Feliz NaviDAD
One would think that, at this point in time, it's a very good time to be Mario Lopez. Today we're taking a look at Feliz NaviDAD where he's that very rare male lead in a Hallmarky Romantic Holiday movie, the gang is getting back together, minus Screech for... reasons... and heading back to Bayside High, I'm sure he's still hosting a half dozen shows on various networks, but most importantly, the feather in his cap, the pièce de ré·sis·tance of his career, Mario will be starring in the Lifetime movie 'Recipe for Seduction'. A Colonel Harlan Sanders mini-movie, with Mario himself starring and KFC maven Colonel Sanders. Yes, we're going to spend the next couple of paragraphs talking about Feliz NaviDAD, but understand that my mind, spirit and soul is focused on Recipe for Seduction and little else.
David (Lopez) is the super hip, super hot principle at some high school in Arizona. I know he's hip because he did like a 12 minute hand slap with a student, and called his bestie Rudy (Frankie Quijones) 'homes' because that's something only hip school administrators do. He's also the father of the super adorable teenager Noel (Paulina Chavez) whose mom is dead. Dead moms all over the place in this one.
Also dropping in town to visit her dad for the holidays is Sophie (AnnaLynne McCord) the concert violinist? Cellist? French Hornist? I can't remember and it's not important. What is important is that she's musical and also hot and her mom his dead too.
So young Noel and her fellow mates are getting a bell choir ready for the Christmas Festival, even though they could use some help because they aren't that good. Principle David can't help because every year he takes a seasonal gig working for this realities version of UPS, which is very important because delivering packages is how he will meet Sophie, but it also allows David to wear what I imagine is the only tailor cut UPS uniform ever made for a delivery driver. Observe as David would turn to walk away after dropping off packages, and observe as the eyes were a dropping in appreciation. And now a movie that started out as rated TV-G, is now TV-Parental Guidance Highly Recommended! Finger Snap!
But as David's sister Marissa (Marycarmen Lopez) would exposition to us, David doesn't put on the uniform just to tease the ladies, he works for UPS every Christmas to keep his mind off the pain in his heart from losing his beloved. His daughter has had enough of sad sack dad and demands that he get back in the dating scene. They make him a profile, set him up on a date, he goes on the date and dang if Sophie isn't his first date. Sophie thought it was curious that her delivery man had a dating profile so she swiped left. Or right. Whichever one means yes, heck if I know. These are just practice dates between these two because Sophie is a member of the Phoenix philharmonic and she loves that job and isn't trying to leave it, while David is a principle with a daughter in school and isn't trying to leave his job either. No strings.
These two continue their practice dates, near miss kissing and everything, while getting even closer when Sophie agrees to coach the bell choir, which Noel has added an acapella remix to their set. Even Noel loves Sophie (dead mom bonding) so the path for David looks like it's pretty clear, but despite the fact these two beautiful people clearly belong together, they really can't. Distance and all. Plus David forgot the white gloves for the concert, which happened when he was being selfish by paying attention to himself while walking with Sophie, instead of focusing on his family. He is really beating himself up over this.
But it all works out! Sophie for some has white gloves at her house which saves Christmas, and David and Sophie decide they are gonna give it a go, despite the fact they live three hours apart, because they have discovered that they both have cars! And then they dance, everybody sings Feliz Navidad for what I imagine is the tenth time, and they kiss...maybe... at Christmas. I'm pretty sure this was filmed during the pandemic so while they came close to kissing a few times, I'm thinking Corona stopped them from being able to actually do it.
Directed by Sabrina the Teenage Witch, who also inserted herself into the movie via cameo to get some of that SAG loot as well as the director's guild credit, Feliz NaviDAD was a very cute little movie, and quite honestly I don't think I can expound on it much more that. Especially with Recipe for Seduction being so close. Mario Lopez is almost fifty and he looks pretty much the same, and has the same energy he did decades ago, AnnaLynne McCord's make up game was tight, and Disney Corp. should've kidnapped Paulina Chavez years ago since the kid can sing, dance, act, plays an instrument (I think) and does it all very well. Melissa Joan Hart might not be second coming of Francis Ford Coppola but she kept everything in this movie light and fun and moving forward, despite all the dead moms.
Now you would expect a Christmas movie set in sunny Arizona to be a little light on the vomit worthy elements we expect to see in our Romantic Holiday Movie, and there are some things missing such as snowball fights and snowmen building, but our young... uh, middle aged lovers did get a surprise snowfall while walking in the woods, though in actuality it looked like someone was standing above them in crane dropping down lint. We did manage to squeeze in some cookie baking, tree decorating, a gingerbread house scene, no traditional caroling but still a LOT of singing and dancing which is a worthy substitute, and because of this movie's strong Hispanic flavor we had numerous references to Hispanic holiday traditions as well. And lots and lots of Feliz Navidad. Sang it so much that even Jose Feliciano probably got a little sick of hearing it.
Feliz NaviDAD does the Romantic Holiday movie a little different, while still being exactly the same. And if you happen to be a Mario Lopez fan, which I'm guessing is a lot of women who were somewhere between the ages of 8 to 13 in the late 80's and early 90's, Mr. Lopez is sporting a tailor made UPS costume just for you.
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