Movie Monday: Dear Santa

Okay… I went into this movie with low expectations- but knowing that I judge Christmas movies a little less harshly… and this is BARELY a Christmas movie. It just kind of happens to take place at Christmas time and the plot centers around a letter to Santa.

My main disappointment in this movie is that Santa never really appears. And I would go so far as to say- this isn’t a great movie for little kids because this doesn’t have any real Christmas magic. It doesn’t give you the feeling that “ohhh my gosh Santa is real! Look at him saving Christmas” so… it’s not for me. Any movie or show that suggests Santa isn’t real is not for me. I’m a Santa fan.

Besides that: this movie wasn’t just garbage. The child actors in it all did a really good job and if it wasn’t a Christmas movie- I feel like this would be a really good movie for kids or teens- similar to Goosebumps. Jack Black is really funny in this too. There are a few cameos in this movie and one from a fellow funny man who has been in movies with Jack Black before… and he was really good in it too. And there was a small cameo from Kyle Gass- who is still friends with Jack Black although the Tenacious D concert controversy.

Anyway… The end of this movie is kind of where it all falls apart because the family had a really tragic backstory and… it’s a little too sad for the movie as a whole. It does have a silly ending that I guess is happy… but I think it’s not the best.

I feel like this movie kind of struggles between being a kids movie and being an r rated comedy… and although I think the story with the kids is cute and heartwarming I guess… this would have been funnier as a more adult comedy. I should point out the main plot of this movie is about a child that writes a letter to Santa but spells Santa wrong and summons Satan… but there are a few more twists that they don’t really reveal until the very end of the movie. They also show that the kid struggles with Dyslexia- which is why he spells Santa wrong- but I’m not sure it’s the best portrayal of dyslexia or how kids today would treat a kid with dyslexia… it just seemed really mean and kind of bad…I’m not sure if kids would actually do that today.

Anyway… yeah I think if you like Farrelly brothers comedies- this is kind of one of those. Only one of them directed the movie- but both of them wrote it… so it does still have that humor. This isn’t the best movie and if it was in theaters I would say skip it… but if you have paramount plus and want a Christmas movie you haven’t seen before… this is in fact a movie- and you’ll get some laughs from it.

I’m going to compare it to other Christmas movies I’ve seen this year… I didn’t think Hot Frosty was all that bad… but after 20 minutes or so I could not watch any more of it… and I could actually sit through this one and enjoy it to an extent. I could also see people liking this more than Red One- but I loved Red One so- I wouldn’t recommend this as highly. I also don’t think I’ll ever watch this movie again because it wasn’t really a Christmas movie to me… there’s no reason not to judge it as harshly because it’s a Christmas movie and it isn’t something I could watch every year.

Hope you like this review! I’ll maybe review Spirited next week because my niece loves that movie and I still haven’t seen it!

Bye!

-Shannon