Mystic Christmas stars Jessy Schram and Chandler Massey as the main leads. This is written by Nicole Drespel, who was actually a writer for Broad City.
The director here is Marlo Hunter, who has no other Hallmark credits, and it looked like she was quite new to directing. I think she’s quite new to directing, at least professionally.
Mystic Christmas is about an animal expert who answers a call for help from an old friend and puts her in the path of an ex at Christmas.
Mystic Christmas Review
First of all, I had committed the bad practice of judging a film by its poster. This movie looked bad from the poster and the previews. I was proven wrong by a cute, funny, and heartfelt movie that I really enjoyed.
There wasn’t much Christmas in it, though. It definitely kind of just got jammed in with the October round of movies. But I still enjoyed it as much, if not more, than most of the movies we’ve seen in October 2023.
I didn’t know that there was a Mystic Aquarium and that this movie would showcase one of its real-life missions, which is rescuing and rehabilitating marine mammals. OK, so it gets points for authenticity, right?
I was more excited about all of the food references, the pastries, and the pizza than the actual Seal storyline and even the romantic storyline.
I think the biggest criticism was the lack of Christmas in this one. It felt like an afterthought, and I think you can’t just plop Christmas in as a backdrop. I think it’s a missed opportunity to not explore specific Christmas themes in your Christmas movie.
The writing was generally good; there were some great comedic beats. Something I don’t usually like, but it didn’t bother me too much here was all the different storylines. Sometimes, that feels like the movie is a bit more like a miniseries. I actually didn’t feel like that here, and I think they all kind of were paced well.
The writing was pretty tight, and none of the storylines suffered at all. However, none of them were amazing either; I just felt like it was lacking more tenderness.
Mystic Christmas Filming Locations
Filming for “Mystic Christmas” took place in southeast Connecticut. Synthetic Cinema International shot this shortly after shooting “Where Are You Christmas?” in Connecticut. The film completed its filming in late May or early June.
Filming took place at several beautiful locations in Mystic, Connecticut, such as The Seaport Museum, Olde Mistick Village, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and Mango’s Pizza. The characters had fun at Friar Tuck’s Tavern’s quiz night as well.
The film also included scenes from the Mystic Seaport, the Treworgy Planetarium, the Mystic Printing Office, the Anchor Mystic diner, a Lantern Village celebration, and a boat parade that actually happened.
Cork The Seal
Some compelling scenes from “Mystic Christmas” were filmed at the Mystic Aquarium. We, as viewers, get to see some lovely seals in this film, and all of those scenes were shot there. A harbor seal named Cork plays the role of the Peppermint, the seal at the Mystic Aquarium.
After being saved in Maine, Cork is currently a part of the rescue and recovery program at Mystic. It would be impossible to put Cork back into the wild since he is too used to humans. Mystic has been his home since 2013.
Actually, he got the part in the movie because of his love for others. Initially, a different seal called Pearl was selected, but she was camera shy. On the other hand, Cork loved being in front of the camera and was selected for the part.
Patti Murin, who plays Candice, Juniper’s best friend in the film, said that she finds comfort in Hallmark films and enjoys working on these endearing and positive movies.
Hallmark fans have been giving this film good reviews; some have said they admire the idea of a couple who doesn’t have many major misunderstandings ruining their relationship, as well as the notion of another chance at love. It will be rebroadcast during the holiday season if you haven’t seen it already or would like to see it again.
