Santa Claus: The Movie is a difficult one to review without the rose tinted perspective of a child. In 1985 there was no Elf, Christmas Chronicles, The Santa Clause, nor Attenborough's brilliant take on Kris Kringle. To a 5 year old true believer, David Huddlestone was Santa and the Szwarc/Salkind depiction of his workshop in the North Pole was definitive.
Watching it as a forty-something with my own children gave me a different perspective. There is a significant degree of hokum that I was oblivious to as a 5 year old and some awkward moments with young performances. I never blame child actors for scenes that do not work, as for me it is the responsibility of the writers to provide more workable dialogue and the director to coach the actors and commit their best moments to celluloid.
For an adult viewer I think the strength of it now is how (in an very unsubtle way) it vilifies the commercialisation of Christmas through the greedy, 80s evil, yuppie character played by John Lithgow. I was scared of him as a 5 year old, but now I can see how outrageously funny he is in the role. This of course is ironic considering the hideous product placement in various scenes.
Dudley Moore carries a significant amount of screen time well with his personality and others like Judy Cornwall and Burgess Meredith are also memorable in their roles.
Some of the effects have aged badly. So much so it may take modern children out of moment to the degree a parent may be required to have a difficult conversation about the nature of Santa and movies in general. However, I think the general art direction, set design and costumes are very good.
Some of the theme music sticks in your head and brings certain scenes to life. Henry Mancini's talents feel somewhat wasted on this type of production, but slightly raise the overall quality of the film for me.
Watching it as a forty-something with my own children gave me a different perspective. There is a significant degree of hokum that I was oblivious to as a 5 year old and some awkward moments with young performances. I never blame child actors for scenes that do not work, as for me it is the responsibility of the writers to provide more workable dialogue and the director to coach the actors and commit their best moments to celluloid.
For an adult viewer I think the strength of it now is how (in an very unsubtle way) it vilifies the commercialisation of Christmas through the greedy, 80s evil, yuppie character played by John Lithgow. I was scared of him as a 5 year old, but now I can see how outrageously funny he is in the role. This of course is ironic considering the hideous product placement in various scenes.
Dudley Moore carries a significant amount of screen time well with his personality and others like Judy Cornwall and Burgess Meredith are also memorable in their roles.
Some of the effects have aged badly. So much so it may take modern children out of moment to the degree a parent may be required to have a difficult conversation about the nature of Santa and movies in general. However, I think the general art direction, set design and costumes are very good.
Some of the theme music sticks in your head and brings certain scenes to life. Henry Mancini's talents feel somewhat wasted on this type of production, but slightly raise the overall quality of the film for me.