The Christmas Dream Review: The Kingdom's First Stage-to-Screen Spectacle in Half a Century Delivers a Heavy Dose of Sentimental Spectacle.

Reportedly the first Thai musical in half a century, The Christmas Dream is directed by British filmmaker Paul Spurrier and offers up a fascinating mixture of modern and traditional elements. The film serves as a contemporary Oliver Twist that travels from the northern highlands to the bustling capital of Bangkok, adorned with old-school Technicolor visuals and plenty of heartstring-tugging musical highlights. Its songs are the work of Spurrier, accompanied by an orchestral score composed by Mickey Wongsathapornpat.

A Journey of Innocence and Ethics

Portrayed with a steely resolve but in a more diminutive frame, Amata Masmalai plays Lek, a pre-teen schoolgirl. She is forced to escape after her violent stepfather Nin (portrayed by Vithaya Pansringarm) fatally assaults her mother. Venturing forth with only her one-legged doll Bella for companionship, Lek is guided by a unyielding sense of right and wrong, directed toward a better life by the spirit of her deceased mother. Her quest is populated by a series of colorful characters who challenge her principles, including a spoiled rich girl in dire need of a true friend and a quack doctor hawking dubious miracle cures.

The director's love of the song-and-dance format is plain to see – or, more accurately, it is resplendent. Initial countryside sequences in particular capture the ruddy glow reminiscent of The Sound of Music.

Dance and Cinematic Flair

The choreography frequently has a lively visual energy. A memorable highlight breaks out on a corporate business park, which acts as Lek's introduction to the Bangkok rat race. With business executives cartwheeling in and out of a large mechanical cortege, this represents the singular moment where The Christmas Dream touches upon the abstract sophistication characteristic of classic era musical cinema.

Story and Song Limitations

Despite being richly orchestrated, a lot of the music is excessively bland musically and lyrically. Rather than strategically placing songs at key points in the plot, Spurrier saturates the film with them, apparently trying to mask a somewhat weak narrative. Substantial adversity is present solely at the beginning and conclusion – with the tragedy of Lek's mother and when her hope falters in Bangkok – is there enough challenge to balance an otherwise simple and saccharine journey.

Brief glimmers of mild social commentary, such as when Lek's stroke of luck has greedy locals crawling all over her, are hardly enough for more mature viewers. Young children could buy into the general positive outlook, the foreign backdrop fails to disguise a underlying sense of blandness.