Whilst being primarily a kid's movie there are of course adult themes running throughout the film. Jessica's dad, since the death of his wife 8 years ago, has stopped really paying attention to Jessica and no photos have been taken since she was 3. However, we never doubt that her father loves Jessica even though he's still grieving his wife. Amy with her love of life "it's scary, messy, absolutely unbeatable" lives in the present moment (very much like Olivia's outlook on life today) and manages to close the gap between father and daughter. Amy in her turn learns much from Jessica - initially getting all her knowledge from books, reading Jessica's private diary and not knowing how to express her feelings.

Inevitably Amy and the father fall in love, despite having spent very little time together, but Amy's reactions on receiving her first kiss are a joy: Olivia's lovely wide eyes full of amazement. Of course there is a happy ending proving that love wins out in the end. From a sociological perspective the film could be criticised as giving the impression that you can't have a truly happy, healthy family without both a mother and father and of course the complexity of emotions are glossed over but this is Disney and fun, rather than political-correctness, is its strong point. 
As part of the promotion "A Mom For Christmas Electronic Press Kit" was also featured on US TV. This consisted of clips from the film, behind the scenes filming and most interestingly interviews with the cast. The actual film crew consisted of a lot of Australians so Olivia felt at home on the set with vegemite and Australian newspapers. However, the film had to take on the American vocabulary; it had to be called "Mom" rather the nicer sounding "mummy" In America mummy exclusively means bandages and Egyptians! In Britain and Australia mummy is mother.

The Australian Director, George Miller, speaks highly of Olivia's performance. He was most impressed with Olivia's ability to cry on cue and he was left speechless when Olivia did it perfectly first take. Miller believes that motherhood has had "a profound effect on her [Olivia's] personality" giving her a greater depth, something which Olivia herself agrees with. He also describes her as "one of the great smiles of the twentieth century" and during the film he certainly makes good use of this. It's also Doug Sheehan's (the father) first Disney movie, his main decision to make the film was Disney's reputation and because it's the "heritage of my generation". He had this to say about his co-star "It'd be un-American not to be attracted to Olivia Newton-John, are you kidding me? I mean I can only put it this way - have you ever been mellow?"

Olivia and Juliet Sorcey(Jessica) claim to have had a special relationship on set. Olivia tells how Juliet's performance could move her to tears They also claimed that they are like real-life daughter and mother with Juliet even playing with Chloe despite the 6 year age difference. Describing her love of acting Juliet says: "To me it's not work you know, it's just having fun and doing what I liked to do and enjoying it and so in that way it is kinda like a glamorous life." Juliet also says she'd like the film to be a classic, another "Miracle on 34th Street".