joshua169

Another reviewer said it. This is is not a movie which is much of the reason for the dislike. There are no moving images. There is simply panning over still figures while the narrator speaks, telling a classic SF story written in 1939. It's old sf and it has no traditional story either. The story itself is not to everyone's taste so neither is this "visual audio book". The story is not boring to most SF fans, but as a MOVIE, sure it is. Because nothing moves. There are no actors. It's not really a movie at all in the normal sense. It's one of the most unfilmable stories ever written.

I have only watched the first of 3 parts. The story was not adapted, a new story inspired by the old one was written. That's a very different thing. The new story I think is a good one considered on it's own. If the prior work did not exist, people would like it. Nonetheless the story can well be considered an insult to both Agatha Christie and what many consider her greatest creation, Hercule Poirot. God help me I enjoyed it and was disgusted by it at the same time. This is not a Christie style story. Everything that made it so has been changed. This is NOT a Poirot story. The character here has been re-imagined to the point that it is a very different man, who has led a very different life. Without spoiling it, I'll just say the police reveal in the first episode they have discovered something so shocking so shattering to who Christie's Poirot was that it changes everything. It's a barbaric horrible thing to do and I HATE THE WRITER for doing it. But I will watch the rest like a person trapped in a cycle of cutting their own flesh, unable to stop the self harm, finding relief from their inner pain in destructive way, but in my case thankfully with a clear end in sight. (If any reader is in that literal situation, there is help, seek it out, the pain really can end.)

One reviewer here mistakenly thinks the movie is set in the 40s or 50s due to an antique cash register and some other antiques and then complains about all the "out of period clothing" other anachronistic items. This person turned off the film as a result. This person failed to figure out a few old items surrounded by dozens of new items, like microwave in bakery, new cars parked in driveways, lots of modern clothes and hair styles, etc indicates a moderrn setting. Anyway sure the film is a typical lifetime Christmas offering. It's nothing extrodanary. If you like that sort of thing you will enjoy it. I did. If you don't, you won't. The addition of Santa is always a welcome addition for me. I WANT TO BELIEVE