Noelle2019

**Verdict: 🚫 SKIP IT ** For the first 2/3, Noelle is barely a movie. Rather, it's a string of disjointed scenes with actors given very little direction and characters given no purpose. Case in point, Bill Hader had nothing to work with here, and Bill Eichner was on set which has never proven to be a good idea. We already saw the "Elf" plot line done much better, and the only other thing Noelle tried to add to the Christmas movie pantheon (a female Santa) was marred by Disney's insistence on showing inherently powerful females who don't need to work to achieve excellence, they're born into it. I gave them a pass with Mulan (2020) since she did grow in other ways, but Noelle just needed to fumble through the movie until everyone realized she, rather than her brother, was born with Santa powers. Noelle was a made-for-TV gift wrapped in Hallmark paper, tied with a lazy ribbon, and lovingly addressed from corporate Disney to what I can only imagine as their idea of the average neuron-deficient viewer. At least we get to see Julie Hagerty again.