I have to confess that I love a tear-jerker! It's a Wonderful Life is my all-time favourite Christmas movie, and I was moved by Miracle on 34th Street - both the original and the remake. So how does The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey compare?
Thomas McDowell (played by Luke Ward-Wilkinson of Wild at Heart and Beautiful People fame) is a young boy whose happy family life of baseball cards and cookies in the city is turned upside down when his father is killed in a far off war and his mother, Susan (Joely Richardson), is forced to sell their home and move to the country to live with her sister, leaving behind Thomas’ beloved grandfather and the housekeeper and everything he holds dear. While they are travelling Thomas loses the family’s wooden carved nativity set - his last link with his father and his past life.
Living in a new area means Thomas is exposed to new ways - not to mention bullying. The local kids can be nasty - expecially to Gloomy Toomey (Tom Berenger) who just wants to hide away from the world.
Adults and more sophisticated children will have the rest of the plot worked out in no time but it is a feel-good movie that's just the thing for a credit-crunched Christmas! And, yes I did still shed a little tear.
Directed by Bill Clark, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey is available from Amazon. To order a copy, click the link below:
