Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our Santa Spectacle as we head to the world of TV movies as we look at a Disney Channel Original Movie, The Ultimate Christmas Present. Now yes, there is another Disney Channel Original Movie that has Santa and stars a pre Breaking Bad Bryan Cranston but I ran out of time to review it, so maybe next year.
Both of these are on the Disney Channel App, if you are curious but I'm not sure for how much longer. With that outta the way, let's begin.
The Plot
Two teenage girls, who live in L.A. come across a machine that changes the weather after establishing that one of them, Allie is a bit of a troublemaker and can't keep focused and hasn't started work on a creative writing assignment that is due after the Christmas break and find the machine after getting lost on their way home and take the machine with them after they see an old man throw it out in frustration. It is soon revealed that the old man that they stole the machine from is Santa Claus.
And I'll just say this right now, I love this take on Santa as he is something that you rarely see with Santas, he is tough loving. It's clear that he loves the children that he delivers presents to but he won't be easy on them either, when he knows that they can be better and that is perhaps most evident in when he meets Hallee and her best friend, Samantha, who is played by a very young Brenda Song. Who would go onto star in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. I gotta say that I like her character here, a bit more and that is another thing that amazes me about going back and watching this movie as it's a who's-who of Disney Channel stars as you have Hallie Todd, the mom for Lizzie McGuire playing the mom in this movie. And this movie came out a year before what is perhaps one of the best Disney Channel shows of all time. A young Spencer Breslin plays the little brother in this movie and Peter Scolari, who I best knew for taking over Rick Moranis' role in Honey, I Shrunk The Kids: The TV Show played the villain.
He is admittedly the weakest part of the movie but even then, he's not bad. What's his crime? He's a weatherman and everyone finds him boring, just for doing his job and he is about to be fired, if he doesn't cover more interesting stories. Yeah, it's pretty dumb but I'm willing to overlook that for how much I like the rest of the movie. Meanwhile, Santa calls Mrs. Claus from his summer cabin about the disappearance of the weather making machine and Santa asks that his two best elves be sent. Instead, he gets two bumbling but well meaning elves that are always looking for ways to capitalize on Christmas.
Oh, and this is minor but the movie uses sight humor as the two elves, Sparky and Crumpet are tall as news gets that wrong about them all the time. One of them is played by an NBA Player and the other is played by the voice of Patrick Star.
Back at Allie's house, we see the girls set up the weather machine to make it snow and at first, they are loving it.
And hey as someone that lived in Southern California, when he was ten, I get the appeal of wanting to have a snow day there but as we will see things start to get out of hand with the machine. Meanwhile, Santa figures out by looking at the shoe print left behind from Allie, that a girl stole it and Santa along with Sparky and Crumpet go and interrogate the girls on the naughty list that live in L.A.. And in perhaps, the most random decision for this movie, this whole montage of Santa and the elves interrogating the girls on the Naughty List is set to Secret Agent Man.
Yeah, seriously, I couldn't make this up if I tried. The snowstorm starts to get much worse and turns into a blizzard and Allie attempts to turn it off as it'll keep her dad trapped at an airport in San Francisco. Allie goes to turn it off but it turns itself back on overnight and causes things to get worse.
And here, we get a random story that comes outta nowhere about how Sam's dad is dead as she tries to comfort her best friend about not being able to spend Christmas with her best friend. Soon, Santa and the elves arrive at Allie's house and we find out that Allie is number 236 on Santa's Naughty list as they are discovered by Santa and his elves in the shed of Allie's house as they attempt to get flashlights. Oh, and we find out that Sam is an honors student and Santa reveals some personal information about the young girl about how she likes to dance to Ricky Martin music and pretend to be his bride, when she's alone. I wonder how Sam took Ricky's Coming Out. This convinces the girls that he is Santa and meanwhile, Edwin (the villain played by Peter Scolari) shows up as he had been tracking the center of the storm and wanted to find it to become the most famous weatherperson in the world. He says that the family had won a contest, where they get to spend the day with Edwin Hadley.
