DVD Review: A BLUEGRASS CHRISTMAS

Home » DVD Review: A BLUEGRASS CHRISTMAS

Dec 01 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Katie Pendleton (Amanda Jordan, Christmas in Maple Hills, Country music singer) is the vet for her family-run horse sanctuary, Fields of Blue. After she argues with the sanctuary’s biggest donor over the proper care for his horse, Jim Pendleton (Mike Shara) decides to pull his funding, and sends his son, Grant (David Pinard, Country Hearts Christmas, The Heiress of Christmas), an attorney from Georgia, to pick up the animal.

Grant knows how stubborn his father can be, and suggests that Katie throw a benefit concert to raise money for the sanctuary, and offers to help. After all, her grandfather is Bluegrass legend Ben Pendleton (Shaun Johnston, Heartland, Christmas in Big Sky Country) of Big Hickory Ben Pendleton and The Blue Mountain Revival Boys. However, Katie’s grandfather retired from music 20 years earlier when her grandmother died, and just raising the idea of him picking up his guitar again sends her granddaddy into a tizzy. So Katie and Grant start looking into other ideas for the concert—including trying to get Country music superstar Claire Crosby (Chelsea Green, WWE Superstar) to make an appearance—and maybe start falling in love in the process.

A Bluegrass Christmas is pretty much your typical Hallmark-like holiday fare (in fact, the film premieres on UPTV tonight as I’m writing this review.) Though this one skews more into the heartfelt realm rather than into the romcom arena. There’s not your typical love-hate relationship between Katie and Grant—they actually get along quite well right from the start as they set out on this mission to save the horse sanctuary. The conflict in the film is more about grandfather Ben Pendleton trying to finally come to terms with the loss of his one true love in life and learning to embrace his other love, music, again. Katie loves her grandfather but struggles to help him move on. The film has an excellent Country and Bluegrass soundtrack, featuring primarily Christmas standards, with star Amanda Jordan performing many of the songs.

Mill Creek Entertainment has released A Bluegrass Christmas only on DVD format, but it is also available in HD Digital on Amazon, and airing/streaming in HD on UPTV this holiday season. The SD picture looks pretty decent for a DVD, but it lacks that clarity and sharpness that I’m used to seeing on an HD streaming or Blu-ray release. The audio track provides clear dialogue throughout, and the musical performances sound great. The DVD disc comes packed in a standard DVD keepcase. Our copy did not include any slipcover. The disc is barebones, offering no bonus material—just 4 trailers for other films from Imagicomm Entertainment.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:24:21)

480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH
Closed Captions

Extras:

More From Imagicomm
Select from trailers for The Warrant (1:55), Christmas with the Knightlys (2:18), Christmas in Big Sky Country (1:58), and Country Roads Christmas (2:11).

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Worth a Look

A Bluegrass Christmas is your typical holiday TV movie fare, with more of a heartfelt tone. There is a bit of romance thrown in, but the film seems to focus more on this granddaughter and grandfather bonding, and the grandfather getting over the loss of his wife after 20 years and opening his heart up again to his other love, music. The film features some excellent Country/Bluegrass covers of some holiday standards, and is entertaining, though can be a bit predictable and by-the-numbers if you’ve seen enough of these kinds of holiday films. That said, the music is great, and it’s worth a look for fans of the cast or of these kinds of holiday films. You can also check it out first on UpTV as it airs there this holiday season.