The big picture opens with an icicle-sparkling
trolling camera sequence of lush red warm Santa's
village, elves busy at work on the toys, dancing and
happy, praising Santa, "I love you more than my own
head," "I love you more than track lighting." This
sequence brings back memories of childhood holiday
specials then enlarges them into a 3D world that you
could almost step into. And the fresh silly humor
brings yet another rich dimension to the
experience.
Then we're introduced to the lonely snowman who
has no friends and therefore can't even speak. He
just plays his flute, until, oops, he drops it and
decides to replace it with one from the nearby elf
toy factory. This immediately prompts a breach in
Santa security and initiates a winter wonderland war
at times (intentionally) mocking the likes of "Star
Wars."
Well, I don't know about you (so write in and tell
me), but I don't like my holiday specials to look
like my everyday meat and potato films. If this
picture had made a conscious decision to be
irreverent, in the manner of "South Park," then
that's one thing; but, instead, "Santa vs. the
Snowman" seems to be a family friendly traditional
holiday special that dabbles in the irreverent. On a
completely subjective level, frankly, I don't think
that works very well. Christmas films should be
Christmassy - not "Star Warsy." And especially in
these political times, do we really want to be
reminded of anything military?
That said, and despite lacking any truly
breath-taking 3-D imagery, the film still looks good
and has a good sense of humor. Snowman disguises
himself using only a set of Groucho Marx nose/glasses
and enjoys a tour of SantaLand guided by the drably
comical voice of Ben Stein. This is a very funny
sequence.
While you might be turned off by the mistletoe
missiles, you'll probably appreciate the ultimate
resolution message: "Love your Enemies." You've just
got to ask yourself one question, "Am I okay with
Santa as Commander in Chief?"
Related article: "Santa Clause
2."
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