This is a movie that presumes Santa Claus is real complete with a magic gift bag capable of producing endless gifts. So we shouldn't expect it to be aimed strictly at adults complete with plot realism. However, unlike a lot of this kind of movies, it is also not dumbed down so much that there is nothing for adults. This is a fun movie for the entire family.
There is some good humor that both kids and adults will appreciate. There is one ridiculous disaster to ruin Christmas after another and they get resolved in crazy ways. First we go through the wave of people who encounter the memoryless Santa and his head elf. And meanwhile Nigel the elf is trying to come up with ways to spark Santa's memory. Then they start chasing the bag around.
The movie is a little preachy about parents who don't pay enough attention to their children. The acting could be better but it's fine for this type of movie. Rebecca Williams who plays Hannah, the high school age member of the Fox family, is obviously way older than her character. But these faults can be overlooked if you just sit back and enjoy their crazy trek to save Christmas. And as we'd expect there are some heartwarming moments.
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
2010
Action / Family / Fantasy
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
2010
Action / Family / Fantasy
Plot summary
It's the Christmas season in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Married couple and workaholics Angela and Wayne Fox, a magazine photographer and airplane engineer respectively, don't realize that in putting work first, their children, mid-teen Hannah Fox and adolescent Toby Fox, are unhappy. Christmas is treated as an afterthought in their house, Angela and Wayne who always argue about who is tasked with Christmas related chores as they fit them in-between their work and constant work telephone calls. While Toby does his small measures to have as happy a Christmas that he can under the circumstances, Hannah takes her frustrations out on Toby, the easiest target. Late December 23rd, they hear a thud on their roof. What they find is a man unconscious dressed as Santa. They take him in and when he regains consciousness find that he has amnesia, not remembering who he is or how or why he was on their roof. In reality, he truly is Santa, who had a technical problem causing him to crash and who left the North Pole a day early on a calendar mix-up by his head elf, Nigel Thumb. While Toby is certain he truly is Santa, the rest of the family just want to find out who he is. They are not convinced even when Nigel shows up on their door and shows them the sleigh and reindeer in their backyard. With the Foxes' help, Nigel tries to help Santa regain his memory in time for him truly to make his Christmas Eve trek around the world. Nigel believes that Santa's missing red velvet bag, which magically refills with gifts for all the good boys and girls, is the answer to jogging Santa's memory about who he is. As the Foxes spend time with Santa and Nigel, the question becomes if they will regain the Christmas spirit as a family, regardless of if they ever come to the belief that the man with who they spent this day truly is Santa.
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When Christmas is at stake, the Fox family steps in...
While "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" is not a Christmas classic, it is definitely a movie that is well-worth watching for a Christmas movie marathon. And it is a movie that is quite suitable for the entire family to enjoy.
I watched "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" around Christmas in 2016 along with a heap of other movies together with the family for a Christmas movie marathon. And it turned out that "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" was actually one of the better movies to make it across the screen that year. This is the type of movie that appeals to an audience of all ages, because there is something for everyone to enjoy here.
The story told in "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" is a fun, albeit somewhat off-beat, Christmas tale. It is about Santa Claws who accidentally crash into the Fox family's house, ends up with amnesia and loses his magical gift sack. With Christmas at stake, the family must assist the hapless elderly man to retrieve his sack and save Christmas.
It is a fun and wholesome story that is good paced, and there is a good amount of funny situations throughout the movie. Actually the movie combines the family element quite nicely with a pinch of drama and more comedy.
The acting in the movie was good, of course taking into consideration what kind of movie this is. But all in all, people did perform well up to what was expected. Personally, I wasn't familiar with the people on the cast list, so it was a refreshing change of pace with unfamiliar faces on the screen.
"The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" makes for a wholesome entertaining movie to sit down with the family to watch during the Christmas holidays.
Reviewed the same night
A fine professional cast, including the sadly underused -- by the industry, anyway -- Jennifer Beals enliven a very pleasant little Christmas movie. R.D. Reid makes an amusing, if rather Irish sounding Santa Claus who has taken a tumble off a roof and lost his memory -- and what, pray tell, will happen to Christmas without Santa? Cue Jordan Prentice as a rather overwhelmed head elf who struggles to get Santa back in shape using Miss Beals' dysfunctional family.
That's the set up and the movie rings the changes on it in a workmanlike fashion. I have some minor issues with the pace of the direction, but the cast goes through its paces with such obvious goodwill that I can't bring myself to cavil. A merry night before Christmas eve to you all who watched this.