Plot
After introducing how Santa and Mrs. Claus came to the North Pole and began their work delivering toys at Christmas time, this routine children's film segues into a story about an evil corporate magnate (John Lithgow). One of Santa's elves (Dudley Moore) goes to work for the nasty tycoon and invents a wild array of far-out toys. Then there is a little boy who does not believe in Santa Claus and a girl who finds out about the toymaker's plans to defraud his company. Santa's reindeer are a little under the weather, not to mention Santa himself. This labyrinth of subplots quickly draws attention away from the story, wherever it is. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, RoviReview
Santa Claus: The Movie begins just how you'd expect a movie with that title to begin, exploring the origins of St. Nick, from a beloved avuncular type delivering toys in a wintry Bavarian landscape, to the red-suited, jelly-bellied icon we know today. This first half-hour does a great job convincing us this is "really" how Santa came to exist -- how his reindeer can fly, how he ended up at the North Pole, even how the naughty/nice list was created (it was the brainchild of Ms. Claus sometime in the 18th century). But it wouldn't be a true "Santa biopic" without some form of conflict, and this is where Jeannot Szwarc's film takes a permanent detour from its sweet beginnings. Screenwriter David Newman makes the rest of the movie about the modern-day corruption of Christmas at the hands of an evil toy tycoon, played by John Lithgow, who does a lot of cackling, bugging of his eyes and chomping on cigars. Lithgow's character gets an edge on the competition with the help of an elf named Patch (Dudley Moore), who had been Santa's head assistant, but banished himself after his automated toy-assembly techniques turned out a lot of dangerous, subpar toys. It's a standard Hollywood lesson regarding the evils of technology, but Newman delivers it in a peculiar way, having Patch's hit "toy" not be a toy at all, but a lollipop sprinkled with magic dust. Santa Claus: The Movie gets really off-track in its final act. For starters, the big finale takes place in the middle of January, a cardinal sin for Christmas movies. But worse is that saving the day relies on the reindeer performing a complicated loop-de-loop maneuver they couldn't manage earlier in the film -- when flying straight ahead would have been more useful under the circumstances. ~ Derek Armstrong, RoviCast
- David Huddleston - Santa Claus
- Dudley Moore - Patch
- John Lithgow - B.Z.
- Judy Cornwell - Anya Claus
- Christian Fitzpatrick - Joe
Credit
Don Dossett - Art Director, John Hoesli - Art Director, Tim Hutchinson - Art Director, Malcolm Stone - Art Director, Pat Garrett - Choreography, Bob Ringwood - Costume Designer, Jeannot Szwarc - Director, Peter Hollywood - Editor, Henry Mancini - Composer (Music Score), John Hobbs - Songwriter, Bill House - Songwriter, Paul Engelen - Makeup, Stuart Freeborn - Makeup, Penny Shwayer - Makeup, Stuart World - Makeup, Anthony Pratt - Production Designer, Arthur Ibbetson - Cinematographer, Alexander Salkind - Producer, Ilya Salkind - Producer, Pierre Spengler - Producer, Stephenie McMillan - Set Designer, Leslie Newman - Screen Story, David Newman - Screen Story, David Newman - Screenwriter| Santa Claus vs. the Zombies (2010 Film), Santa Claus and the Miner's Child (1909 Film) | |
| Santa Claws (1996 Film), Santa Cruz, El Curo Guerrillero (1990 Film) |
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