Santa Claus: The Movie, 1985

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(David Huddleston, Dudley Moore, John Lithgow)

I can't for the life of me understand why this movie gets so much criticism! I love it! I've loved it since the first time I saw it in the cinema in 1985. The two most amazing things about this movie are, for me, the soundtrack and the design.

Soundtrack

Not only is the original score for this movie (written by Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse) absolutely fabulous (just listen to it during the “Seasons Greetings” scene, and again when they're feeding the reindeer before their first flight!) but some of the original songs are just stunning. It features tracks by Aled Jones - “Every Christmas Eve” and Sheena Easton - “It's Christmas All Over the World Tonight” and has a great jingle during Patch the elf's TV ad. My favourite, though, has to be the arrangement of the carols played during the montage of Christmas through the centuries. Nothing makes me feel more Christmassy than that piece of music. It's just beautiful.

Design

This movie made me want to become a costume designer! The bright colours and the cool designs, as well as the absolutely perfect Santa Claus outfit, just took my breath away as a child. I still love them even now. Then there's the image of the village at the North Pole, as well as all the buildings and rooms. The production designer was Anthony Pratt and he and the Art Department, and Set Decorator, Stephanie McMillan, did a fabulous job. The scenes of the sleigh flying and landing are still the best ones I've ever scene in a Christmas movie - maybe not technically, as technology has moved on since 1985 - but in terms of reaching inside my head and putting my imagination on screen? Definitely.

Anything Else?

How can I not mention the wonderful late Dudley Moore and the great comedic talents of John Lithgow? These two actors alone make the film worth watching and turn the perhaps slightly plodding script into a magical story. In my opinion, this Hollywood version of the history of Santa and his adventures is definitely one to watch on a cold winter's evening, in the glow of the fire and the fairy lights.

The Santa Clause, 1994

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 (Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, David Krumholtz)

This movie is fast on its way to becoming a classic. I've seen it every year since its release and it still makes me laugh out loud, especially the beard that won't go away! Again with this movie, as with most Christmas movies, it's the design and the soundtrack that really appeal to me, although this one has the added appeal of an absolutely hilarious script and an A1 cast.

Soundtrack

Well, let's start with the most beautiful version of “Carol of the Bells” that I've ever heard, performed by the American Boys' Choir. On top of that, the soundtrack is crammed full of classics such as The Drifters' “White Christmas” and ZZ Top's “Gimme All Your Lovin'”, plus, if that isn't enough, then the incidental music by Michael Convertino will delight and enchant you. This is one of those soundtracks that you can play all by itself without the movie!

Design

I'm a sucker for a good Santa's sleigh and the one in this movie is one of the best! As for the reindeer - if you thought the ones in “Santa Claus: The Movie” were adorable, just wait until you meet these. In 1994, animatronics were starting to go places and these critters took full advantage of it. Then there's Santa's Workshop, complete with toy train and - my favourite - the doors to Santa's bedroom with the smaller door built in for the Elves!!!

Anything Else?

Yes! As mentioned earlier, this movie is funny! Laugh out loud funny. Look out for the scenes where Scott has to pop down pipes instead of chimneys and when his heartbeat begins to play a very well-known Christmas song! The fact that this movie stars the adorable Judge Reinhold and the lovely David Krumholtz alongside Tim Allen at his hilarious best, only serves to enhance the fun and frolics served up in this festive treat of a movie. This one usually has to fight with the next one in the list for the privilege of “Saturday Before Christmas” viewing!

The Muppet Christmas Carol, 1992

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(Michael Caine, Kermit the Frog et al)

Any movie with a Muppet in it is a movie worth watching and this one has to be the best!!! A stellar human cast interacts wonderfully with the best puppets ever created, to bring a whole new twist to Dickens' beloved Christmas tale. Kermit as Bob Cratchitt and Miss Piggy as Mrs Cratchitt has to be a dream come true for all Muppet "shippers, and the rest of the zany creatures also inhabit their Dickensian characters perfectly.

