Surprisingly, this part ends up being surprisingly entertaining and effectively adds hefty emotional weight to the film's climax and finale. However, this recap ends up taking about 1 hour and 30 minutes, which may sound like a long time (especially considering that the film's runtime is 2 hours and 10 minutes). When my dad described the movie to me, I assumed that the film would only devote about a half hour to this portion. This part of the film surprised me because I underestimated the amount of time that it would fill. In order for him to accomplish this mission, they show him what is essentially a recap of George's life, highlighting the key events of his childhood and early adulthood all the way to the present. They inform Clarence that a man down on Earth, George Bailey (played excellently by James Stewart), is thinking of taking his own life, and task the angel with giving George the will to live again. The film begins in media res with a conversation between God and Joseph as they summon the angel Clarence, a second-class angel who is still trying to earn his wings. So, I decided to write a review to share some of my thoughts on the film.īefore I begin, here is a warning to anyone reading: I am running under the assumption that most people have seen this film, so here is my official SPOILER WARNING for It's a Wonderful Life. I wanted to tell everyone who hasn't seen it yet to 'Go watch it!'.

I wanted to watch it over and over again. By the time the credits were rolling, I was looking at the possibility of buying the movie off Amazon. I immediately decided that this was one of my favorite films of all time, and possibly my favorite Christmas film. Did I enjoy it? No, I absolutely loved it. However, my expectations were completely blown out of the water by the time the movie had ended.

I was expecting to enjoy it, but I was not expecting to feel an urge to watch it again or to purchase the movie on Blu-Ray.

So, I decided it was finally time for me to watch the 1946 Christmas classic.

On top of that, I have been refusing my dad's requests to watch It's a Wonderful Life, which is one of his favorite movies, for almost ten years now. For me, this essentially means movies pre-dating the 1980's. I have never been one to watch 'old' movies.

It's a wonderful life