History YMMV / TheChristmasTree

* UnintentionalUncannyValley: The movie spends its entire running time jumping into and out of the valley, especially with the ''blinking.'' Many of the movie's scenes show absolutely no movement when the characters are on screen, except for the rather unsettling blinking. On top of that are the eyes - they attempt to go for irises rather than just black dots, but they don't actually use any color for them. They're black corneas and gray irises, which are just unnerving. The scene where the orphans meet Judy's kids and give them the creepy smiles also falls into this.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Helen Quirk as Mrs. Mavilda. Despite having no previous acting experience and being [[LargeHam over-the-top in her performance]], Quirk was the only one who didn't seem completely riddled with DullSurprise and actually made Mavilda an enduring character ([[LoveToHate if for all the wrong reasons]]).

* IdiotPlot:
** The plot would have been over before it began if the mayor (who is not in any way supportive of Mavilda's abuse) took more than a passing glance at the children before handing his huge bags of money to Mavilda.
** Mavilda fires Judy towards the end of the movie, which indicates that there was no need to hatch an elaborate plot framing Judy for theft in order to get rid of her (and it didn't work anyway).

* MoralEventHorizon: The climax suggests that Mrs. Mavilda would not have hesitated to [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]] through the wall of ''people'' [[WouldHurtAChild (including children)]] trying to guard Mrs. Hopewell. Before that, she threatens to beat the children for coming to the tree's defense.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Helen Quirk as Mrs. Mavilda. Despite having no previous acting experience and being [[LargeHam over-the-top in her performance]], Quirk was the only one who didn't seem completely riddled with DullSurprise and actually made Mavilda an enduring character ([[LoveToHate if for all the wrong reasons]]).
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Santa Claus is real in this universe, and yet he clearly has never visited the orphanage (given that the kids don't even know what Christmas is) or done anything to make the kids' lives better. Yet at the end of the movie he's shown gift-bombing all the houses and zaps the orphans into new clothes. Dude, you're supposed to be the nicest man in the world, where have you ''been''?

* UncannyValley: The movie spends its entire running time jumping into and out of the valley, especially with the ''blinking.'' Many of the movie's scenes show absolutely no movement when the characters are on screen, except for the rather unsettling blinking. On top of that are the eyes - they attempt to go for irises rather than just black dots, but they don't actually use any color for them. They're black corneas and gray irises, which are just unnerving. The scene where the orphans meet Judy's kids and give them the creepy smiles also falls into this.

* UncannyValley: The movie spends its entire running time jumping into and out of the valley, especially with the ''blinking.'' Many of the movie's scenes show absolutely no movement when the characters are on screen, except for the rather unsettling blinking. On top of that are the eyes - they attempt to go for irises rather than just black dots, but they don't actually use any color for them. They're black corneas and gray irises, which are just unnerving. The scene where the orphans meet Judy's kids and give them the creepy smiles also falls into this.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The movie was released in [[TheNineties 1991]], but considering how awful its production values are, it could easily pass as something from the [[TheSixties 1960s]]. Especially with the abysmal animation quality.

* MoralDissonance: Santa Claus is real in this universe, and yet he clearly has never visited the orphanage (given that the kids don't even know what Christmas is) or done anything to make the kids' lives better. Yet at the end of the movie he's shown gift-bombing all the houses and zaps the orphans into new clothes. Dude, you're supposed to be the nicest man in the world, where have you ''been''?

* UncannyValley: The movie spends its entire running time jumping into and out of the valley, especially with the ''blinking.'' Many of the movie's scenes show absolutely no movement when the characters are on screen, except for the rather unsettling blinking. On top of that are the eyes - they attempt to go for irises rather than just black dots, but they don't actually use any color for them. They're black corneas and gray irises, which are just unnerving. The scene where the orphans meet Judy's kids and give them the creepy smiles also falls into this.
* ValuesDissonance: The scene where Mrs. Mavilda dresses up two of the orphans to show off to the mayor has aged worse than anything else in the movie. As soon as the mayor leaves, she somehow whisks the clothing off of them, leaving them standing in their underwear. One of the orphans in question is a girl, who as a result is now ''topless''. This could have been regarded as questionable at the time the movie was made, but in TheNewTwenties with the increased awareness of child sex abuse? There's no way this would ever fly.

* IdiotPlot: The plot would have been over before it began if the mayor (who is not in any way supportive of Mavilda's abuse) took more than a passing glance at the children before handing his huge bags of money to Mavilda.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The movie presents the Mayor as a kind and generally competent individual who just had the wool pulled over his eyes by Ms. Mavilda. But some viewers see him in a considerably less positive light. They say that from what the movie shows, he only makes the barest effort to ensure the children's wellbeing (simply looking at two children in nice clothes and deciding they're being looked after), and could probably have found out about the embezzlement and child abuse if he'd done more than just take a look at two children wearing nice clothes. Furthermore, when he figures out the truth, his first question is "what if the inspector were to come?", which makes him seem [[ItsAllAboutMe very self-centered]].

