A surprisingly decent Christmas movie. Like most people like most people I was enticed with the prospect of seeing Kurt Russell as the jolly old fat man. And for the most part I got what I wanted.
So the movie is incredibly formulaic. It involves a picture perfect family that gets broken up over the holidays via the death of one of them and the rest of the family trying to cope with their first Christmas alone.
It has all the typical bickering and formulaic drama you would expect from a run-of-the-mill Christmas film; mixed in with all the Hallmarks of belief, bettering yourself and embracing the spirit of the holidays.
Of course there's a major plot involving Santa Claus's regular routine being interrupted and then having him rectify the problem via the troubled kids.
The whole thing reminds me an awful lot of that Tim Allen Santa Claus film where he accidentally killed Santa Claus and then became him.
It has that feel good mentality mixed in with the antics of a high-profile actor. In this case it's Kurt Russell who I think does a significantly better job than Tim Allen.
Will this movie be dated in a few years. Oh heck yeah. But it's no different than any other Christmas movie tackling the Modern Age. I'm sure a lot of kids will grow up with this as their fundamental Christmas movie and it'll do the job just fine.
Kurt Russell is the absolute star of this film. Every interaction he has is entertaining and is banter with all the average people as he tries to convince them that he is in fact Saint Nick is easily the most enjoyable part of the whole film.
He's the glue that holds the whole thing together and luckily for him all the other characters are done just well enough that the entire film doesn't have to consist on him.
There's a couple Antics involving some CGI Elfs that I wasn't all that interested in. But luckily there only in the film for about 10 minutes all together.
The Elf animation along with the reindeers are done just cartoony enough that it makes it endearing instead of distracting to look at. It's by no means realistic but then that adds to the advantage as it gives the whole thing that's magical element.
I think the oddest thing about the movie is the amount of time spent in really dingy places. There's a low-grade bar, a den of Thieves and the prison cell inside a police station what a good chunk of the movie takes place. And it's not a sad or depressing movie; it's light-hearted flew out.
If you're looking for a Christmas movie but don't just want to watch the same holiday special for the 500th time then the Kurt Russell Santa Claus movie is perfectly acceptable.
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