Introduction
Hello everyone, welcome to the Mattacritic. This is Matthew Hemenway. In this episode of the Mattacritic, I will be reviewing and analyzing Lifetime’s movie called Feliz Navidad that is currently on Disney+. I will go over several topics in this episode. This movie will star Mario Lopez who plays David Morales who is a high school principal in a small town in Arizona and the name of the town is Pine star. One of the first things anyone can think of Mario Lopez is his role as AC slater in Saved by the Bell. This movie is directed by Melissa Joan Hart who has a small role in the movie, and she is well known for playing Sabrina the Teenage Witch which is an archie comic. David Morales has a tough time with dealing with his wife’s Isabella’s death around the Christmas season. He needs to stay busy so that he does not have to deal with the pain. His sister Marissa Morales tells him, Mom and Dad taught us about family and the importance of family. You cannot forget about family. You must realize that it is not the truth to why you work like this during the Christmas season. You do it to avoid the pain of losing your wife Isabella. Marissa points that out to her brother David. Noelle, David’s daughter, will find out the truth, and she with her aunt Marissa convince her father David to date again. She points out to her father that you will only heal if you start having a life again. I will give you my rating at the end of the review. I hope this episode will inspire you to read, watch, and learn.
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Rest of review and rating of Feliz NaviDAD
As was pointed out earlier in this review, David Morales who is played by Mario Lopez is struggling with his wife’s death. His wife’s name is Isabella. David lost his wife several years ago during the Christmas season. He struggles during Christmas, and he must stay busy to deal with the pain. It is easier to bury the pain than to deal with it. His daughter Noelle and his sister Marissa convince David to date again. David tells Marissa that the reason he takes the SSD job is because he must pay for Noelle’s college fund once she graduates high school. As Marissa points out to her brother David Morales, you do not need to do that. You do this job because you cannot deal with the pain of losing your wife Isabella. David tells Marissa that their dad worked 3 jobs. Marissa tells her brother David that dad always made time for Christmas. Mom and Dad always told us family is what matters. Noelle will overhear their conversation once she comes back to the kitchen to get her phone.
David Morales will encounter Noelle, his daughter, at the ice cream shop that they both like to go to. David Morales is Noelle’s high school principal as well as her dad. Noelle is a freshman at Pine Star high school that he is the principal at. Noelle tells her father that mom is still here. She compares it to science class that you cannot create energy or destroy energy. Energy will just transform into a different state. Mom is in a different state. That makes sense. Native Americans believe that the spirits can give their loved ones’ signs and if a person is looking for it, it will show up. It was mentioned in Haunted Mansion that sometimes spirits will communicate with their loved ones in ways that loved ones recognize. It could be by a train or simply as a dog being named Tater Tot.
This is mentioned in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. When Megatron thought that the All spark was destroyed, that was it. The Fallen told Megatron that it cannot be destroyed, it can only transform to something else. The knowledge of the All spark was absorbed by Sam Witwicky. This is what happened to David’s wife Isabella. She is now in a different state. She is a ghost.
David Morales tells his daughter Noelle that he will be at her rehearsals for the Frosty Fest. Noelle likes to perform by playing bells and singing. The actress that plays Noelle is attractive and has a great voice. Noelle tells him, you are not getting off that easy. You need to put yourself out there. David tells his daughter Noelle; he is not sure if he is ready to date again. Noelle points out to her father David that what have you always told me about swimming. David tells his daughter Noelle, you are never ready to swim, you just must jump in the water.
Noelle, David’s daughter, and David’s sister Marissa Morales set up an online dating profile on a dating website. David is reluctant to do this, but it is important for him to heal from the pain of losing his wife Isabella several years ago during the Christmas season. David will be first matched with Sophie who has been helping to deliver toys that her father Willard is selling to other people that are interested in them. David is wearing a blue shirt that Noelle, his daughter and Marissa, his sister tell him to bring out his eyes. David says he wants to wear the red sweater vest. They say no, you must wear this as this will work better as the blue shirt is your power shirt. They tell him, this is why you need us.
