Lake of Ice Hockey Dreams
16-year-old Bobby Whiteside (Kristian Jackson) has been struggling ever since his best friend Charlie (Joe Perry) died on Christmas Eve the previous year. Having gone out to the lake where they had played many games of ice hockey during the winter months he is shocked to discover that in the dark night of night a perfect ice hockey rink appears. Unfortunately no one else can see it leaving him wondering why he is seeing it. Bobby's minor joy in having this ice rink is cut short when he learns that a developer wants to buy up all the land and homes around the lake, including his mum's leading to him trying to get the help of his school crush to prevent it from happening.
Like so many movies the intentions behind "A Miracle on Christmas Lake" are good as we have this storyline about a teenager struggling to deal with the loss of a friend, this is on top of his father having left years earlier with out explanation. It tries to combine a look at his struggles, his dislike for Christmas because that is when it all happened but with a touch of Christmas mystery and magic with the night time ice rink. In a way "A Miracle on Christmas Lake" felt like a movie which draws on "Field of Dreams" and also "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud".
The trouble with "A Miracle on Christmas Lake" is that it just doesn't feel like it comes together and has too many story threads going on from Bobby's issues with his older brother to his relationship with Karen including a mystery surrounding his dad abandonment to really blend. On top of that it has a very dour tone probably more dour than it needs to be especially when every now and then a lighter moment gets injected in to the mix which breaks the tone.
What is a shame about all this is the fact that "A Miracle on Christmas Lake" features some beautiful cinematography. I am on about the sort of camera work which is uncomplicated and just shows of the natural beauty of the places in which it was filmed.
What this all boils down to is that as a movie "A Miracle on Christmas Lake" doesn't quite come together as well as it could. And that is a shame as the movie is full of good intentions and nice cinematography.