The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000)

About The Ultimate Christmas Present

The Disney Channel's movie, 'The Ultimate Christmas Present', was released in the year 2000. It's a heartwarming holiday comedy-drama that explores the meaning of gifts, friendship and Christmas spirit. Samantha and Allie are two ordinary Los Angeles girls who find a weather machine at a shed in the woods. Unaware of its capabilities, they manipulate it to create snow in their city, which hasn't seen snow for decades! What follows is chaos as they cannot control the machine leading to calamities that they need to fix.

Making / Production

The movie was produced by Carla Singer Productions and Michael Jacobs Productions, and distributed by Disney Channel. It was directed by Greg Beeman and written by Hallie Ephron and Michael Hitchcock. Snow scenes were a challenge to create and were shot in Vancouver, Canada, to achieve an authentic feel.

Actors

• Hallee Hirsh plays the role of Allie Thompson. Allie is an over-scheduled teenager who helps her best friend Samantha in handling the weather machine and learns a lot about the value of family along the way.
• Brenda Song portrays Samantha Kwan, Allie's best friend and co-adventurist in managing the weather machine. Samantha is always up for an adventure and eventually learns about the true meaning of Christmas.
• John B. Lowe plays the character of 'Santa Claus', who is trying to find his weather machine and save Christmas.

Trivia / Interesting Facts

• This was one of the earliest film roles of Brenda Song, who later rose to fame with her character London Tipton in Disney's 'The Suite Life of Zac & Cody'.
• The movie was primarily shot in Vancouver, Canada, despite being set in Los Angeles.

Quotes

• "Christmas isn't about snow. It's about presents!" - Samantha Kwan
• "You mean you have to buy the batteries separately?" - Allie Thompson, referring to the weather machine

Music, Soundtrack

• Despite being a Christmas movie, 'The Ultimate Christmas Present' does not include traditional Christmas carols or songs. The film utilizes a background score which is mostly comprised of instrumental music and jingle tunes.