* UncannyValley: The movie spends its entire running time jumping into and out of the valley, especially with the ''blinking.'' Many of the movie's scenes show absolutely no movement when the characters are on screen, except for the rather unsettling blinking. On top of that are the eyes - they attempt to go for irises rather than just black dots, but they don't actually use any color for them. They're black corneas and gray irises, which are just unnerving. The scene where the orphans meet Judy's kids and give them the creepy smiles also falls into this.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Maybe not a particularly ''good'' character, but it's ironic that the premise of the film gives Mrs. Mavilda plenty of understandable reasons for being only passively neglectful towards the kids, such as a lack of substantial funding for the orphanage or a gambling addiction of some sort, or just not being that great with kids, that could've allowed for a smoother redemption arc come the third act. Instead of her being an ObviouslyEvil crone who knowingly neglects the children by intentionally gambling their money away and then bragging about it, and by having her only "redemption" come via BoltOfDivineRetribution.

* UncannyValley: The movie spends its entire running time jumping into and out of the valley, especially with the ''blinking.'' Many of the movie's scenes show absolutely no movement when the characters are on screen, except for the rather unsettling blinking. On top of that are the eyes - they attempt to go for irises rather than just black dots, but they don't actually use any color for them. They're black corneas and gray irises, which are just unnerving.

** What little legitimate emotion shown by Judy after being reunited with her [thought then to be dead] daughter is ruined by (to quote WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic) [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150520102907/http://kenbrasai.tumblr.com:80/image/71347030976 "The creepy Coke Santa ad"]] showing up for a couple of seconds ''right in the middle of the scene''.

* UncannyValley: The movie spends its entire running time jumping into and out of the valley, especially with the ''blinking.'' Many of the movie's scenes show absolutely no movement when the characters are on screen, except for the rather unsettling blinking. On top of that are the eyes - they attempt to go for irises rather than just black dots, but they don't actually use any color for them. They're black corneas and gray irises, which are just unnerving.
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* AcceptableTargets: The film is this for many, ''many'' reviewers.

* MoralEventHorizon: The climax suggests that Mrs. Mavilda would not have hesitated to [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]] through the wall of ''people'' [[WouldHurtAChild (including children)]] trying to guard Mrs. Hopewell.

** The fact that one of the kids is named Pappy, which doesn't call to mind a kid as much as an old man (e.g. Pappy from the ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons).

* IdiotPlot:
** The plot would have been over before it began if the mayor (who is not in any way supportive of Mavilda's abuse) took more than a passing glance at the children before handing his huge bags of money to Mavilda.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The movie was released in [[TheNineties 1991]], but considering how awful its production values are, it could easily pass as something from the [[TheSixties 1960s]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Maybe not a particularly ''good'' character, but it's ironic that the premise of the film gives Mrs. Mavilda plenty of understandable reasons for being only passively neglectful towards the kids, such as a lack of substantial funding for the orphanage or a gambling addiction of some sort,, or just not being that great with kids, that could've allowed for a smoother redemption arc come the third act. Instead of her being an ObviouslyEvil crone who knowingly neglects the children by intentionally gambling their money away and then bragging about it, and by having her only "redemption" come via BoltOfDivineRetribution.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The movie was released in [[TheNineties 1991]], but considering how awful its production values are, it could easily pass as something from the [[TheSixties 1960s]].

** A good 90% of Lily's lines are [[TheUnintelligible impossible to understand]] due to utterly baffling BabyTalk. You can tell that she's voiced by a little girl who only recently learned how to talk... ''[[TropesAreNotGood and that's not a good thing]]''.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The movie was released in 1991, but considering how awful its production values are, it could easily pass as something from the 1960s.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Maybe not a particularly ''good'' character, but it's ironic that the premise of the film gives Mrs. Mavilda plenty of understandable reasons for being only passively neglectful towards the kids, such as a lack of substantial funding for the orphanage or a gambling addiction of some sort, that could've allowed for a smoother redemption arc come the third act. Instead of her being an ObviouslyEvil crone who knowingly neglects the children by intentionally gambling their money away and then bragging about it, and by having her only "redemption" come via BoltOfDivineRetribution.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Maybe not a particularly ''good'' character, but it's ironic that the premise of the film gives Mrs. Mavilda plenty of [semi-]understandable motivations for being neglectful towards the kids, such as a lack of substantial funding for the orphanage or a gambling addiction of some sort, that could've allowed for a smoother redemption arc come the third act. Instead of her being an ObviouslyEvil crone who knowingly neglects the children by intentionally gambling their money away and then brags about it, and by having her only "redemption" come via BoltOfDivineRetribution.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Maybe not a particularly ''good'' character, but it's ironic that the premise of the film gives Mrs. Mavilda plenty of [semi-]understandable motivations for being neglectful towards the kids, such as a lack of substantial funding for the orphanage or a gambling addiction of some sort, that could've allowed for a smoother redemption arc come the third act. Instead of her being an ObviouslyEvil crone who knowingly neglects the children by intentionally gambling their money away and then boasting about it, and by having her only "redemption" come via BoltOfDivineRetribution.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Maybe not a particularly ''good'' character, but it's ironic that the premise of the film gives Mrs. Mavilda plenty of [semi-]understandable motivations for being neglectful towards the kids, such as a lack of substantial funding for the orphanage or a gambling addiction of some sort, that could've allowed for a smoother redemption arc come the third act. Instead of her being an ObviouslyEvil crone whose neglect is knowing and willing and having her only "redemption" via BoltOfDivineRetribution.