SMALLS LEARNS THE SECRET ORIGINS OF SANTA WITH SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE

 When "Uncle Klaus", a toy maker who delivers toys to children finds himself, his wife and his two reindeer (Donner and Blitzen) trapped in a blizzard, they all seemingly freeze to death. That's not the end of the story though, as they are all given new eternal life as legendary figures (in fact, the role of Santa almost feels like it's being forced upon Uncle Klaus). Centuries later, an evil business man challenges Santa's iconic role and Christmas itself.

David Huddleston (Aka The Big Lebowski from The Big Lebowski) fits the role of Santa nicely, as does Judy Cornwell as Mrs. Claus. Christian Fitzpatrick is actually pretty good a street kid Joe, whom Santa essentially adopts. The best part of the film is John Lithgow as B.Z., our antagonist. He's tons of fun as the cigar chomping villain. While not given much to do, you can tell he's having a ton of fun with the role. Burgess Meredith even gets a short cameo as the oldest elf with an impressively long beard. The less said about Dudley Moore as Patch the elf, the better (I will admit he does have one funny scene with Lithgow and one effective scene with Santa).

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the shameless and in-your-face adverts for Coke and McDonalds (the film essentially stops for a whopping 32 seconds to do a whole commercial or McDonald's). Clearly these corporations put a lot of money into this film, and wanted audiences to know it.

The first 39 minutes of the flick act as the origin story for Santa (complete with a prophecy about 'The Chosen One'....ugh), and the rest of the film afterwards is where the main plot kicks in. The film doesn't have a whole lot to appeal to older audiences, but it honestly doesn't seem all that interested in that demographic. This is a movie geared squarely towards the young. It's very silly, full of magic, and often feels like it's trying too hard.

It's unfortunate that it feels like it's often checking off a list, and I couldn't help but feel like I've seen films like this one many times before (An origin story for Santa, we get to visit and explore the North Pole, an evil businessman/villain tries to thwart Santa, a couple of cute kids visit the North Pole and save the day).

Despite some gripes, Santa Claus: The Movie is really not a bad film. The kids that it's trying to appeal to will likely enjoy the heck out of it, and it just might become one of their favorite Christmas films.

3 STARS