***MINI-PLOT SPOILERS?*****

It is hard to spoiler the plot of a production of this SyFy caliber. The movie opens with ominous music as a gift is placed on the doorstep of the Miller family during Christmas season in Normal, Alaska. It reminded me a bit of the beginning of "Evil Toons" but without porn stars. But I soon discovered one does not have to be a porn star to be a bad actor. If you missed the films, "Earthquake," "Avalanche" "Jumanji," "Volcano," "Ice Age 2012," and "ROTK" you are in for a real treat.

The gift is opened by "Dragon of the Crown" player Rudy (Dylan Matzke) the young boy. It contains a snow globe that contains a detailed replica of the town. Within about 10 minutes you will figure out whatever happens inside the evil snow globe, happens to this now isolated town. The question is who left it and why, something guessed at, but never fully explained.

Meanwhile the world's greatest snowboarder, Derrick Reed (Jeffrey Ballard) charters a helicopter with Beth Miller, (Laura Harris) the mom, who brings along her impressionable, slightly flirty teenage daughter Jennifer (Magda Apanowicz). It seems in December in Alaska it is hard to find a place to go snowboarding so champions charter helicopters to take them to mountain peaks.

During the course of the film the town is attacked by earthquake, avalanche, exploding ice storm, stalagmites, and a volcano. The armies of Mordor can be defeated once The Ring is cast into the fire of Mt. Doom.

What this film teaches us:

1.) If a Christmas gift is heavy, it's fruitcake. 2.) Game expansion sets make for stocking stuffers. 3.) If the dog barks at the gift, it is bad. 4.) Flirting is worse than ogling. 5.) Having a snow boarder autograph your arm is the best Christmas ever.

While adults will have problems watching the film because of the simplistic plot, bad acting, and CG effects, I can imagine tween kids or younger possibly enjoying the film.

Parental Guide: No f-bombs, sex, or nudity. Some bloody faces and people die. I saw more horrific stuff when I was 5. A "Nanny State" PG-13.

After viewing 'Snowmageddon', I realized one thing. That this so called movie titled 'Snowmageddon' does not involve a scenario worthy of the title of 'Snowmageddon'. It's like 'Halloween 3', you know the one without Michael Myers as the bad guy. 'Snowmageddon' is a SYFY original film and combines an asinine plot, terrible acting, and even worse special effects. I'd say they special effects are just a half step up from the effects in 'Birdemic: Shock and Terror'.

When I first heard the title and saw the cover art, I expected a certain type of disaster film. One that involved tons of snow and an end of the world scenario. Boy, was I wrong. However, I actually laughed out loud when I witnessed what caused 'Snowmageddon' to happen. The cause of 'Snowmageddon' is a toy snow globe. I'll repeat that. The cause of 'Snowmageddon' is a toy snow globe. I'll explain.

The film takes place in Normal, Alaska and centers around the Miller family. The father (David Cubitt) is the sheriff, the mother is a helicopter pilot (Laura Harris), and their two kids Jennifer (Magda Apanowicz) and Rudy (Dylan Madzke). It's almost Christmas time when a mysterious package disguised as a present appears on the Miller's doorstep. Rudy opens the package and discovers that it's a snow globe with an exact replica of their town trapped inside.

One flick of the wrist, a turn of the crank, and couple shakes of the snow globe and all hell breaks loose, or a version of mediocre hell breaks loose in the form of small earthquakes, tiny avalanches, and icebergs and rocks coming up from the ground. The earthquakes only cause minor damage with a few people getting injured because they are too stupid to get out of the way. There was an avalanche, but luckily the few people that were in the path of the avalanche either dodged it or were in a giant snow plow car and almost immediately rescued. And all of these evil disasters (I don't say natural), because these disasters always abruptly ended once someone died or was injured.

Fred (Michael Hogan from 'Battlestar Galactica), the local toy store owner seems to know a little bit about the snow globe. He tells people that the snow globe is cursed and that the only solution is to toss the evil snow globe into a fiery volcano in the same vein of 'Lord of the Rings'. And yes, this all happens in the span of 89 minutes.

All logic and accountability is wasted on this movie. With a title like 'Snowmageddon', I expect tons of snow killing people and an apocalyptic type of scenario. There was none of that here. The special effects looked like they were made by somebody's teenage cousin and the acting was laughable. But what do you expect from a creative team that have produced such titles as 'Ice Quake', 'Mega Cyclone', and 'Mongolian Death Worm'. The only way I would ever watch this again would be if the good folks at Rifftrax were to riff this film. Stay away from this movie.

Just as I was getting the smell of xmas spice candles out of my clothes along comes a wintery christmas movie courtesy of the Scyfy channel.

This Canadian made movie stars Laura "The Faculty" Harris and tells the odd tale of a snow globe that inflicts natural disasters on the town.

Scyfy originals have a really bad rap, I personally find them entertaining enough with the rare exceptions (Sharknado I'm looking at you). I consider them charming dumb fun and this is a fine example.

Snowmageddon is slightly above par, yes it has weak sfx and yes the whole thing is head scratchingly stupid in places but there is certainly entertainment to be found.

If you like Scyfy's goofy movies then you'll like this, if not then perhaps steer clear.

The Good:

Some good ideas

Cast do a great job

Scyfy charm

The Bad:

Usual ropey sfx

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I assume after he threw the globe into the lava the eagle picked him up right Gandalf?