SYNOPSIS:
"Santa" is a title passed down for over 2,000 years, and when the current Santa passes away, it's up to his eldest son, Nick Kringle (Bill Hader), to take on the role. However, Nick doesn't want anything to do with the "family business," and when his sister, Noelle Kringle (Anna Kendrick), suggests he take a brief vacation to de-stress, he does just that... and doesn't return. Now it's up to Noelle to find her brother and set everything right, just days before Christmas!
REVIEW:
This was a very fun film! Anna Kendrick is one of my all-time favorite actresses and she did a wonderful job in this film. She juggles the role of responsible adult, childlike wonder, self-doubting, and awkward social interactions outside of the North Pole. I was kind of sad that they had at least two solo female songs in this film and she didn't get to sing either, since she has a very talented singing voice too.
I was afraid at first that this was just going to be a sort of Will Ferrell "Elf" (2003) knock-off, with Noelle traveling to Phoenix, Arizona and awkwardly mingling with the local culture as she tries to track down a lost family member. But they did a good job of keeping it light and entertaining while not making it a straight-up comedy film like Elf. Any awkwardness was dealt with maturely and didn't leave you cringing, like Will Ferrell's style of "comedy."
Leave it to Disney to keep up the tradition of killing off a parent, though. But this time, they went for Santa Claus, right at the very beginning of a story about Santa! Do you know no shame?! Yes, the story's about replacing Santa, but still... at least they were respectful about his passing and didn't play it off as a joke or something.
Also, on a side-note, this movie is apparently a Disney+ exclusive, so if you don't have the new (awful) streaming service, you'll probably have to wait until Disney decides to sell DVDs or something. Or go sailing the great data seas. 😉
Apple must've thrown a lot of money at this film because the running joke throughout the film was that EVERYONE wanted an iPad. Regardless of what anyone wanted for Christmas, there was always an, "also, an iPad" thrown in there.
Speaking of electronics... while the main plot was moving forward, there was a side-plot where a cousin of Noelle's is granted the title of Santa and, being the head of the tech department for the North Pole, decides to automate the entire process. Deliver gifts via Amazon Prime! Use aggregated data online to scan for naughty/nice qualities! He planned to remove all the personal qualities of Santa and make it a well-greased mechanical process.
Being a tech guru myself, I was on board with the whole modernization idea at first, until he announced that his algorithms dictated there were only about 2,000 or so truly good kids in the world and everyone else got a notification on their smart phone telling them why they didn't meet the cut and better luck next year. Ouch!
I can't really talk about the end without spoiling it, but let's just say that Nick and Noelle grow as people throughout the story and it had a pretty satisfactory ending.
RECOMMENDATION:
I don't like making arbitrary rating scales, so I'll just give my recommendation instead. I enjoyed this light-hearted comedy about discovering the true meaning of Christmas and I would recommend anyone see it! There was plenty of holiday cheer, it focuses on all aspects of good will and kindness to all, and even treated religions that don't believe in Christmas with respect. Definitely go check it out!
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