| The Christmas Shoes | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Andy Wolk |
| Written by | Wesley Bishop Donna Van Liere |
| Starring | Rob Lowe Kimberly Williams |
| Music by | Lawrence Shragge |
| Cinematography | John Berrie |
| Editing by | Drake Silliman |
| Distributed by | CBS |
| Release date(s) | December 1, 2002 |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States/Canada |
| Language | English |
The Christmas Shoes is a made-for-TV movie, broadcast on CBS in December 2002. It is based on the hit song and novel of the same name.
The film has three plot lines. One story is about a man named Robert Layton and his deteriorating marriage; another is about Robert's heartbroken mother Ellen and her friendly neighbor Dalton; and the main story is about Maggie Andrews and her sickness, and how her family (her husband, Jack, and son, Nathan) deal with it. All three stories are linked together.
Primarily set in 1985, Maggie Andrews talks about how she had a pair of dancing shoes just like the ones in a story read by Nathan's teacher (Dalton). The story is about a girl who is paralyzed and can no longer dance, but feels magical when she puts on her dancing shoes.
Robert has promised to go see his daughter, Lilly, perform in a school concert (which Maggie is conducting). Robert gets caught up in his work and misses his daughter's solo. He and his wife, Kate, argue about it; Robert apologizes to Lilly. Robert tells Kate that he has arranged a job interview for her, so she can return to work and earn enough money to buy a larger house. Though Kate is not thrilled with the idea, she says that she will go to the interview.
Maggie consults a doctor about chest pains and learns that she will probably die of myocarditis before New Year's Day. At Maggie's urging, Kate agrees to direct the concert. This decision causes controversy between Robert and Kate, as she had skipped the job interview to do so. Meanwhile, Nathan collects cans to buy the beautiful shoes for his mother, and Dalton helps by leaving cans all around for him to find.
Meanwhile, Robert's mother Ellen has been thinking about his childhood and writes to him. A few days later Dalton finds her dead. Nathan goes to buy the shoes but is told at the store he does not have enough money. Robert is Christmas shopping there and helps Nathan buy the shoes.
Robert has now realized that he should cherish the time he has with his family. He reconciles with Kate and joins their caroling. They carol in front of the Andrews' house until they see the lights turn out indicating that Maggie has died. In the end the Laytons are a happy family, Nathan and Jack get along without Maggie and Nathan finally gets the puppy that he has been wanting since the beginning of the story.There is a book about the story which is a great book.
The scene then cuts to the cemetery where Robert is visiting his mother's grave, 17 years later. He runs into a young man wearing the same baseball cap Nathan had been wearing. After he leaves, Robert sees that the man had been visiting Maggie's grave, and recognizes the shoes the man had left at the grave. Robert then realizes that the young man was Nathan.