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This is one of those what I call "behind the scenes" Christmas movies -- a story that attempts to show some of the mechanics of how the whole Santa Claus thing works. How he manages to make all those toys, how he is able to get to all those houses in one night (and get into them), and why he's the only guy in the world who can do it. This one goes even further behind the scenes and into Santa's support system, specifically his security team, led by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, because Santa of course can afford the best. The Rock has the operation nailed; he knows the North Pole like the back of his hand, and everyone looks up to him, and things have been sailing smoothly for years.
This year, however, there is a monkey wrench in the seamlessly-running machine. A Christmas witch has schemed up a plan to punish those kids on the naughty list, which Santa has so far refused to do, so in order to pull it off, she kidnaps the Big Guy, and plots to "do the Christmas ride" herself, handing out punishments (in the form of weird magical snow globes) instead of gifts, and there we have our story.
It's actually a pretty entertaining movie, if a bit overloaded with story bits. In addition to what I've noted above, they've also thrown in a boy who is having a rough childhood, and Chris Evans, in a role that fits him quite well, as a crafty/sneaky expert tracker who is pressed into service to help find Santa. There's also Santa's scary monster brother Krampus, a few other characters and at least one other subplot that's currently escaping me. When the story shifted to the North Pole, I half expected the Polar Express to pull in at some point.
The Chris Evans character is sort of strange. He is one of the main draws of the movie, but his whole presence seems tacked on, as if they forgot to write him into the story at first and then added him in later. I mean, he contributes, don't get me wrong, but he disappears after a few minutes at the beginning, then reappears about halfway through and I had completely forgotten about him. Maybe it was my fault for not paying attention or something.
Anyway, I like the behind-the-scenes movies because I like the amount of imagination that goes into them. My favorite one, I would have to say, is "The Santa Clause" which was one of the first to show realistic reindeer and having Santa actually dealing with some bits of physics. This one gets pretty close to that in the level of detail it shows.
I thought the proceedings would be funnier, given the movie's pedigree (same producer that did the Jumanji movies); but it was still a good ride. My favorite line in the show is when the Rock yells: "I'm spreading cheer, asshole!" You just don't get that kind of tender sentiment in those Hallmark TV movies, you know?
It didn't feel like a perennial classic that people will be watching for generations, but it got my wife and I in the holiday spirit enough that we went home after watching it and set up our tree for the year, so I guess it did the trick. Three stars out of five.
This year, however, there is a monkey wrench in the seamlessly-running machine. A Christmas witch has schemed up a plan to punish those kids on the naughty list, which Santa has so far refused to do, so in order to pull it off, she kidnaps the Big Guy, and plots to "do the Christmas ride" herself, handing out punishments (in the form of weird magical snow globes) instead of gifts, and there we have our story.
It's actually a pretty entertaining movie, if a bit overloaded with story bits. In addition to what I've noted above, they've also thrown in a boy who is having a rough childhood, and Chris Evans, in a role that fits him quite well, as a crafty/sneaky expert tracker who is pressed into service to help find Santa. There's also Santa's scary monster brother Krampus, a few other characters and at least one other subplot that's currently escaping me. When the story shifted to the North Pole, I half expected the Polar Express to pull in at some point.
The Chris Evans character is sort of strange. He is one of the main draws of the movie, but his whole presence seems tacked on, as if they forgot to write him into the story at first and then added him in later. I mean, he contributes, don't get me wrong, but he disappears after a few minutes at the beginning, then reappears about halfway through and I had completely forgotten about him. Maybe it was my fault for not paying attention or something.
Anyway, I like the behind-the-scenes movies because I like the amount of imagination that goes into them. My favorite one, I would have to say, is "The Santa Clause" which was one of the first to show realistic reindeer and having Santa actually dealing with some bits of physics. This one gets pretty close to that in the level of detail it shows.
I thought the proceedings would be funnier, given the movie's pedigree (same producer that did the Jumanji movies); but it was still a good ride. My favorite line in the show is when the Rock yells: "I'm spreading cheer, asshole!" You just don't get that kind of tender sentiment in those Hallmark TV movies, you know?
It didn't feel like a perennial classic that people will be watching for generations, but it got my wife and I in the holiday spirit enough that we went home after watching it and set up our tree for the year, so I guess it did the trick. Three stars out of five.
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