Soundtrack

Oh, yes - there"s oodles of Muppet sing-a-long fun to be had with this! The soundtrack consists of a hamper of original songs, all of which have the ability to root themselves deep into your subconscious on first hearing, meaning you will never need a lyrics sheet because they will always be with you! With the exception of the traditional carols used in the movie, the score and soundtrack were composed by Miles Goodman and Paul Williams. Highlights include “Scrooge” (“There goes Mr. Humbug, there goes Mr. Grim…”), “It Feels Like Christmas” and “A Thankful Heart” - also sung with gusto and enthusiasm by our lovely Muppet friends, and a pretty good effort from Mr. Caine too!

Design

The opening shots, during the overture, of the snow-covered rooftops of Dickensian London, slightly skewed in the usual whimsical Muppet manner, are completely charming. The costumes, by Ann Hollowood and Polly Smith, are brightly coloured and beautifully designed (a bit like the Muppets themselves, really!) and the narrow, snowy streets are a delight. It never ceases to amaze me how well the sets work, interior and exterior, in Muppet movies to allow us to suspend disbelief by hiding the mechanisms of the Muppets from us.

Anything Else?

There are some wonderful set pieces in this movie, such as the one where the Bookkeepers are closing up Scrooge's shop for Christmas. As usual with the Muppets, there is hilarious slapstick comedy, combined with a sharp and witty script that makes the movie fun for all ages. Finally, there is my favourite scene, where the Bookkeepers (rats) have made Bob Cratchitt (Kermit) ask Scrooge for more coal because they're cold. After Scrooge yells at them and threatens them with unemployment, the next scene is of the rats dressed in grass skirts and garlands, hula dancing and singing, “This is our island in the sun!” I still find this scene screamingly funny, even after all these years. If your kids have never seen the Muppets before, this is a fantastic way to introduce them to a bunch of characters who have become part of American and British culture. Don't let them grow up without Kermit!

Call Me Claus, 2001

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(Whoopi Goldberg, Nigel Hawthorne)

You might not think the idea of a black woman as Santa Claus would work, but in this movie it actually does. The way the story unfolds means that, by the end, you believe that Whoopi could be Santa! Whoopi is her usual sharp-witted, hilarious self as grumpy TV executive Lucy Cullins, who is in need of a good dose of Christmas spirit. She fights her ultimate fate as the next Santa every step of the way, but is finally won over by childhood memories, her family, the twinkling existing Santa (Nigel Hawthorne) and, of course, her deep-seated desire to be happy at Christmas.

Soundtrack

Garth Brooks and more Garth Brooks on this one, but it's a soundtrack worth listening to. It includes Garth's cover of “Zat you, Santa Claus?” as well as new tracks such as the title track, “Call Me Claus” and a gospel hymn, “Ready for Jesus”. Other tracks are also from Garth's “The Magic of Christmas” album.

Design

The best thing about the design of the whole movie has to be Whoopi's Santa costume at the end, complete with white dreadlocks. It's brilliant! This movie also does a good job with the sleigh and reindeer, which has become something I really look out for in a Christmas movie! They do a pretty good job with Santa's home at the North Pole, too.

Anything Else?

I find this movie a rollicking good laugh all the way through. If you're a fan of Whoopi's, you'll love her wisecracks and her putdowns, and if you like feel-good movies, you'll enjoy the ending.

Home Alone 2 - Lost In New York, 1992

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(Macauley Culkin, Tim Curry)

This one is a must for my dad and I to watch together at Christmas. It's guaranteed to have us rolling on the floor in stitches at Kevin McAllister's maltreatment of the luckless burglars who are still out for revenge after being busted by Kevin years earlier. In this movie, Kevin gets separated from his family at the airport and ends up on the wrong plane. Fortunately for him, he was holding his ticket and some of his dad's things before they got separated so when he lands in New York, it's no trouble for Kevin to lie his way into the Plaza Hotel and start living it up at his dad's expense!