David will get to the coffee shop, and he is waiting for his date. He found out that it was Sophie. David tells Sophie that he has been out of the dating game for a while. Sophie tells him that she felt that he would be a great practice date. David already knew Sophie since he had been helping her, and her father Willard delivered the toys that he had been selling. Willard tells David that the reason he is selling the toys is because this gives him an excuse to spend time with his daughter Sophie and that this helps him to deal with the pain of losing his wife and Sophie’s mother.
This makes a common bond for Sophie and Noelle since they both lost their mothers. They develop a good relationship and Sophie helps Noelle with private lessons to sing. Noelle loves music and Sophie is a professional musician for the Phoenix Symphony. Sophie told David on their first practice date that she loves classical music. Sophie will be recruited by David to help his high school with their music club. Sophie agrees to do that, and this will help Jesse Vargas who has been leading the music club. He is a baseball coach of the high school baseball team. This is not his forte, but he is doing the best he can. He told his friend David Morales who happens to be the principal and his boss, if we are to succeed at this; we need a professional to help these kids. David listened to his friend Jesse Vargas and got them a professional musician who can get these kids ready for the Frosty Fest.
Sophie is concerned about the effect of her dating David, Noelle’s father. Noelle told Sophie that she encouraged her father to date and that he wanted him to be happy. My mother was a wonderful woman, but she would want my father to be happy and not to just run away from his pain and life. My father is a wonderful man, and he deserves to have someone to love him like my mother did when she was alive.
David Morales will date other women and run into a woman who is played by Melissa Joan Hart. She will tell David that this will not work as you are a libra and I am a cancer. She knew that by what the stones told her. David will go away disappointed.
David will date a woman who is fitness nut. She is obsessed with fitness. I would have been freaked out too. I like to exercise, but she takes that to the next level of crazy.
David will date a woman who is nice, but he does not have chemistry for her. He tells her, the reason he is dating is because his daughter encouraged him to do so. She will tell him, you will be okay David, you just need to follow your heart. She gave him a number to her therapist. David will see Sophie at the restaurant.
The dates that David enjoys are his practice dates with Sophie. He will run into Sophie and tell her when she is at her father’s house that he enjoys dates with her. David tells Sophie that the dates he has been on have been disasters. He has had no chemistry with the women he has been on dates with. It is understandable to that affect to why that is. The viewer will see that he has no chemistry with these women and the chemistry he has is with Sophie. David will meet Sophie at the park and is walking on the trails with Sophie. He loses track of time and realizes he forgot the white gloves that he needed to get from the dry cleaners for the kids to play the bells. Marissa, David’s sister tells him, let us break the glass. Noelle will point out to her aunt Marissa, that it will not work.
Sophie will come to the rescue with white gloves that her mother had when her mother was alive. This will help the kids in the Frosty Fest competition. What song do they sing in Frosty Fest? If you know the answer, leave your answer in the comment section below. Thank you.
As not to be revealed, nothing more will be revealed here. It does bring the viewer to the climax of the story of this movie.
I will give you, my rating. I give Feliz Navidad a 10 out of 10. It was fun but told a very wonderful story. It touched on David Morales’ pain and helped the viewer to understand why he stayed busy like he did. He was running from his pain and his sister Marissa, and his daughter Noelle pointed that out to him. They tell him you need to go out and date and have a life. You cannot run away from what life has brought you; you must face it. You do not face that alone; we all need to love and be loved. We all need friends in our lives and that special someone to share our story with. No story is just our own, it is shared with others. I have a great friend, and I hope she will know what she means to me. She told me to focus on the light not on the darkness that life can bring. It helps and I thank her for giving me that advice. It is a big help.
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Music: A Day to Remember from Microsoft’s Clipchamp Video Editor
References:
Feliz NaviDAD and picture from Disney+
Haunted Mansion (2023) and picture
Images from Google images for Feliz Navidad
One sheet for Saved by the Bell from Google Images
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