I love Olivia Newton-John and have been a fan since 1974 during her country/pop crossover stuff. Her turn in "Grease" made her a Megastar. When I read she was making a Christmas movie I couldn't wait to see it and after "Xanadu" and "Two Of A Kind" I had some high hopes. Guess my hopes were a tad too high as I really didn't get into this movie one bit. If one really watches it can see it was a custom made role for ONJ who was into family friendly projects due to her own daughter. But let's not push all the blame on Olivia but let's look at it as a whole.

First off it's a fantasy and even a fantasy can overdo it and that was the case here. A widowed father accepts a strange lady into his home and has no issues with it. A little girl feeling alone during the holidays because her mother passed away and she misses her. A mannequin dresser feels sorry for her and grant's her a wish to have a mother for the Christmas holiday. A overworked dad has no time for his daughter because work comes first yet somehow show's no signs of sorrow for his late wife. A thin often told plot but no real story to support it.

I expected a lot more from this movie and I will be honest that Doug Sheehan and Doris Roberts are favorites of mine not to mention Olivia Newton-John. Yes it's a TV movie and yes it's a fantasy and one where they could have pushed the envelope and still kept it family friendly. The whole plotline to me is thin and was for what I saw a vehicle to feature Olivia Newton-John and nothing more. I do have the DVD but rarely what it. I don't mind fantasies but when they don't really tell a good story they tend to become boring.

I'm not sure if anyone could have saved this from becoming just another Christmas movie. Even the house fire scene wasn't that powerful. Want to watch a mannequin come to life movie I'd recommend "Mannequin". Many have given this movie high ratings mainly for (I believe) Olivia Newton-John starring in it but she isn't a actress who could have pulled this role off and come out a winner. Again I'm a huge fan of her's but this movie to me was a time waster and nothing more.

A Mom For Christmas stars Olivia Newton John(Sandy Dee from Grease)in a family fantasy drama about a young girl named Jessie who still isn't over the death of her mother and goes to a department store where she wishes to have a mom for the Christmas season.

Synopsis: When Jessie meets a mysterious shop clerk named Philomena after being teased by a bunch of young kids in a department store as Jessie is hooked on a mannequin who is posing with a family,Jessie wishes that she wants a mom for Christmas and that night her wish came true as a quirky young woman named Amy(Olivia Newton John)comes into Jessie's home as she is greeted by Jessie's father and Amy poses as a nanny in order for Jessie's dad not to get suspicious. Of course Jessie's wish comes with a warning,she can only keep Amy till Christmas as she will turn back as a mannequin once Christmas Eve kicks in. So will Jessie be able to keep Amy alive forever and be her actual mom with her widowed father.

Overall: I haven't seen this film before as it came out in 1990 and someone mentioned that it was like that 1999 film Life Size with Tyra Banks and Lindsay Lohan. It sorta does but it reminds me of Mannequin except everyone can see Amy alive whereas in Mannequin it was just Andrew McCartney's character that seen Kim Caterell's character alive. The story was very predictable as I knew from the get go what was going to happen e.g young girl wants a mom for Christmas,turns out its a mannequin,mannequin has a certain time extent to stay alive,she turns back as a mannequin again,girl mourns,mannequin comes to life ,the end. Olivia looks different in this film since it was her Disney debut and she had long hair and bangs in this film(her accent never changed though since she's from Sydney Australia). The young girl that plays Jessie reminds me of a cross between Anna Clumsky and Katherine Heigl. If you wanna track it down its on YouTube. Its a charming sweet film that's suitable to watch for the Holiday season .

31st December 2018

The only reason I'm giving this movie a decent rating is because of its affect on childhood. I do not consider it a quality film...

This is hands down the one film that has scarred me more than any other. And I'm a huge movie buff and watched countless movies as a child. The second film would be Ernest Scared Stupid. Followed by a few Tales from the Crypt episodes. The last one makes sense, but it was always the films that weren't even horror movies that really scared me in a deep way.

I remember the first time I watched this so vividly. I was at my babysitter's apartment around the age of 4. It was storming outside, much like in the film when the mannequin first comes alive (at least from what I remember). That first transformation had me covering my eyes and my heart beating extremely fast in fear. My mother looked like Olivia Newton John at the time and I imagined her becoming a mannequin. The whole idea of the mom in the film being so perfect and fake really scared me psychologically, especially knowing she was actually a manufactured piece of plastic who somehow acquired a soul. After seeing this movie I couldn't go to clothing stores. I kept seeing the mannequins coming to life. In fact I still see this sometimes when I go to the store, for a split second I will think they are real people and get a shiver down my spine. I might have thought this before I saw the movie and it may have been one of the reasons I was so afraid originally.

For years I couldn't remember the name of this movie. I searched for 'movie with a mannequin coming to life' and it kept giving me the 80s movie Mannequin. But I finally found this one and watched half of it on online in the middle of the night at my grandmother's. I was 23 this time and it still scared the sh*t out of me and I had to stop watching it. Its imprinted into my brain. It sparked a deep fear inside me that will never get out.

I was a very anxious child and would have nightmares every night. But I loved it. It gave excitement to my imagination and as I grew older I became obsessed with horror and the darkness in life. Nothing scares me anymore like the few movies and countless nightmares of my childhood. So I just want to thank the creators of this film for affecting me in such a positive way. There is no sarcasm here. But it is ironic that the idea of a film that is supposed to be so uplifting to some, can be so grotesque to others. That I think has been what has always frightened me throughout my lifetime more than anything mystical and fantastic.