Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and back to the Santa Spectacle. And ooh boy, this is gonna hurt. We once again are looking at another TV movie from 2000 and it's also one that I'd have never seen before. All I knew about it was that it aired on The Wonderful World of Disney and it starred Leslie Nielsen as Santa Claus. Seeing the DVD cover for weeks on end at the Library that I volunteer at, didn't give me much hope either.
You know how I said that The Santa Clause 3 felt like a TV show, well that is also true of this movie as it uses one of the cliche ridden tropes found in sitcoms. A character comes down with amnesia and doesn't remember who they are. And that is the main crux of this movie as Santa doesn't remember that he is Santa Claus throughout most of the movie. And that is on top of the fact that most of the characters in this movie are extremely unlikable. Oh, and if you are expecting good comedy because it stars Leslie Nielsen, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Granted, he is the best part of the movie but that's not saying much. With that outta the way, let's begin.
The Plot
We open 25 years in the past from when this movie was set. So, 1975 and see a young boy writing a letter to Santa and he finds out that his father thinks that it's better that he stays at the orphanage and the young boy sees the Sister that runs the orphanage throw his letter into the fire. Which causes him to stop believing in Santa and hate Christmas.
We then cut to 2000 and see that his jerkwad has become a local news reporter and is looking to exploit the holidays in anyway possible just to get a story. And isn't interested in reporting uplifting as he'd rather report about murders that happen on the holiday. He just wants to take his hatred out on the holiday, anyway he can. I get wanting to do hard hitting stories but he only seems to be interested in doing this for because of his hatred for the holidays.
Meanwhile, at the most depressing looking North Pole that I've seen and that includes one that has dead people working for Santa. Seriously, the North Pole in this movie looks like an out of commission airport. We see Santa's head elf go to talk to the big man in red as he is feeling depressed and not feeling very well. So, Santa decides to the sleigh out for a ride. And oh dear lord, this is some of the worst CGI that I have ever seen in my life. The reindeer in this movie look like they're from a late '90s video game. And it just happens that Santa falls out of the sleigh and falls on the car of the news reporter from the beginning of the movie. So, the man takes him in and helps him get a job as a mall Santa. Yeah, no if I want to watch a movie with the real Santa working in a department store, I'll stick with the classic.
And the news reporter sees this as an opportunity for another story as he thinks that he say that he'll help the old man, who is going by Nick now find his family. Not because he is sorry about what happened to the old man but because he thinks that this'll be ratings gold. Meanwhile, the young of the news reporter's girlfriend is convinced that the man really is Santa. Ah, another cliche. That of which, only the kids know that it's really Santa. I would really like to see a movie where they don't pull this. Yeah, I guess you can say that The Santa Clause sequels do that but I dunno. And he has to try and convince everyone around him that Leslie Nielsen really is Santa. Sorry, I've see a lot of Santas and Nielsen, while not bad is probably one of my least favorites from the movies that I've watched as unlike Tim Allen, you never buy him as Santa and just see Leslie Nielsen.
Which, this by the way includes climbing into a sleigh in a Christmas display at a toy store as he knows that it's Santa's sleigh. Oh, and the movie also includes two more subplots about the elves trying to find Santa. And first off, these elves are just cruel as we see them go through an airport. Must've flown out of the one that they work at and attack the people checking their bags with various types of toys. Oh, and later on, they gag the news reporter with a ball and cuff him with a slinky. Now, you might be thinking that the first Santa Clause did something like this as well. And well, you aren't too far off but there are a couple of major differences. The first one being that the elfs in that movie were played by kids and you are more willing to suspend your disbelief with kids and when they did that to the man running the prison, it never felt like it went over the edge. Here, the elfs are played by adults and that just makes it look like what it is, an adult man attacking another adult man.
Oh, there is also yet another subplot where a couple thinks that Santa is their missing grandfather that went missing ten years ago and we actually see the grandfather in a home for the elderly, which just makes me think that they never visit him. And there is a missed opportunity here as the grandfather is not played by Leslie Nielsen and that would've actually made the joke a bit stronger.
