With Christmas rapidly approaching–it’s about six weeks out, if you can believe that–it’s not surprising to see Christmas movies and, in general, angel-related fare start emerging. And as such, that’s why the folks out at Anchor Bay sent out a copy of The Littlest Angel for us to review. You won’t be able to get your hands on this one until this Tuesday, though, but once you do, you’ll be reasonably impressed, providing you either have kids or you have a particularly high tolerance for schmaltz.

The Littlest Angel is based on the children’s book of the same name, the fifteenth best selling children’s book of all time. It follows a boy who dies young, who is then dragooned into service in the afterlife as an angel.  The problem here is, he rapidly proves himself incompetent at pretty much every other angelic task that one can be set to do. And while normally an angel must complete three good deeds before he can be returned to Earth to do the Lord’s work. But the title character wants to get back a little ahead of schedule as he’s looking for his box of earthly treasures. Now with a celebration about to take place in heaven, and one angel gone missing, things are about to get potentially disastrous across both heaven and Earth.

First off, it is incredibly disorienting to hear Ron Perlman serve as the voice of God. Admittedly, not quite as weird as Alan Rickman doing the job back in Kevin Smith’s Dogma, but still pretty creepy in its own right. But the key point here is that it’s going to a very niche title. Basically, most will probably not be able to get behind this one. Most will find the presentation a little on the low end, but it’s going to be pretty nice for the younger set. Of course, you’ll have to have a parent standing by on this one because the theology is such a chopped salad that it’s virtually unrecognizable. It’s about seventy percent Catholic and twenty percent Hallmark, with a smattering of “who knows any better” tossed in seemingly for variety. And then there’s the bizarre anachronisms like the solid wood Ferris wheel cropping up somewhere around about .5 BC, give or take a week or two.

Still though, a good message for the kids put on at just the right time makes The Littlest Angel one for at least a rental, especially with the kids’ various school vacations coming up in a matter of weeks. Plus, of course, there’s a little shot of moral in here too, about kindness to others and all the great schmaltzy messages. A little heavy handed, but considering the audience, good enough.

And that’s pretty much the stance the Screenhead Ten Scale can take with this one: good enough. Good enough for its audience, good enough for a watch, and good enough for a seven out of ten. It’s not going to be for everyone, and it’s a bit of “message” movie, but it’s not without its charms.