4 Silver Bells (First 40 and last 10 minutes of the film)
1 Silver Bell (Anything involving John Lithgow)
One of my favorite Christmas memories of my oldest daughter is taking her to see "Santa Claus, The Movie" when she was about two and half years old.
My thoughts of the film upon first viewing was that it beautifully tells the orgin of the jolly old man better than any other Santa Claus film, or any other mythological character (including "Superman, The Movie"). The key to this is the casting of David Huddleston as Santa Claus in the best role of his entire career.
By downplaying the gregariousness that so many other actors bring to their Santa performances and playing up the spirit of giving and kindness, Huddleston's is the best screen Santa of all time. In my opinion, I would go so far as to say that it is even better than Edmund Gwenn's in "Miracle On 34th Street."
Providing a major assist to Huddleston's characterization, Judy Cornwell as Mrs Claus is very important. She gives his Santa a grounding that would otherwise be lost. She's the one who has to help him realize what is going on when he becomes who he will ultimately be. Without her performance, the entire film would fall apart. You could say that she is the hinge that the film hangs on.
The first 40 minutes or so of the movie is magical and then as my son in law says in these types of movies, 'it runs off of the rails.' This happens when the film goes from the beautiful origin story to the (then) present day 80s. The end result is a schizophrenic Christmas film that just can't figure out what it is as a whole.
That would have been okay if done properly but, they bring in a sub plot where Patch the elf (played very well by the great Dudley Moore) feels unwanted by Santa Claus and the elves. Saddened, he goes to New York City and gets corrupted by an evil, corrupt and unsafe toy maker (played by John Lithgow).
John Lithgow's ridiculously over the top performance as the evil toymaker, B.Z., destroys the beginning of the film by ruining the wonderful tone that was established. By going so far over the line into laughably bad caricature, Lithgow also gives the worst acting performance of his great career.
Although there are a few decent moments interspersed through the middle, the film does get redemed in its final ten minutes by its marvelous special effects, which was a trait of its producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind (case in point, "Superman, The Movie").
This is the part of the film my two and a half year old loved, when you get to experience the super-duper looper. As part of a life or death rescue attempt, Santa, with his sleigh and reindeer do a 360 degree loop in the air. My daughter loved this part of the movie so much that we went and saw it again two days later, because she kept begging to see it again.
The film's score (composed by the legendary Henry Mancini) and its long since out-of-print soundtrack album are also excellent. So much, in fact, that our family actually wore out an old vinyl album of it, playing it over and over again. In addition to Mancini's score, Sheena Easton provides vocals for the great theme song, "Christmas All Over The World."
So I encourage you to rent or buy the DVD and at least watch the begining of it with your children, as it will instill the magic and wonder of Santa Claus in their little hearts. Of course, dont miss the amazing super-duper looper at the end.
"What Does Not Kill Me, Makes Me Stronger."
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