Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Angela’s Christmas Wish’ on Netflix, a Heartwarming Animated Christmas Spinoff of ‘Angela’s Ashes’

Netflix continues to expand upon the hot crossover-franchise property of Angela’s Ashes with a second animated spinoff, Angela’s Christmas Wish. THE MCU HAD BETTER STAND DOWN, I SAY. I kid lightly, because Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer-winning “misery-lit” memoir just seems like a damn unlikely source for heartwarming Christmas cheer. This new, short-ish holiday fable is a sequel to 2017’s Angela’s Christmas, which was based on a story McCourt’s mother Angela told him and his brother Malachy McCourt, who served as narrator. Angela’s Christmas Wish is notable for its lack of involvement by any member of the McCourt family, writer/director Damien O’Connor crafting a wholly original story. Now let’s see if it’s worth 47 minutes of our family time.

ANGELA’S CHRISTMAS WISH: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: SOMEWHAT SHOCKINGLY FOREBODING SUBTITLE: LIMERICK, IRELAND, 1913. Young Angela (voice of Lucy O’Connell), her three siblings and her Mam (Ruth Negga) bid their dear Da (Moe Dunford) adieu as he boards a boat for a long journey to Australia. ANOTHER SUBTITLE THAT EXPLAINS WHY THE FIRST ONE WAS SOMEWHAT SHOCKINGLY FOREBODING: TWO YEARS LATER. Da is still gone. Mam is kind of tense — wouldn’t you be, if you were raising four kids by yourself for two years? It’s Christmas Eve, and Angela is talking to the plaster Baby Jesus she stole back in Angela’s Christmas because she was worried he was cold in church. Notably, Baby Jesus is wearing a sweater now.

Angela yearns for a fancy doll in the window display in the local toy and hosiery shop and, like a typical kid, kind of won’t shut up about it. Her yearnings may not be feasible, because the family appears to be a bit financially strapped. Their home is modest, small and sparse; the four kids share a room, but we don’t get the impression that anyone’s starving. The family’s collective yearning is for Da to come home for Christmas, but that may not be feasible either. Angela and her brother Tom (Oscar Butler) decide they’ll surprise Mam by finding a way to bring Da home, and their initial instinct to grab a spade and start digging perhaps reflects their geographical ignorance. Their inevitable further adventures — hey guess what, the digging plan didn’t work — involve an old man with a pregnant cow and the veterinary services he can’t afford, and the vet’s daughter Dorothy (Lola Metcalfe), all elements that somehow tie into the main story about wishing Da was back in Limerick for the holidays. It all works, somehow.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The financially underprivileged folk in Angela’s Christmas Wish are very A Christmas Carol Dickensian in a make-the-best-of-it/the-holiday-is-about-togetherness/god-bless-us-everyone kind of way. It also isn’t afraid to have a little religious subtext to it, which brings to mind the immortal TV special Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey.

Performance Worth Watching: Turns out plaster Baby Jesus is a very good listener.

Memorable Dialogue: The kids share what they miss most about Da, then Angela wonders, “What do you think Mam misses?” I know the answer to that one: A good, old-fashioned hard and heavy co-parenting partner. (What’d you think I was going to say? This is a kid’s movie!)

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Yep — “toy and hosiery” shop. There’s your clue that Angela’s Christmas Wish is a comedy despite the difficult everyday realities of its protagonists. Although it definitely stinks for Angela’s family to be without their dad/husband, this is all pretty low-stakes — conflicts range from Angela and Tom being too loud in the library to their playing hide-and-seek behind coal piles with a guard at the docks to the UNBEARABLE suspense of whether or not the pregnant cow will suffer complications during delivery. One subplot involves the veterinarian’s snobbery towards lesser-privileged tykes like Angela, so the class divide is alive and well in this world. But O’Connor makes sure to emphasize that the guy works so much to afford the big house, he never plays with his children.

So this isn’t just an empty-headed experience; nor is it loud, cloying, burdened with slapstick and grating pop songs, or laden with catchphrases that would sound just ducky coming out of an electronic doll with an MSRP of $69.99. The animation is a bit dated-looking, but that’s a minor gripe. Angela’s Christmas Wish is warm, unassuming and mostly light in tone, and it sends the right anti-materialist yuletide message. It’s about kind, lightly flawed people who generally do the right thing. And hey, let’s cheer for something that isn’t A Very Heavily Branded Merchandising Opportunity Holiday Advertisement/Special!

Our Call: STREAM IT. Angela’s Christmas Wish isn’t the most thrilling holiday special, but it’s good, solid family entertainment. It’s definitely more ho-ho-ho than no-no-no.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Angela's Christmas Wish on Netflix