The Legend of the Christmas Witch (2018) User Reviews

Soavi for Christmas!

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 23 December 2019]

During the day Paola is an ordinary primary school teacher, but at night, she turns into...The Christmas Witch, a magical creature who brings gifts to the good kids.

That said, what is a Christmas Witch? Well, she doesn't even come on Christmas! In Italian folklore, Befana is an old woman who delivers gifts throughout Italy on Little Christmas, which is called Epiphany Eve (the night of January 5), the night before the Catholic Church celebrates the manifestation of the divinity.

Some suggest that Befana is descended from the Sabine/Roman goddess named Strenia. Regardless, each year, she visits all the children of Italy to fill their socks with candy and presents if they are good, or a lump of coal, dark candy or a stick (if they live in Sicily) if they are bad. She also will sweep the house, which is symbolic of sweeping away the problems of last year.

So wait...why are we covering this on our site? Stay tuned after the trailer.

So why did we watch it?

The director is Michele Soavi.

You read that right. The same man who made Cemetery Man, Stagefright, La Secta and The Church.

This is his first theatrical film since 2008's Blood of the Losers.

Yes, let that sink in. The dude in the metal mask from Demons made a Christmas movie for kids.

Don't worry - it's pretty crazy, even if his visual style is a bit muted here.

The plot concerns Paola being kidnapped by Mr. Johnny, a cruel toymaker who got his childhood ruined by the Witch and is now seeking revenge. Six brave kids all learn the teacher's secret and work together to save Christmas from commercialism.

So yeah. Merry Christmas early, everyone. You may have wanted something filled with gore and all manner of insanity like a rabbit that learns how to use a TV remote, but hey, you can't pick what's under your tree.

Who is the audience?

[mirko-giumentaro · 4/10 · 1 October 2019]

I was expecting this movie to be good because of Paola Cortellesi, but what a waste! It's not clear if it is a children movie or not. Mostly it is, if it weren't for all the curse words in it. The movie is really unrealistic (and I'm not talking about the Christmas witch), so it can only be considered a children movie, but I wouldn't let my children see it if the characters say all of those curses. So, who is the audience? Because they failed in both cases.

Not for kids

[matildanz · 2/10 · 8 December 2019]

They are teaching these 12-14 year old kids to do French kiss?!?!

What a Mess

[docm-32304 · 2/10 · 14 December 2021]

If you took parts of Willy Wonka, La Befana, ET, the Goonies and a number of other films/stories and then tried to put them all together, You'd get this mish mash of a film. Complete with some inappropriate parts for kids like teaching French kissing etc. This was one pile of nonsense after another and I have no idea what audience this would target other than Italian nonnas who'd like it just because it was Italian.

Not worth your time

[rmca-24111 · 1/10 · 12 December 2020]

This movie started out ok and goes over a cliff with the introduction of Mr. Johnny. The story of La Befana could have made for a better movie as opposed to this rendition of the tale. The whole movie is destroyed from the bad musical of Mr. Johnny and gang and thereafter the movie sucked.

Cute but not for kids.

[bevitaly-37951 · 7/10 · 5 January 2020]

The movie has some potential. It has funny lines and overall it's not the worst movie I have seen. I am disappointed by the few cuss words they have the kids say. The bully of the group spies on a classmate's mother taking a shower. These kids look in middle school at best. It needs dinner editing by a parent.

The Most Ridiculous Yule Story

[tesswysko · 3/10 · 29 December 2019]

ONCE AGAIN, I'm sitting here, half an hour into writing a eloquent, informative, (I'm a journalist/Media Influencer, I own 4 Music News & Entertainment channels, and English was one of my majors in college) & historical review of this movie, when I bump my phone three slightest, it slides, the screen rotates, and THANKS TO IMDB, EVERYTHING I WROTE IS GONE!!!! This has happened more times than I can count! So you can all thank IMDB for the lack of a good review! Someone should start a petition to MAKE THEM FIX their website FINALLY!!! Because I've NEVER used another site where everything is deleted if the screen rotates!!!