Soundtrack

This movie has a super-cool soundtrack which includes old favourites such as Johnny Mathis' “It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and Andy Williams' “It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”. There are original songs written by Leslie Bricusse and John Williams and instrumental pieces also written by John Williams. Other enjoyable tracks include “Jingle Bell Rock” performed by Bobby Helms, “A Holly Jolly Christmas” performed by Alan Jackson and “All Alone on Christmas” performed by Darlene Love.

Design

One of my favourite parts of the movie is when Kevin visits the toy shop in New York. Although the actual store, “Duncan's Toy Chest” does not exist, it is based on the FAO Schwartz store in New York and the interior is fabulous. Another part of the movie, which I'm going to list under “Design”, is the planning of all the hilarious booby traps which Kevin sets for the burglars. Although it's obvious that if these kinds of things really happened to people, they would be killed, some of the traps are ingenious and side-splitting, not to mention eye-watering!

Anything Else?

This movie has the good fortune to star the excellent Tim Curry as the obsequious hotel manager who also fairs badly at Kevin's hands. The scene where Kevin pretends to be his father with a gun, terrifying the manager so much that he crawls out of the room on his hands and knees is one of the funniest in the movie. In fact, this whole film is a work of genius and to my mind is infinitely better than the first one!

So there they are. The five movies that my family and I watch during the run up to Christmas. Occasionally, others in our list of favourite movies make the final cut including “A Wonderful Life”, several other versions of Scrooge such as the 1970s musical version with Albert Finney and the 1950s version with Alastair Sim and the other two “Santa Clause” movies. Making the watching of a special movie into a tradition at Christmas is something I think everyone should do, so hopefully I've given you some ideas of which movies would work for you. Enjoy!

1. Time Bandits (1981)

   
   
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   Written by Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin (former Monty Python member) Time Bandits is perhaps the most surreal and well casted "campy" science fiction movie of them all. Starring such actors as Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelly Duvall, and Ian Holm this movie is not lacking in any aspect except for seriousness. In fact I generally laugh all the way through this movie. Its pokes at various historical figures as well as the portrayal of a 'common' Western family make for a fun ride through and through. (And to think when I was younger it scared me batless! I wouldn't watch this movie for the world. And now? I laugh.)
   
   A young boy is dragged into the interspatial adventure with some dwarves who have made off with a map of time portals. This map allows them to navigate time through a series of doors that open at particular times. In pursuit of the map is the Evil One and the Supreme Being. Through the wall of a room and into time they go.
   
   I love this movie because of its off-the-wall humor and its somewhat surreal nature. I always laugh when I see Sean Connery (as Agamemnon) or Ian Holm (who plays Napolean) doing their scenes. We take them so seriously now and this offers a different side of their acting careers.

2. Back to the Future (1985)

   
   
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   I will actually address all three of the Back to the Future series here simply because they can be viewed as a single contiguous work (with bathroom and snack breaks of course). Robert Zemeckis, who directed the movies, is actually credited along side Bob Gale as a writer. The level ov involvement within the movies, that is the attention to detail and polish of the films makes them classic and able to be reviewed time and again.
   
   Basically if it's a conundrum that was hypothesized about with time travel it happens in these movies. The year is 1985 and Marty McFly witnesses the death of his friend and mentor Doc Brown at the beginning of the first movie. He takes the time machine that the doc invented and goes back in time to attempt to stop the death from happening. Unfortunately he winds up a tad bit farther back than he expect. 1955. He accidentally prevents his parents from meeting for the first time.
   
   The second movie concerns the future of McFly's family. His son is dated to be imprisoned for some crime and so Doc brings Marty forward in time to fix it. By accident someone manages to bring back an almanac from the future. The past begins to change and McFly and Doc Brown race to save not just Marty this time but the whole world.
   
   The third movie concerns the past. Doc Brown is accidentally taken into the past when the time machine is struck by lightning at the end of the second movie. Marty immediately receives a telegram from Doc Brown outlaying his where-abouts. In basic Doc is slated to die five days after he arrived. Marty approaches the 1955 version of Doc and they unearth the buried time machine and send Marty back.
   
