Review
SANTA VS. THE SNOWMAN
Starring Jonathan Winters, Ben Stein and Victoria Jackson
Directed by John Davis
Frosty, Rudolph, The Grinch – it doesn’t get much better than that. Christmas classics with simple stories and with simple messages to warm that innocent heart beating with youthful idealism.
These days, a perpetual lack of interest in animated holiday specials has allowed these gems to remain staples in all the major networks’ holiday lineups – allowing generation upon generation to amass similar memories surrounding these tales of love and acceptance.
Enter producer Steve Oedekerk (Jimmy Neutron, The Nutty Professor) and his self-proclaimed "new holiday classic" Santa vs. The Snowman. This unconventional 30-minute Christmas special throws tradition to the wind in favour of something more identifiable for today’s high speed, no-time, tech generation. Reflected in surreal computer generated animation, the always impressive IMAX presentation and a plot line that crams so much action and humour into its second act you barely have time to breathe, it’s a film determined to distinguish itself from its predecessors.
The fractured story follows a snowman living in solitude at the North Pole who's so alone he’s never even learned how to speak. His only communication is with the stars, through melancholy tunes played on his ice flute. But after breaking his flute, he finds himself in Santa’s Village, where he impulsively snatches a shiny new flute from Santa’s workshop, sparking an all-out battle between ice and elves.
I don’t have a problem with the film itself (it’s cute, funny and addresses those timeless themes of love and acceptance) but I resent the fact that it's being billed as a new holiday classic. It’s a fun romp, but a classic it is not. Had they played down the action and adult-oriented humour to focus more on the idea of this lonely snowman losing his sole means of communication – a promising storyline that is never fully realized – I might have been willing to reconsider. But they didn’t, and instead we're given special forces elves, giant snow-walkers and a Santa who’s more Bill Gates than Kris Kringle.
Sure this film is accessible to adults and kids alike, but what’s so wrong with making movies that can only truly be appreciated by the blissful ignorance of a child? Call me sentimental, but I hope this film is enjoyed and forgotten – and 20 years from now kids will still be warming up to claymation reindeers and melting snowmen. |
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