LIFE-SIZE 2: A Christmas Eve

Freeform has been doing Christmas movies (though mostly reairs) for years as part of their 25 Days of Christmas. This year, they’re upping the original content game with a blast from the past sequel with a Christmas twist, Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve.

In 2018, toys are a difficult sell. Toys R Us closed, stores specifically geared towards kids are not successful and the internet reigns supreme when it comes to where to buy our goods from. With that as the background, Life-Size 2 introduces us to Grace Martin (Francia Raisa), young CEO of a toy store, with failing profits. Costs need to be cut in order for the company to survive, especially when Grace prefers being a party girl to running the company her mother entrusted her to run. Approving to discontinue Eve, the founding doll of the company, Grace feels in a better position as Christmas creeps closer.

After telling her tween neighbor Lex (Alison Fernandez) of the plan to discontinue Eve, the two of them discover a book of spells. Casting one on Grace’s favorite Eve doll, the pair assume nothing will happen.

But, how naive. Eve (Tyra Banks) comes to life and can’t stand the idea of not existing any more. Determined to save herself and all the other Eves, she sets out to show Grace how powerful the Eve doll can be, and to remember what it was like to be a young girl with dreams and aspirations to be anything.

LIFE-SIZE 2: A CHRISTMAS EVE – FreeformÕs annual “25 Days of Christmas” programming event will be a lot brighter as Tyra Banks reprises her iconic role of ÒEveÓ in the highly anticipated sequel “Life-Size 2,” on SUNDAY, DEC. 2, at 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. EST/PST. In the sequel “Eve” returns to help Grace Manning (Francia Raisa), a 20 something CEO of Marathon Toys who is in over her head. (Disney Channel/Guy D’Alema)
FRANCIA RAISA, TYRA BANKS, HANK CHEN, SHANICA KNOWLES

Eve succeeds, though, it does take some obstacles to get there: Grace has an back-stabbing board member, Grace needs ways to bring Eve into the 21st century, Eve falls for a local chef and Grace finds a guy who might just be perfect for her.

By the end of the film, Eve has been revitalized – with new dolls supporting women being CEOs, being able to love whomever they want, and being woke – and the back-stabbing board member is in jail; a happy ending for all.

At the heart of the film, though, is a message about what it feels like to be a woman in her late twenties to early forties. I, for one, grew up with myriad Barbies, most of whom were not doing much to reflect the changing world I lived in. Sure a few were businesswomen, but she was also a girl who knew when to party after (that Day to Night Barbie was a classic for a reason) but most of them were fashion icons, rather than inspirational.

Barbie was also reflective of what someone thought an ideal of female beauty was. Barbie can’t exist as a person in the real world with her proportions, and for the most part, Barbie was a Caucasian woman. She was skinny, blonde and “perfect”. Today, Mattel (like the company Grace runs) has to work harder to get girls to see a value in a doll like Barbie or Eve. We need more representation (and it’s a start to also see dolls sized in ways that are better than just Barbie’s thin and perky self), but it needs to be done with other work. Mattel’s work on Barbie sharing about her life on a vlog, which gets into some deep issues that girls are facing. We need more of that, and more dolls that represent girls of all ages and sizes.

At the end of Life-Size 2, Grace has learned about what it means to be a CEO who can change with the times, but she also found something inspirational from a doll that could have been dated and old. Life can still allow us all to hold onto the past, but embrace changes when necessary.

Life-Size 2 airs frequently on Freeform during their 25 Days of Christmas, or you can catch it on Hulu.

Get the full line-up of this year’s new holiday movies in our 2018 Holiday Movie Guide. And don’t forget to download your Holiday Movie Bingo cards!