   I love these movies. They are mind bending and extremely funny. I enjoy watching these quite often (when I have an available 6 hours to use). Of any of these movies in this review I would suggest these three the most. These are truly classic, a trilogy well done.

3. Galaxy Quest (1999)

   
   
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   In some ways I pity Tim Allen. The fact that he is stuck with Christmas movies and that he's been type-cast into that kind of role I find sad. It is movies like Galaxy Quest that I consider a highlight of his career. He plays Jason Nesmith who plays Captain Peter Quincy Taggart from a Star Trek rip off show that went off air in the 80's.
   
   Nesmith, and later his fellow actors, meet some aliens in distress at a Galaxy Quest convention. Nesmith takes it as an off acting job and winds up in deep interstellar space in the middle of a battle for the very survival of their species (the aliens, not Nesmith).
   
   Plenty of pot shots are taken at the old Star Trek series and movies and the characters are given depth that most lampoons simply do away with. This is guaranteed to please the hard core science fiction fan as well as the casual viewer. May you laugh. Lots.

4. The Last Starfighter (1984)

   
   
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   This movie is here because of its unintentional campiness. This is one of those movies that took itself entirely too seriously. Not only is it a poor ripoff of Star Wars but its also based on earth. It was one of the first movies to make extensive use of computer generated special effects. Because of this it looks like a video game (much like Tron).
   
   Basically a kid has too much time on his hands and he winds up getting a high score on an arcade game. The arcade game is actually a test for skill so that pilots can be found to fight against some generic bad guy who wields a generic bad-guy staff that goes KCHING when he pushes a button. Typical megalomaniac with a big head and delusions of grandeur. This typical bad-guy manages to make a deep strike on the fighter base that housed all of the Starfighters. And this kid is the only one left. Thus The Last Starfighter. Begin the epic journey.
   
   Because this movie is so campy it is hilarious fun just to watch without a thought towards what it stole from other movies or even why. There are quite a few classic moments as well. I watch this movie from time to time to remember and to laugh at how corny it is. Watch with a loved one or like minded friends. Yell commentary at the screen and throw stuff.

5. Lost in Space (1998)

   
   
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   Lost in Space was supposed to be serious. But it falls into the trap of taking itself seriously and turns into a campfest of fun. With the best bad-guy actor on staff (Gary Oldman of 5th Element fame) and an outstanding cast of good-guys this movie is campy but also well endowed when it comes to special effects.
   
   Earth has been polluted and the recycling technologies have come online too late. So the heads of state and military are building a warp gate to another habitable planet. Trouble is there's terrorists (Sedition by name) and they actually have to send the Robinson family plus change there to supervise the building of the other end of the gate. This entails years of cryogenic sleep and no real social life once they get there. But things don't happen so cleanly. And agent of Sedition sneaks on board and breaks some stuff and the ship begins to plummet into the sun. Someone gets the brilliant idea that because they can't get out of the sun's gravity well they should use the new and untested hyperdrive technology to go through the sun in a slingshot manuever. It works. And they're lost in space.
   
   This movie is campy but also a well done adaption of the show that aired on CBS for so many years. I watch this movie sometimes on the off chance I need a reminder of what original campy scifi looks like. This one is also good for a laugh.

6. Tron (1982)

   
   
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   And last but not least is Tron! One of the greatest science fiction films of all time! Not only is it visionary (in that nothing like it was produced before or after) but it also has charm and most importantly, camp.
   
   For those not familiar Tron is about a renegade computer watch-dog program called Tron. But this is a 'fight the power' kind of movie so Tron is the good guy. Well, one of them. The evil mainframe computer is at odds with almost all of the programmers that have spent any time coding programs that run on its hardware. One night one of the programmers, Flynn, is fiddling around one night with a matter rearranger that could teleport things like oranges and the mainframe zaps him with it and sucks him into the computer world.
   
