A Very Merry Toy store (2017) *Merry Sh*tmas 2017*
Once upon a time there were two best friends, that opened a toy store. The store was named 'Fosters Toys' after the friend that put up more money. Eventually his partner became so bothered that his surname wasn't included, that he opened his own store and named is 'Denova's Toys', after himself. Denova was so petty he even opened his competing store on the same street.
The movie get points for featuring a black Princess Alicia doll (literally Princess Tiana in a different colored dress) as the toy that everyone is going crazy over this year. The two current owners of each toy store are still rivals and looking forward to a busy holiday season, selling their Princess Alicia dolls.
Melissa Joan Hart plays Corrine Foster, her father left 'Fosters Toys' to her. She's a wonderful mom and basically a perfect person. Corrine keeps her family close; she doesn't have any female friends in this movie and is a widow, but she's always surrounded by her son, mother and her brother who is an idiot, played up for comic relief. Sometimes it works. Most of the time it doesn't.
Will Denova( Mario Lopez) is the nephew who inherited the toy store from his uncle. He is a divorcee(of course) and is immediately painted as a a jerk. He discourages his customers from checking out his competition when they ask questions about 'Fosters Toys', which is much bigger and profitable. Corrine on the other hand honestly shares information about Denova's because she's a good girl.
So the two owners don't like each other, they sneer at one another every morning as they open their respective shops. They also have financial issues this holiday season. Corrine is in danger of losing her store because she can't afford the mortgage (or something). Will wants to buy back the really big house that he used to live in with his ex wife.The ex-wife that cheated on Will, with his best friend. Guess Will is a glutton for painful memories or something.
Both toy sellers are gearing up for a routine Christmas season until a third toy store, a gigantic one, pops into town a month before Christmas. The store is 'Roy Barnes Toys', a chain toy store. It's huge, like a Walmart. Speaking of Walmart, does this town not have one? Are their only local toy shops or...?
Roy Barnes, the "toy mogul" is a bad guy. He bribes officials, he lies, he even sponsors the kid racing against Corrines son in a sledding competition. The guy is a real Scrooge.
Corrine, the resourceful woman she is, immediately files an injunction through some loophole of Roys "pop up toy store". The City Council comprised of three people will vote to get rid of his store but the vote won't happen until Christmas Eve. Will and Corrine team up in order to attempt to take down the ginormous store and the dishonest rich guy behind it. When Roy realizes the local competition is fierce he begins to plays dirty.
Roy tries to steal the limited quantity Princess Alicia dolls, by having the manufacturer send them to his store instead. Luckily Corrine and Will intercept them and have them ready for the customers that pre ordered them to pick them up the following day . Then the next day no customers turn up.... Roy ended up having the singer from the movie that Alicia is based off of, perform at his store. (The singer is white btw, even though the doll is black.) So the customers would rather see a show than actually get the dolls they pre-ordered? The parents will still get the dolls after the concert right? If they paid for the merchandise already does it even make a difference to the store owners? If they pick up the doll after the show, does that a make a difference to the store owners? The Princess Alicia doll should still be a hot commodity after the sudden concert ends.
During their fight against the toy mogul the two shop owners fall for one another. Their first kiss happens after the words "I hate it too." and they kiss each other with their mouths open. I thought this was a family movie.
Corrines mother (also a widow) and her idiot brother also find love this holiday season. A lot can happen in a months time.
No one EVER looks cold in this movie and there are a ton of "outside" scenes with cheap sets and green screen. The worst part of the film is the sledding competition, it's terrible. It looks like someone playing a bob sled video game. Their is zero tension because we know Corrines son is going to win and he does. Why did they add this to the movie?
The winter love story unravels like a Princess Alicia doll wrapped on Christmas morning.
Will gets a bit discouraged when someone puts an offer on the house he wants to buy because he doesn't have enough for the down payment. Then Roy has a 80% off toy sale at his store a few days before Christmas and Corrine really gets pissed. She drives all the way to Roys CT office and Roy offers her a dirty deal. Work for him at his toy store and he would even buy her shop, he knows about her financial troubles. Corrine tells Barnes "You know what you can do with your offer." and barges out. Then the bank suddenly rescinds Corrines extension because of Barnes threat to take his money to a different bank. The star on the decaying Christmas tree is that when Corrine goes to tell Will about everything Will reveals to her that he took Roys deal. He agreed to work for Roy and would let him buy his store. It's a cheap ploy to add tension to the story and doesn't seem like something Wills character would actually do..... Why does Will commit this egregious act of betrayal? He needs that money to the buy the nice house he lived in with his cheating ex wife. He even ,says to Corrine. "I want that house."
To add insult to injury, The board votes 2 to 1 to allow Roys' store to remain in town which the mayor claimed would not happen, because the mayor gave one of the board members his kidney. After the results of the vote are read, the mayor turns to other member shocked "You ingrate, I gave you my kidney!" To which he responds "I support free marketplace."
I actually chuckled during that exchange.
Corrines stupid brother claims that he saw Roy and the other council member together exchanging money. Corrine accuses Roy of bribery but doesn't have any proof. After watching all of this play out, Will tells Roy that he doesn't want to work for him anymore. He says "I will stick to humans from now on." (Clever writing from Lifetime)
Corrine decided to forgive Wills betrayal after watching him call Roy a liar. Corrine isn't hard to please I see. Will then redeems himself when he admits to Corrine that the money he was saving for his down payment, to buy the house his wife banged his friend in, to make the payment extension on Corrines store.
Everything ties up neatly like a Christmas bow. Because of Corrines brother stupidly recording the gas station across the street from their store, and not their actual store, they find video evidence of Roy bribing that City Council member. The bad toy store owner disappears. As the movie ends Corrine and Will get married, in their toy store because , why wouldn't they? I can't help but wonder...is the marriage just a ploy to get Corrine to take the last name Denova so that the toy store can finally be called Denova's Toys? Now that's the type of Lifetime movie I want to see.
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