so adorable). He was the hero in the story, so his fans will really enjoy this one. I found Melissa Gilbert to be a bit flat in her performance and it was hard to get used to her being a bratty child (throwing a rock through a store window, etc). It is natural to expect Laura I suppose, as it was filmed in the 70's when Little House on the Prairie was in its heyday.The story line has a very mature theme and I would rate it as PG. Good for family watching with older children, but parents may want to discuss parts with their children/teens. The older daughter is a bit troubled and is desperate to get away from the Coal Mining town. She looks for this escape in her boyfriend Johnny (Kurt Russell). She is openly depressed about her virginity and tries to get her boyfriend to become more intimate with her. However, he tells her no, that they are going to "do things in the right way". So there is a bit of good morality there and the film might be a good discussion starter for that topic. At the end of the movie we are left with the impression that they will be getting married within the year. The main theme is the unfairness of the managers of the mine and that they force the workers to work in unsafe conditions. Tragedy strikes and by the end the workers agree to band together to fight the unfair practices. The story is also about love and family togetherness. Although most of the movie seemed realistic, parts did not. The younger child in the family seemed too old for that rocking horse! Also, what father would not reprimand his daughter when seeing her throw a rock through a store window, even if the store owners were "the enemy"?
Not Enough Melissa Gilbert! (Rating: 3.00)
Review : I saw this movie when I was a young girl when it was first shown on television back in December 1977, I was 12 years old and looking forward to seeing the movie because my favorite actress Melissa Gilbert was in it and Little House on the Prairie was my favorite television show and Laura Ingalls was my favorite character but though it was an ok movie I was disappointed that though it was advertised as a Melissa Gilbert movie it was really more of an ensemble movie that focused more on the older characters and I just felt that there wasn't enough of Melissa Gilbert and that I would have enjoyed it more if there had been, I also don't recall this movie being very Christmasy, it just didn't have the warmth of a good Christmas movie, and is not a movie you would want to sit on the couch and watch while munching on candy canes or drinking a glass of eggnog or hot mulled apple cider!
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