The adventure film Journey to the Christmas Star is now available on DVD just in time for the holiday. Featuring a very enjoyable quest the movie is perfect for the whole family.
Little Princess Goldenhair is the daughter of the king of an enchanted land in Norway. At Christmas time she asks her mother the Queen if she can put the Christmas Star in the sky at the top of their tree. The Queen tells her that it’s too high up in the sky and cannot be brought to the tree. Also in the castle is the wicked cousin who wants to become king when he dies, but cannot do so unless he is childless.
The cousin tells Goldenhair that she can find the Christmas Star in the forest after making a pact with the evil witch that lives there. When Goldenhair goes into the forest the evil witch makes her disappear. The King curses the Christmas Star and it disappears from the heavens. He consults a profit who tells him that he must find the Christmas Star before 10 years are up or never see his daughter again. So beings a story of sadness that may not ever be resolved, that is until a young girl named Sonja arrives at the castle on the final day.
The film plays out extremely well in this adventure and family drama. The story, a favorite Christmas tale from Norway, takes a few twists and turns under the direction of Nils Gaup, making it intriguing and enjoyable to watch. The cast does a good job of portraying the characters making them interesting and convincing. I especially liked Vilde Marie Zeiner as Sonja a young 12-year old with very good acting ability. She follows her director’s prompts and turns in a wonderful performance as the Cinderella like character who escapes the confines of her captive life among thieves.
The cinematography showing the wintery magical land, computer graphics that bring a measure of wizardry to the making and the colorful costuming are a big part of the story that shines for Christmas. The filming makes this little indie a big production with not only the magic of the kingdom expressed, but even the dank street urchin home where Sonja lives add to the feeling of a dismal existence of some of the people of the kingdom.
Journey to the Christmas Star has a PG rating pending and may be a might scary for the very young tots. The evil witch and the dreadful cousin do tend to add a measure of daunting to the movie, but it shouldn’t frighten most children who watch the Nickelodeon or even some of the Disney films like Snow White that has a wicked witch or even The Wizard of Oz.
The video quality with its widescreen version Letterbox 2.35:1 is very good with this DVD format. The visuals are clear and clean and even the dark shots are well lighted. If you have a Blu-ray player and a HD 16×9 television you may get an even better presentation. The sound quality with the Dolby Digital 5.1 is very clear and the dialogue very understandable.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Vilde Zeiner, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Agnes Kittelsen
Director: Nils Gaup
MPAA Rating: PG pending
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Running Time: 1 hr 20 min
Video Release Date: November 5, 2013
Language: English
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Widescreen version Letterbox 2.35:1
Subtitles: CC
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: Vertical Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