   Tron was a revolution in computer graphics. When they rendered off the computer effects for certain elements they rendered in trillions upon trillions of colors and had to dumb the final ultra-high resolution images down into something that was usable on screen. This is one of my draws to this movie. The other of my draws to this movie is that it is an original concept in the science fiction universe that hasn't been attempted since. The story is solid as are the characters and there is plenty of room for laughter as well.

The film follows the story of Dave Douglas (Tim Allen), a district attorney hopeful who gets bitten by a 300 year old dog (kidnapped from Tibet) that has escaped from an illegal animal research facility with the help of Dave's daughter. The facility however, is run by the evil Dr. Kozak (Downey Jr.) who Dave just happens to be representing in court. Hilarity ensues (or is supposed to) when Dave transforms into a dog himself for half his waking hours, and then, as half-dog, half-man, has to expose Dr. Kozak for the nasty piece of work that he is, while saving his ailing marriage and regaining the trust of his two kids.

Now I know this is a film aimed at children (the little brat kicking the back of my seat all the way through the movie was enough to confirm this) but surely Disney can come up with something better than this dogged affair. By the end of the film I felt like I'd experienced "movie by numbers", with Disney simply crossing Dr. Doolittle with a scaled down version of Cheaper by the Dozen. There's even a slight nod to Toy Story, with Dave Douglas in pooch form yelling Buzz Lightyear's overused catchphrase, “To infinity and beyond,” while performing mild doggie acrobatics.

Fortunately for Disney, the children love it. Becky and Hamish (not the harsh critics I thought they were) laughed throughout the whole thing and even managed to stop hitting each other for the duration of the movie. Their favorite scene (if you really want to know) involved Dave Douglas in semi human state chasing a ginger moggy into an alleyway. Personally, I think the three year old sitting in front of me had better taste, as he spent the entire movie blissfully passed out with his head on a rather attractive girl's lap (I'm still hoping she was his babysitter and not his mum).

If you've got kids of your own, then take them to this movie and they'll laugh their socks off but if you're childless like me, then this is one dog that unfortunately needs to be put down.

4/10

Wild Hogs is a well-told story of four middle-aged men trying to recapture the adventure of their younger days through a motorcycle trip to the pacific. Doug, Woody, Bobby, and Dudley, are well crafted characters played by well known actors. It isn't four times funnier than any of these actors might have done on their own but its worth watching.

Allen, Lawrence, and Macy only have to be funny but Travolta's role was the corner-stone of the film. I think Travolta has acted much better in films like Phenomenon and Broken Arrow. With all the cameos this looks like a film that didn't take itself too seriously and it feels like Travolta didn't throw his all behind it. Still it doesn't wreck the film. Pound for pound Marisa Tomei turned in the best performance of the film-proving once again that she has more talent just in her face than most actresses in Hollywood. She really shines in little comedies like this and My Cousin Vinni because she is so much better than the roles she is given.

What about the “PG-13” Rating?

This movie is not trying to be family friendly nor is it really raunchy. There are two things that might bother a Christian:

1) The language; I'm not as allergic to foul language as many Christians. For me language, like nudity must be integral to the plot or it should be skipped. It wouldn't make much sense for a blue-color character to hit his thumb and then say, “Oh SUGER!” It would be out of place and damage the film's integrity. In this film the cussing does fit because it's sparse and four guys out doing guy stuff might cuss. It's still unfortunate though since without a couple bad words this would've been a kid safe film.

2) The sexual innuendo; there is some homosexual innuendo in the film, and male nudity. It all sorta fits though. I think because these men are fighting to save their masculinity it seems fitting that they would be challenged in that way.

Larger Story

There is an obvious larger story theme in men injecting adventure into their lives, but the best feature of this film is what it has to say about posing. The four main characters are all posing in different ways but so are some of the other characters. Best of all these men call each other out on things. I don't usually like movies where people bicker a lot, but in this film the guys really feel comfortable enough to put each other straight once in a while. It's a good example of a fellowship having to work through the counterfeit and back to what's real. There are some real gems in here and its fun to watch.