Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
While Mariah Carey is famous for being one of the most celebrated female vocalists of the last 2 decades, she is also known for being a rabid pet love. ESPECIALLY her dogs. So much so that she has countless YouTube videos showing her with her cats, and dogs playing in the snow (or in the house), but there is one special dog that has always been her favorite. Little Jack, a high strung little Jack Russell terrier that she would coo over and take with her on her tours even. Sadly poor little guy died about 7 years ago, but you can tell that the singer obviously has a warm spot in her heart for her little guy, and thus comes the idea of making a Christmas movies about her favorite dog. The intent is obviously to make a Christmas movie that rivals the holiday classics like The Grinch, Charlie Brown’s Christmas, and others like it, but while it IS a sweet little movie, it doesn’t seem to rise up to the iconic stature of the previously mentioned classics.

Young Mariah (Breanna Yde) has had the exact same Christmas present request for the last several years. She has begged her parents for a dog, but each and every year she has been disappointed by her parents answer. There is this slight thing of her father, Bud (Phil Morris), is allergic to them, and her mother (played by Lacey Chabert) is a bit of an OCD house cleaner. No matter how hard she tries, her wish goes denied, but this year is a little bit different. Grandmas are known to be sly foxes, but Mariah’s grandma Lucy (Connie Jackson) digs a bit at the parents, and it looks like the little girl might be able to adopt her dream dog, Princess. The thing is, her dad has figured out a way to dissuade her though. His stipulation is that if she can take care of her uncle’s dog Jack, then she get Princess. However, Jack is actually not her uncle’s dog. Daddy dearest went and got a hyper active little stray that was found in hopes that the little monster would be so much for Mariah that she would just give up.

With Mariah completely in the dark, the young girl does her best to care and train Jack. Something that turns out to be exceedingly difficult as Jack is your average Jack Russell pup. Hyper, energetic to a fault, and wanting to chew on EVERYTHING, poor little guy just wants to love, and doesn’t understand why he’s being yelled at. As the days go buy, Mariah is about to pull her hair out, as Jack seems to want to ruin her carefully perfect life. First chewing up things he shouldn’t, piddling where he shouldn’t, and finally ruining the Christmas Caroling in the park performance. However, with each and every day, the spastic little mutt starts worming his way into Mariah’s heart, despite her intentions to just care for him long enough to prove herself responsible for Princess. That is until poor Jack is blamed for something he didn’t do, and ends up lost and on the street, forcing Mariah to come to grips with her conflicted feelings about the rambunctious pup.

You can obviously tell that Mariah Carey has infused a LOT of the story with her experiences with the real life Jack, despite him coming into her life as an adult. The warmth and frustration levels that are displayed with the little dog are ssoooooooooooooooooooo accurate if you’ve ever been a dog owner. Especially of a Jack Russel (One of my two dogs that I have now is a Jack Russell/Whippet mix, and he was pretty much Jack to a T when he was a puppy. Going even so far as to chew the siding off the back of the house when he was teething). At the same time, the film IS rather cliched and strained at the edges. Things are entirely too predictable at times, and the dialog feels like it was written by the B staff, rather than the A writing crew. The same thing goes for the animation, as it is definitely some really low priced CGI, looking more like a Barbie movie in terms of how much effort went into the presentation. Still, while it’s not a genuine masterpiece, All I Want for Christmas is You has its charms, and the definite heart and love for the little guy comes seeping through every pore.




Rating:

Rated G for General Audiences



Video:

All I Want for Christmas Is You comes to Blu-ray with a rather simplistic style of CGI animation (it reminds me of the Barbie movies in terms of cheap computer animation), but one that is actually really well done in regards to the transfer. The 1.78:1 framed AVC encoded Blu-ray is actually really sharp, with wonderfully saturated colors to enjoy. The animation style doesn’t lend itself towards animating each and every hair on Mariah’s head, but you do see enough little details around her house, such as the little bits of fur on Jack’s body, or the intricate designs on her Christmas decorations. Black levels are deep and inky, and I saw no signs of any major artifacting anywhere in the 91 minute film. It’s not going to rival a Disney or Pixar films, but there is nothing at all wrong with the transfer for this one in any way.





Audio:

When it comes to these lower tier kids movies, you can usually predict just what type of soundtrack will be on the disc. As usual, it’s a very competent mix that is more than a little front heavy for the majority of the run time, but also gets a bit more immersive with the surrounds when Mariah breaks into song. LFE is soft, but ample enough to act as a good low end support for the musical numbers, or the occasional crash as Grandpa Bill falls out off of the neighbors roof. The songs by Mariah are easily the high point of the track, filling out a rather talky affair with a warmth and sense of fullness that belies the low budget nature of the film.
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Extras:

• A Wish Come True: Making Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You

Final Score: ​

Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas is You isn’t going to be a holiday classic like the Charlie Brown’s Christmas or others of that ilk, but it did surprised me by being a cute little Christmas story about a girl and her puppy with some memorable songs by Mariah herself throughout the 91 minute film. One of the biggest draws is that the film is a GENUINE G rated film (something that’s become increasingly harder to find as even Disney/Pixar films get a PG rating for the most part), and has a heartfelt (if not cliched) message about a child falling in love with their first pet surrounding a simple Christmas shell. Technical specifications are really well done for those looking to buy (and the movie luckily priced to sell), and worth a rental if you have young kids in the house, or just enjoy Mariah Carey’s music in general. Cute watch for the kids.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Mariah Carey, Henry Winkler, Breanna Yde, Connie Jackson
Directed by: Guy Vasilovich
Written by: Temple Matthews
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Universal
Rated: G
Runtime: 91 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 14th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Cute Kids Movie

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. We will try and catch this one for the holidays.