Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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Eve is back and it’s not just to Mary Poppins another girl’s life but also to keep from being discontinued!
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| Director(s) | Steven Tsuchida | |
| Written By | Cameron Fay, Stacey Harman | |
| Date Released | 12/2/2018 | |
| Genre(s) | Family, Holiday, Comedy | |
| Good If You Like | Silly Comedies | |
| Noted Cast | ||
| Grace | Francia Raisa | |
| Eleanor | Nina Leon | |
| Lex | Alison Fernandez | |
| Eve | Tyra Banks | |
| Devin | David Shae | |
| Hyde | Rico Ball | |
| Carter | Michael Shenefelt | |
| Calum | Gavin Stenhouse | |
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Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve’s Plot (Ending on 2nd Page)
Rather than focus on a random person getting an Eve doll, now it is all about Grace. She is the daughter of the Eve doll creator, Eleanor, and with her mom in jail, she is also the CEO of Marathon Toys – which makes the Eve doll. That is, until, with Grace not taking her position seriously, and with Eleanor away for a few years, the company going downhill – fast. Thus putting the Eve doll on the chopping block.
However, thanks to Grace’s neighbor, Lex, who loves Eve, magic, and is a 12-year-old who is down for having a seance, they bring Grace’s childhood Eve doll to life. Leading to Eve working two jobs. The first being to save her brand from being discontinued and the 2nd thing is to help Grace believe in magic again. Maybe love a bit too. Though, with people like Devin hell-bent on taking over the company, and Grace’s reputation being horrible, can she save Marathon Toys or may she be forced to rebuild everything from the ground up?
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Other Noteworthy Facts & Moments
- Casey, from Life-Size gets multiple shout-outs throughout the movie. In fact, the reason Grace has the seance book is because Casey seemingly sent it to Eleanor. Which would have raised some fears for me but, you know, do what is necessary to push the story
Question(s) Left Unanswered
- Did Grace pay for all the outfits we saw Eve in?
- Where is Grace’s dad exactly?
On The Fence
Eve Adapted To Modern Times
One of the things which may give you pause about Life Size 2 is when we first meet Eve, there is a lot of innuendo. The kind which may go over kids heads but with how far the idea Eve slept with Grace is taken, maybe not. But, it’s not all awkward moments, Grace bringing up #MeToo and things like that. There, of course, is your usual holiday fun.
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The Story & Romance
Essentially, this is a holiday movie. With that in mind, you know there isn’t going to be this overwhelming plot, tear-inducing performances, or anything like that. Well, there is a moment in the end which may get you teary-eyed, but only if you are sappy (like I am). But, one of the things this movie does iffy is note Grace’s issue with their hardworking mother and not present a sort of dual look to it.
Now, for Grace’s neighbor Lex, she seems to kind of get her mom works hard so she can have the life she has. Grace, on the other hand, it seems despite living in a mansion, the education she likely has, and the luxuries she enjoys, she isn’t all that grateful. Granted, your mom dedicating herself more to work than family leads to issues – especially when your dad isn’t in the picture at all. But you’d think by her age, with access to therapy and more, even the opportunity to work with her mom, she’d appreciate what her mom was trying to do. Not just in terms of fulfilling her dreams but giving Grace the opportunity to chase whatever would be her own.
Which is kind of another issue – we don’t really know what Grace wants, besides Calum, in the movie. Whether she wanted to get into toys, is not discussed. She is pretty much someone on auto-pilot and seemingly floundering until Eve comes into her life. And, let’s be honest, as Grace notes, Eve’s main purpose is saving her brand and life. Hence why Grace may end the movie happier, and with a boyfriend, but doesn’t seem to experience much in the way of development.
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Overall: Mixed (Divisive) | Purchase On (Amazon)
Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve is by no means a necessary sequel. While they do modernize Eve, try to make jokes about how out of touch she is, many of them fall flat. Then, when innuendo and things of that nature are used, it’s very uncomfortable and seems out of place. For it really does seem the spirit of what made the first movie interesting was forgotten. Ultimately leaving the film seemingly more about helping FreeForm have more original movies than anything else.
Yet, his is labeled mixed. Why? Well, Tyra Banks makes the most out of the role and no matter how awkward the moment, or cringey the story, she rolls with it. As for Raisa? Honestly? Like when she was on The Secret Life of the American Teenager
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