Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Letters to Santa’ on Hallmark, in Which A Marriage is Saved by Family Meddling and a Magic Pen

Hallmark tries to tell a different kind of Christmas story complete with marital strife and Spanish speaking in Letters to Santa. Young siblings Sam (Kellen Raffaelo) and Izzy (Taylor Pezza) use a “magic pen” to send Santa letters in hopes of bringing their estranged parents Enrique (Rafael de la Fuente) and Rebecca (Katie Leclerc) back together. Are holiday magic and a little meddling enough to prevent divorce?

LETTERS TO SANTA: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Married couple musician Enrique (Rafael de la Fuente) and author Rebecca (Katie Leclerc) have been separated for the past four months. While they continue to work together with a couples counselor and had hoped to reconcile before Christmas for the sake of their children Sam (Kellen Raffaelo) and Izzy (Taylor Pezza), the holidays are upon them and they are still having trouble getting on the same page.

Their problems began when Enrique used the advance from Rebecca’s latest children’s book to invest in his mother Camilla (Laura Cerón) and late father’s family-owned Mexican restaurant. Things then went from bad to worse when Enrique gave up on his musical aspirations to become the general manager of the restaurant and started getting closer to his new assistant general manager, flirty part-time Zumba teacher Candy (Mariana Paola Vicente). Rebecca adds fuel to the fire when she starts bonding with her book’s new illustrator, affable Brit, Liam (Harry Aspinwall), who Enrique immediately sees as potential competition.

Hoping to heal the rift between their parents, Sam and Izzy use a “magic pen” they got from a man dressed as Santa Claus to write Santa letters to try to help the situation with everything from flowers for Rebecca to a full-out plea to bring their parents back together. When Izzy’s first wish for a puppy is answered, they believe the magic pen is real, when in reality Camilla and Enrique’s little sister, Maria (Deanna Tarraza), are working behind the scenes to intercept the letters and help give the family a special Christmas. Will their meddling be enough to make the kids’ wish for a whole and healed family come true?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Letters to Santa is very much like Elf in that it’s a movie about a person writing a book about the events that happen in this movie. And also there’s a grown man from out of town who is a human being but thought by some to be an elf.

Also I found it nearly impossible to watch the end of Letters to Santa where Enrique is strumming his guitar and singing at Rebecca without being reminded of the Barbie movie scene where the Kens serenade the Barbies with Matchbox Twenty’s song “Push.”

Performance Worth Watching: For me, beyond the obvious standout of the ADORABLE golden retriever puppy, Noel, props must be given to Harry Aspinwall for doing a great job embracing the silliness and campiness that are often innate to the Christmas movie genre.

While his role of Liam was mostly in the story as a vehicle to add some conflict between Rebecca and Enrique, Aspinwall made the character pretty darn delightful and likable as he repeatedly and patiently withstood Sam and Izzy’s inquiries into his suspected elf heritage while also hanging out with Rebecca, Enrique, and their extended family as a pleasant and unobtrusive presence.

Memorable Dialogue: “That should be dad dancing with mom, not some stupid elf!” I love Sam and Izzy’s steadfast belief that Liam is an elf just because he’s British and seemed to appear out of nowhere. I still can’t believe that they asked him if he had “Earth parents.” Kids say the darnedest things!

A Holiday Tradition: Every year, instead of sending out a Christmas card, Enrique and his family make and share a Christmas video complete with TikTok trend-esque choreographed dancing to some up-tempo holiday tunes.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Letters to Santa revolves around letters sent to “Santa” and the reaction or gift that each letter spurs so yes, the title is straight-forward and makes plenty of sense.

Our Take: Letters to Santa was kind of wild in that from the get-go, things were noticeably rough between its main couple, Rebecca and Enrique, and they honestly didn’t seem to get much better. The two lack chemistry for the majority of the movie, and also spend much of it being completely unable to effectively communicate with one another. Though they are separated and seeing a couples therapist to actively work on their marriage, they still both seem to entertain flirtations with people in their professional lives, which suggested to me that they aren’t really as committed to one another as they’d like to think. If anything, they’re brought together more by their children than enduring love for and understanding of one another. The effort they finally make for one another comes late enough that it feels like an afterthought and the bare minimum, especially after watching them struggle to be on the same page for most of the movie.

There were some funny moments, though several were unintentional or just the direct result of Sam and Izzy being precocious and borderline rude in the way that kids tend to be (seriously, I never got tired of seeing them harass Liam for being a supposed elf). More than that, though, there were odd moments and threads that raised more questions than answers, which definitely became increasingly distracting as the film wore on. Could Camilla and Maria be arrested for routinely stealing Sam and Izzy’s mail? Why was that adorable dog Noel so present in the first 20 minutes of the film and then seemingly disappeared for much of the rest of it (seriously, where’d she go, is she okay)? What was up with that Zumba montage? Why didn’t Enrique just communicate he was using his wife’s book advance to help his mom when she really needed the money instead of leaving Rebecca to feel betrayed and draw her own misguided? And does PlayStation have some sort of deal with Hallmark? There was just a lot that could leave a viewer scratching their head.

All of that being said, I want to at least give Letters to Santa points for incorporating the diversity and multiculturalism that is often lacking from many Hallmark films. It was nice to have the Spanish language naturally baked into the story and its characters’ lives, and honestly interesting to see how the relationship between Enrique’s family’s connection to their Mexican heritage varied depending on their life experience, generation, and how they were raised. So while this wasn’t the best movie overall, I genuinely hope that Hallmark continues trying to feature a wide array of voices and backgrounds to tell all the stories of people who have historically not seen as much representation on the platform.

Our Call: SKIP IT. While Enrique’s song at the end of the film was sufficient to save his marriage, it wasn’t quite enough to make Letters to Santa a memorable holiday must-watch.