So I'll keep it brief. This is AWFUL, but not for the reason you think!!! These kids are in maybe sixth or seventh grade, their teacher is the Christmas Witch(ugh... everything about her is a Santa rip-off, and they make Santa to be a jealous bad guy) & she gets kidnapped. 6 kids, typical typecast group, go after her, along the way they encounter trouble as expected, but they ALSO get into and say/ do things no 11 year olds should be doing!!! In the middle of the night in a cabin the kids are alone in, the "nerd" & The girl he's been chasing, the "perfect blonde" are about to kiss, he jumps up, runs off, finds his friend, and they have a long conversation kite EXACTLY HOW to French Kiss!!! It makes the audience very uncomfortable!! This is just the tip of the iceberg! I would NEVER let my kids watch this movie!

Topping it off, the plot stinks, the writer obviously had no foresight as to were they were going with it. You could drive a Mack truck through the plot holes!!! I'd love to explain my reasoning more in depth, but thanks to IMDB (Grrrrrrrr), all that hard work is GONE, and I am too tired to stay up any later! Goodnight all!

First movie I have watched that had voiceovers in its entirety

[spekx-65751 · 7/10 · 17 November 2020]

First movie I've watched, all the way, that had voiceovers. That's a shocker to me.

delightful and fun. The bad guy was awesome, character and dress. And the factory on the mountain made it look like the people inside were actually in the mountain factory, Like the red steam, etc.

sure there were a lot of quirks. But for it being a family movie... awesome!

One of the worst movies I ever saw

[Saft_Chri · 2/10 · 5 June 2021]

This movie is so bad. They actually created a love story between 9 year old kids, the villain in is awful and the story makes no sense. I don't recommend you this movie.

Some Italian Magic

[mpower-33894 · 9/10 · 7 October 2019]

My wife and I and our 10 year old daughter watched The Legend of the Christmas Witch this week. A wonderful adventure of Christmas Magic, with the real focus on the adventure and bravery of the children, an over the top toy making villain and best of all, a witch combining magic and smarts. The scenery in the Italian alps is a bonus and the music was inspiring. Recommend you see it, especially with children. Thanks cast and crew for a new take on this witch for Christmas.

Bloody awful

[deep-sandhu · 3/10 · 5 January 2021]

Did I mention that this is bloody awful? Crude, rude and not much Yule. Tiresome scenes that were still going on when I came back from doing the dishes. Avoid.

Ridiculous movie

[nickyjsaynor · 2/10 · 12 December 2021]

I didn't understand it at all! It started of ok but after the bad guy came in to it I just couldn't understand it. Bizarre but kind of entertaining I guess. I don't think the raiting for 7 is right maybe more of a 12 with the killer dragon flys and kids almost getting squished in a dumpster! I defiantly wouldn't advise a 7 year old watching it!!

Good Family Movie

[jennxmusic · 8/10 · 8 December 2019]

This movie was made in Italy with all the characters speaking Italian. It was filmed well for doing this voice over all in English. You don't get caught up watching a character still speaking on screen after they say their lines. The movie is set in a quaint village. It has humor and an anti bullying theme. A good family movie.

Finally a decent Italian Christmas comedy

[valentinabonomelli · 8/10 · 8 October 2019]

This is literally the first (and for now, only) decent Italian Christmas comedy. It clearly isn't a masterpiece, but it could easily be compared to those fun and light-hearted American or British comedies you watch with the family during the holidays. It's fun and decently acted, the CGI is good, the music is lovely. Which is way more it could be said of pretty much any other Italian comedy. Plus the sceneries are stunning, and it's a fun take on a tipically Italian tradition. It has some mild curse words in it, but in my opinion it's nothing too out there. Would recommend it for family movie time and would definitely watch again.

Loved the story..

[nicky82571 · 10/10 · 3 December 2020]

I grew up in the US BUT am from a Italian family. My nonna use to tell us the story about La Bofona. Love this... The locations are great to see of the old country. Happy to see a Italian story come to life.