To Grandmother's House We Go [VHS]
When they overhear their stressed-out single mom (Northern Exposure's Cynthia Geary) calling them "a handful," twins Julie and Sarah decide to give mom a break and go to grandma's for Christmas. So they stuff their backpacks and stow away on a city bus, beginning an odyssey that will first find them in a delivery van operated by Roy Rogers-obsessed driver Eddie (soap opera veteran J. Eddie Peck). Then a karate chop to Eddie's head later, they're at the mercy of a happily married pair of thieves (Rhea Perlman, Jerry Van Dyke) and, ultimately, a team of spooked runaway horses posing as reindeer. Luckily Eddie already has a crush on Mom, who manages his favorite mini-mart, and together the pair track down the missing twins, who, meanwhile, are having the ride of their lives. The Olsen twins are in theirFull Housebloom in this 89-minute made-for-TV movie, which means their brand of innocuous brattiness is still more charming than annoying. Perlman and Van Dyke get to ham it up as lovable criminals, and Geary and Peck find G-rated romance once he adjusts to the idea that his mini-mart sweetie has kids and he learns to share his Lotto winnings. (Suitable for all ages.)--Kimberly Heinrichs