Stars: 4/5
A movie where Ned Bigby, star of “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” and Harper Finkle, Alex Russo’s best friend on “Wizards of Waverly Place” are in a love triangle is intriguing enough, but make it a Christmas movie and I’m sold.
In this fun twist on a classic holiday tale, Santa Claus (Barry Bostwick) is a businessman who runs his workshop like a huge multi-million-dollar corporation and wants his daughter Cassie Claus (Jennifer Stone) to one day take over the family business.
Even though everyone in the North Pole can do magic, ever since Mrs. Claus died the magic has been taken from Santa and Cassie, and neither of them has been as happy since. Santa even went on a health binge and even says “no cookie tastes as good as healthy feels.”
I’m sorry Mr. Claus but I’ll have to disagree with you on that one.
Wanting to explore and meet new people, months before Cassie secretly applied to a college in the real world. She finds out she gets in and her father is not happy. Along with not wanting her to leave home, Cassie must also marry the son of Jack Frost (Hank Stone), JR (Joshua Cody), to form alliance with the two families and save the Claus business.
Even with the arranged marriage soon approaching, Santa allows Cassie to go study abroad at the college for a few months as long as she promises to come back and marry JR. Cassie agrees to keep her promise, so she goes to college, with her personal elf Pep (McKayla Witt).
Between being in a new place and taking hard classes college is stressful enough, well imagine having your family being in charge of Christmas too. That’s a whole lot of stress for one girl to handle, but that’s exactly what Cassie Claus had to deal with.
Santa warns Cassie not to let people know of her true identity in order to fit in. He tells her she’s special and that often people fear others who are different and extraordinary.
Cassie tried to do just that, be normal and fit it in, but she was a little confused by everything and overwhelmed with being away from home from the first time. Fortunate enough for Cassie, on her first day a very cute boy offers to help her and even asks her out.
Now, everyone’s college experiences are different, but I’d like a do over of my first day of college now that I know that could be an option.
Cassie tries her best to be chill, but her Christmas spirit would often come out, like when she paid for everyone’s drinks at the school’s coffee shop to make friends. She even overhears a boy who doesn’t have enough money to pay for their textbooks at the bookstore and gives him $500 instantly.
If I ever saw someone do this, my faith in humanity would definitely be restored, and this scene shows Cassie’s heart. Everyone was shocked and asked her why she did it and she just couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t do it. She had the money and he didn’t, but he needed it more than she did. Just proof that Cassie was too pure for the real world.
Of course, shocked and grateful by this gesture, the boy named Sam (Devon Werkheiser) looks to find her to thank her and work on paying her back. Sam begins to fall for Cassie, along with the cute boy, and Cassie has to break it to them that she has a boy waiting for her back home.
Again, personally never been through the struggle of so many eligible bachelors fighting over me, but other than that most of this situation is super relatable.
Everyone struggles to find their place when they first get to college and figure out the ends and out of being an adult. People deal with certain things you’d never know about, and who knows someone might happen to daughter of Santa Claus.
This was a cheesy love story, which I typically don’t really go for, but during the holidays I’m a little more into corny romance stories. So, if you like corny Lifetime movies or anything of that nature, then this movie is for you. It’s a sweet holiday love story with just a pinch of magic.
The themes of the movie showcase how kindness and a pure heart can still be found in the world today. Some people may think it will never last, but no matter how you tell the story love always wins.
“Santa Girl” is a great quick watch on Netflix this holiday season. Take a break during studying for finals and watch this cute and festive film to get you in the Christmas spirit.