The Magical Christmas Shoes Review

“You are literally walking in Christmas magic. Will you just embrace it?”

Noelle learns that the candy store where her parents fell in love is going to close. So she shares some of her sweet ideas with John, who works for the company.

Will both of these struggling artists, aided by some “magical shoes,” find the right recipe for success – and love? It’s the Lifetime movie, “The Magical Christmas Shoes” (2019).

Our Review: The Magical Christmas Shoes

“The Magical Christmas Shoes” is your typical, average, Christmas romance movie.

You’ll get a couple chuckles and some good banter. But it’s light on emotion or memorability.

The only time things get emotional is when Noelle thinks John has betrayed her. So she starts throwing away all of her shoes.

Basically, “The Magical Christmas Shoes” is the sort of movie you would get if you put “A Shoe Addict’s Christmas”, “Window Wonderland”, “Magical Christmas Ornaments”, “Merry and Bright”, and “Christmas Around the Corner” into a blender.

Noelle and John are both at non-creative jobs they don’t like. While they bond over that – and stories about her shoes – their chemistry never rises to anything above average.

John also has some daddy issues. And this story pretty much fizzles in large part because the acting of the CEO is below average.

As for the magical shoes? Disappointingly, we learn that there is no such thing.

You see, we all have Christmas magic inside of us – we just need to give it a boost. With shoes. Somehow.

Now let’s venture into Noelle’s magical closet to break down the rest of this one.

The Nice List

You’ll Laugh…

• When John tells Noelle: “I’d love to see your bedroom.” He then corrects himself to explain he wants to see her closet. To see her shoes. (Sure, John.)
• When Noelle and Allison do shots as John talks to Mark, Noelle’s ex-boyfriend, making her feel all kinds of awkward. (Also, just prior to this, best friend Allison offers to create a distraction for Noelle, such as maybe setting the Christmas tree on fire.)
• When Noelle dances around and sings “Deck the Halls” at her office, loudly, while wearing headphones.

The Naughty List

Those Shoes? Not Vintage

Every pair of shoes in Noelle’s closet looked new. But it wasn’t just the shoes – the wrapping paper and the notes from her grandmother all looked brand new.

Nothing in there looked old, or even a little bit dated. There was no wear and tear.

Also, the Christmas shoes were basically just a pair of regular shoes with a ribbon or a bit of holly stuck on.

Even the lucky shoes her grandmother gave Noelle (the ones her grandmother was wearing when she met Noelle’s grandfather), didn’t even look like they were decades old.

You Call That a Conflict?

How exactly did Noelle know John didn’t steal her idea and take credit for it?

Yes, she finds out he has a new job. But how did that let him off the hook and make her decides she has to fix it?

It was another one of those weird situations where the main female lead gets over a wrongdoing with no real explanation as to why.

Not So Magical Look & Feel

In terms of visuals and sounds, there was never a real “wow” moment.

Sure, things looked fine for the most part (such as Noelle’s office cubicle and home). But “The Magical Christmas Shoes” definitely wasn’t as gorgeous as pretty much every Hallmark this year.

As for Christmasy activities, there wasn’t much beyond some ice skating and decorating a Christmas tree.

Where’s Noelle’s Grandmother?

It was kind of lame that Noelle’s grandmother – the woman who sent her all those shoes – didn’t actually play a part in the movie. She might as well have been a ghost.

All Noelle did was leave her grandmother a voicemail. That’s it. The woman who sends her those “magical” shoes.

You know what would have been better than not having her at all. We were thinking her grandmother could have been the one to tell Noelle that the magic was not in the shoes, but inside of her all along.

‘Good Luck With That’

So, the first time Noelle decorates the candy store window, John leaves. He literally says, “Good luck with that”.

And leaves. Noelle at this point is a complete stranger. And he’s just left her alone in store – and didn’t even offer to stay and help.

Unanswered Questions

• How did Noelle get pine needles in her hair? There were no real Christmas trees at the store.
• How did the company hire a design company to decorate the windows literally the SECOND the meeting was over?
• Who leaves two binders containing secret window design plans just laying around in the same location? Forced drama, much?

Snow Goof

The off-and-on snow. During the ending scene, no less.

That’s pretty much the worst time for such an obvious goof.

You’ll Fall Asleep…

You might. The first hour is a bit slow and talky.

The WORST List

Complaints

John gives Noelle a peppermint ring. Not that this act itself was worthy of being on our The WORST List..

The problem is they did it TWICE. Once early in the movie, and then again at the end.

This move definitely lost its impact the second time. Because, you know, we’d already seen it.