Edwin finds the weather machine in Allie's room as her younger brother, Joey is holding it and Edwin scolds him for messing with it. He runs off with the machine on a snowmobile that he stole earlier and crashes into a Chocolate Factory and falls into a vat of chocolate. And there, the group reclaims the weather machine. And we find out that Santa has created a special set of batteries that should last 100 years for the weather machine but he had to use standard batteries as he didn't have his special batteries on him, when he got frustrated with the machine. Again, I cannot make this up. And why did Santa build this machine? He wanted to give people The Ultimate Christmas Present with a light flurry of snow. Santa asks Edwin, what happened as he was once a bright and inquisitive boy. Edwin reveals that he doesn't feel appreciated and Santa says he has another job for him. And we see that Santa has set up for him to teach a class at his own weather school in Antarctica. And unlike Jack Frost from yesterday, I can get behind this as while Edwin is the villain of this piece, you can see that he feels put upon and that no one takes him seriously and he has all these great skills that he isn't allowed to use as his boss would rather have him report on the cast of Friends being trapped in their studio. I'm not kidding, that was an actual line in the movie. And we Sparky and Crumpet arrive at Allie's house as they drop off her dad as they came across him, while he was trying to get a rental car.
Yeah, this movie is a bit silly and goofy but I love it for that as this movie knows exactly what it is and doesn't try to be more than that. There are a lot flaws and big head scratching moments but this movie is really cute. And I think that is the best way to describe this movie, cute. It's not perfect and I wouldn't go in expecting much. But for what this movie is, it's a lot of fun and an enjoyable time.
Characters
I'll be honest and say that while I do like this movie quite a bit, the characters are the weakest aspect of the movie. Mainly, the lead characters.
Allie played by Hallee Hirsh
Allie isn't a bad kid and Santa knows that and knows that she can be better but she'd just rather look for the easy way out instead of actually working things out and that is what leads to her causing L.A. to be covered in a blanket of snow.
Sam played by Brenda Song
Again, there really isn't much to Sam as she is just the opposite of her best friend. She is an Honors Student and an overachiever. The movie does try to state that she's a bit of a chicken but I don't feel like the movie goes far enough to show that.
Supporting Characters
Santa Claus played by John B. Lowe
If there is any reason at all to watch this movie, it's for it's Santa Claus. Seriously, he is so likable and brings a side to Santa that we rarely see as he is caring but he is also willing to use tough love within reason to show that he understands the problems of the children that he watches over from around the world and like with Allie as I didn't really bring it up, her family is so busy that they barely have time for each other with her mom running a catering business. (Thankfully, the movie never tries to make her look bad for working and shows that her kids understand) And Santa understands that she puts on a front for her family and tries to be brave and that is why she acts the way she does.
Sparky and Crumpet played by Bill Fagerbakke & John Salley
These two are such a great duo and they work off each other so well. And the sight gag of Santa's elves about 6 ft tall is really funny. Yeah, it's a dumb joke but I get a laugh out of it. And while they aren't the brightest in the world, they do have good hearts and it is shown that they are smart but they just don't know how to apply those smarts.
Villain
Edwin Hadley played by Peter Scolari
Yeah, the villain is probably the weakest aspect of the movie as you could take him out and nothing would really change but dangit, if Peter Scolari doesn't put his all into playing this role and there are times, where you actually root for him. It might be for the fact that he is perhaps the smartest person in the newsroom or perhaps it's because he is just such a likable actor. And you aren't mad, when he isn't punished as you kinda want to see him get what he wants.
My Final Thoughts
This movie is far from perfect but for what it is, I love it. Sure, it might because it's part of my youth and it is one that I always watched whenever it came on Disney Channel, this time of year. As I said, this is a charming and cute little movie. I'd say give it a watch, if you are interested. Join me next time as we look at what is perhaps the worst movie that I've watched for this event as we look the Leslie Nielsen movie...
Santa Who?
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