So, as the reporter spends more time with Santa, his faith in Christmas is restored and Santa slowly starts to remember things about who he is but it all comes back to him as he sees that Santa actually did get the letter that he wrote to him. Earlier in the film, Santa suggested that the Sister running the orphanage might have been Scandinavian as according to this movie, they do that as a way to get the letters to Santa faster. I've not been able to find anything in my research that confirms that or not. So, the news reporter calls Santa and tells him that he believes and to meet at the aforementioned toy store, where Santa saves the young boy from falling to death. I'm not normally one for injuries in Christmas movies but I would've been okay with this kid getting hurt. And the news reporter finally gets what he wanted all those years ago, a family that loves him. Even though, from where I stand, he did nothing to earn it. And the movie ends with Santa flying and running a bit late and his head elf suggesting that they put seatbelts in the sleigh.. If it prevents anything like this from ever happening again, I am all for it.
You know I would use the Disney Facepalm for this but let's use something more festive.
There are no likable characters in this movie except for maybe Santa and give Leslie Nielsen some credit, he was really trying but he couldn't save this month old fruitcake if he tried. He may have been the one bright spot in the movie but he wasn't enough to save it.
Characters
Santa Claus played by Leslie Nielsen
Nielsen was the best actor in the movie as no-one else and I mean no-one was on his caliber. He put his all and he's not a bad Santa in terms of personality. His costume could use some work as that beard is beyond fake looking but Douglas Seale, Tim Allen, & Edmund Gwenn (I know Miracle isn't a Disney movie but I'm thinking of better Santa movies) act circles around Leslie Nielsen in making you truly believe that they are Santa Claus. If I were to rank the Santas from the movies that I've reviewed, he'd probably be second to last.
Peter Allright played by Steven Eckholdt
This is NOT how you do a character that hates Christmas. Yes, he had a reason but a flimsy reason at that. Scrooge had more of a reason for hating Christmas and I felt like they were trying to lift what happened to this A***hole from Scrooge's life. The problem with that is unlike Scrooge, we only ever to get see him as an adult. And man, is he one unpleasant grinch. You never feel like he's earn his reward at the end of the movie as you barely see him go through any character development and you kinda grow to hate him at the beginning as he is exploiting Santa for his own personal gain.
Zach played by Max Morrow
This kid basically existed to believe in Santa and be the only one that did. Other than that, there was nothing to him. Oh, I didn't bring up his mom in the plot portion but she didn't have any character either.
Max played by Tommy Davidson
I didn't bring this up in the plot portion either but for some reason, 4 of Santa's elves go looking for him. Even though, only two of them have any lines and only one has anything that is close to semblance of a character. That would be Max, the one on the second to the right. He was supposed to be the smart alecky wise cracking type but he grew old really fast and there was nothing to him than being that walking cliche. Really, the only good thing about elves is that the lone female elf looked like Chef Carla Hail, who I am a fan of from Top Chef and The Chew. And I'd rather be watching her cook a Christmas dinner than this movie.
My Final Thoughts
Let's use it again....
This is the worst movie that I watched for this event. The Santa Clause 3 is the most disappointing and while One Magic Christmas may have been a bit too bleak and depressing for my liking, I'd gladly watch that over this piece of dreck. When I reviewed Ernest Saves Christmas, I said that there was difference between a dumb movie and a movie that starred a dumb character. And that Ernest Saves Christmas falls more into the latter. I gave that movie slack because it knew what it was, this film however is trying to present itself as a wholesome festive family film but it just comes across as dumb but not in the fun way and none of the characters are likable. And the film doesn't realize that and while I do this begrudgingly, I feel like Santa Clause 3, at least knew that some of it's characters were unlikable. Granted, that doesn't make it a good movie but this movie here never seems to understand that the news reporter isn't the only unlikable character in this movie. And tries to paint other characters in a better light such as showing Max and the other elves as the comic relief but what they do never comes across as funny but rather cruel. Am I being too hard on this movie in comparing it to a theaterical film that came out 6 years later? Perhaps but I still feel that this is one of the worst movies that I have had to endure for A Look at Disney. My advice to you is to avoid this disasterpiece at all costs. Join me next time as we close out the Santa Spectacle with a much better film as we look at...
A Muppets Christmas: Letters To Santa
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