Get Santa (2014)

Merry Christmas everyone! First of all apologies for no video for 'Return to House on Haunted Hill' yet. I was planning to do it, as well as a Christmas special but because of...stuff and...and things, I just haven't found time to do either. So right now my plan is to bring 'Return to House on Haunted Hill' in January. Although I have done a crossover review with Movie Vault 666.

So for now, here's my review of 'Get Santa', directed by Christopher Smith (not that Chris Smith), and, this is basically his first family film since he previously did the subway horror 'Creep', black comedy 'Severance', paradox inducing 'Triangle', plague drama 'Black Death', and the historical 'Labyrinth' TV series.

But anyway, on with the review. It is, of course, Christmas time, and London wakes up on day to find reindeer walking about. Tom (Kit Connor) meanwhile finds Santa Claus (Jim Broadbent) in his family's shed. Santa crashed while testing his new sleigh, and if he doesn't get back to his workshop, Christmas is cancelled. Things don't get any better when Santa gets arrested, so Tom enlists his newly paroled father Steve (Rafe Spall) for help.

The main problem with this film is that it doesn't feel Christmasy, which, after seeing Christopher Smith's resume, does make sense, since his films tend to be more dark and gritty than anything else, and this film feels gritty. For what is supposed to be a family comedy, there aren't really that many funny bits in it. Oh there's some funny bits, just not enough of them. I will commend this film for not using any "elf and safety" jokes, but I will condemn it for using "reindeer communicate through farts" jokes, which comes off as a really weak gag.

But at the same time it does work for this film as well, I mean, you could Christmas has lost some spark, it is more for the kids. But one of the key things this films tries to do is to teach people, primarily grown ups, to rediscover the Christmas magic, that it hasn't been taken over by consumerism, it's all about family, being together, love. But the film doesn't really focus on that, it's more an afterthought, it's in the background waving its arms trying to grab your attention.

Don't get me wrong though, there are some bits where the film does that Christmas magic brilliantly, primarily when Santa reminds the adult characters of their childhood Christmas moments. The film does start off a bit....eh though, with some dialogue feeling forced, mostly from Kit Connor but seeing as how this is his first film you can forgive him. That and he does improve greatly as the film goes on.

Jim Broadbent, a.k.a that guy you recognise but can never remember his name, does a really good performance as St Nick, though I will never figure out why Santa is shown as having little understanding of how the world actually works, despite being around for so long (at one point he says he's been around for over a thousand years). The main scene showing this is when he confuses Sally (Warwick Davis) as an elf, who later...dresses as an elf. Davis himself gives a good performance as well, though he doesn't really have enough screen time to shine. Rafe Spall meanwhile, well, I felt he gave a great performance, but at the same time it felt he was being held back, limited by his role.

It is basically a marmite film. Kids will definitely enjoy it, but for the adults, well, it's watchable, It's not going to be one of those Christmas classics like 'Elf' or 'It's a Wonderful Life', but it is an alright film. As mentioned the only real problem is how the film doesn't feel like a Christmas film, and how this comedy isn't really that funny. But those are the only real problems as the acting and the odd brilliant scene makes the film pretty enjoyable.