I don't think you would be able to find a more colorful Christmas movie to watch for the holidays. The scenes of Santa's wondrous home and workshop with the elves in their vibrant costumes are radiant and impart a joyous feeling to the film. I thought it was kind of funny when Santa Claus took exception to the line in the Clement Moore Christmas poem comparing his girth to a 'bowl full of jelly'. David Huddleston and Judy Cornwell couldn't have been better cast as Mr. and Mrs. Claus, they both had just the right look and temperament for their roles. Huddleston might have been a little jollier in retrospect, but he did have a lot on his mind with all those toys to get delivered on time.
The most glaring thing that bothered me however was when young Cornelia (Carrie Kei Heim) placed some food outside for her street urchin friend Joe (Christian Fitzpatrick) to eat, and right there next to the dish she placed a can of Coke. Talk about crass commercialism in a movie that attempted to put the whammy on crass commercialism. Later on there was a scene of Santa's warehouse with a Coke vending machine at the bottom of the stairwell, and I had to wonder how much Coca-Cola paid for the product placement in the picture. Lest you think I'm going overboard with the Coke comments, I happened to notice many years ago how many movies actually do have some mention of that product, and made a game out of it with my family to shout out 'Coca-Cola' whenever a scene came into view on screen. If you make a mental note, it will seem like you'll catch a Coke reference in every movie you watch from now on.
Well, excuse my little rant there. As far as Christmas movies go, this one is probably a whole lot better suited for youngsters than adults, but Christmas being family time, it couldn't hurt to watch it as a unit. John Lithgow makes for an effective Scrooge-like villain attempting to corner the global toy market, but with a name like BZ, I don't think he ever had a chance. Dudley Moore being top billed, I thought he would have had more of a presence in the story, and he did in the latter half of the picture when his character Patch goes commercial, but you knew it was only a matter of time before his true Christmas spirit would shine through.
The most glaring thing that bothered me however was when young Cornelia (Carrie Kei Heim) placed some food outside for her street urchin friend Joe (Christian Fitzpatrick) to eat, and right there next to the dish she placed a can of Coke. Talk about crass commercialism in a movie that attempted to put the whammy on crass commercialism. Later on there was a scene of Santa's warehouse with a Coke vending machine at the bottom of the stairwell, and I had to wonder how much Coca-Cola paid for the product placement in the picture. Lest you think I'm going overboard with the Coke comments, I happened to notice many years ago how many movies actually do have some mention of that product, and made a game out of it with my family to shout out 'Coca-Cola' whenever a scene came into view on screen. If you make a mental note, it will seem like you'll catch a Coke reference in every movie you watch from now on.
Well, excuse my little rant there. As far as Christmas movies go, this one is probably a whole lot better suited for youngsters than adults, but Christmas being family time, it couldn't hurt to watch it as a unit. John Lithgow makes for an effective Scrooge-like villain attempting to corner the global toy market, but with a name like BZ, I don't think he ever had a chance. Dudley Moore being top billed, I thought he would have had more of a presence in the story, and he did in the latter half of the picture when his character Patch goes commercial, but you knew it was only a matter of time before his true Christmas spirit would shine through.