I am a massive film fan, and I absolutely adore going into one of the local cinemas to catch up on the latest films! Last year, my friend and I went in to see the Christmas film of 2006 (Santa Clause 3) on the 1st of December, to get us into the festive spirit. This year, we decided to carry on this new tradition, so we checked up on the latest films, and one in particular caught our attention; Fred Claus! It seemed like the perfect Christmas film for us to see, and the trailer we watched for it made it out to be very comic and amusing. So it was decided; at eight o clock' on that Saturday, we ventured to the local Vue cinema to watch the new and exciting festive film, Fred Claus!

FRED CLAUS - PLOT

We've all heard of good old Saint Nick, but this Christmas story shines the spotlight onto his older brother, Fred. The story begins when little Nicholas is born, and 'Frederick' promises to be the best big brother in the world. Though, in this flashback, things don't quite go to plan, when Nick seems to be the 'perfect' child, and poor little Fred feels left out and begins to resent his brother. The childhood days of the two brothers are just the start of our festive tale.

Fred lives a very basic life in Chicago as a repo-man, happily with his girlfriend Wanda. Though, his simple life soon changes when Fred is arrested for collecting money on the street without a licence, and is jailed. The only way he can be released is if he produces the bail money, and there's only one person who can help him out there; Santa Claus. Being the bit of a soft touch that he is, Santa agrees to send Fred the bail money (as well as a bit extra Fred wished for to set up his own business), but under one condition; Fred goes to the North Pole to do some work for Santa to make up for it.

Fred agrees, and sets off for the North Pole, unable to tell his angry girlfriend why he is leaving, and turns away from Chicago, and the little orphan boy who he had made great friends with, 'Slam'. Unfortunately, during this festive period when Fred is supposed to be helping the elves make all the toys, only weeks before Christmas, Santa and his workshop in the North Pole are under evaluation by a revengeful agent named Clyde, who plans to do what ever it takes to shut him down. Being the typical inconsiderate soul that he is, Fred does not make the 'three-strikes' business easy for Santa to keep to when he creates all sorts of havoc (not always intentionally), and Clyde happily goes off, prepared to shut the workshop down on Christmas Eve. Fred leaves with his money, as promised, Santa left to struggle with the disaster of no Christmas.

Fortunately, Fred realises what he has to do; save Christmas. With a little help from the elves, can he deliver all the presents to all the children? Only time will tell…

FRED CLAUS - CAST

One reason why Fred Claus is such an amazing film is because of its spectacular cast list…
Fred Claus - Vince Vaughn
Santa Claus - Paul Giamatti
Willie the elf - John Michael Higgins
Wanda - Rachel Weisz
Clyde - Kevin Spacey
Slam - Bobb'e J. Thompson

The sheer brilliance and talent in the actors are portrayed and carried out right throughout the entire film!

MY EXPERIENCE AND OPINIONS!

Going in to see Fred Claus was no doubt an experience I will remember for ever! We arrived just after seven o clock, so we bought our tickets (reasonably cheap - £4.35!) and hung around for about a half hour before getting into the screen. Fortunately, we were sitting quite near the back, so we would not need to crane our necks for the entire two hours! After the trailers finally finished, and we could begin our Christmas adventure, we had settled in our seats, and the cinema screen was about half full - that was good, it meant that there wasn't going to be a million and one other people to distract me!
It really enjoyed the way the film began, with a look onto the past when little Saint Nick was first born - a sort of flashback. I think this first five minutes of the film were quite important as I think it helped me to understand the rest of the plot, and Fred's situation! I have to say, I was a bit curious at how they were going to tell the story of such a strong character's brother - but they certainly pulled it off!

The film came across as a traditional American film when we were taken to Chicago to the modern-day life of Fred. Fortunately for me, I enjoy a good American film, so this was a grand thing! And when we travelled many miles across to the North Pole, as soon as that sleigh landed with its little elf driver (Willie), you could almost feel the magic of Christmas infiltrating right around the entire cinema! I think the Christmas music playing non-diegetically in the background had something to do with it!

When I saw all those elves creating all those toys, I was ever so slightly disappointed. This was like most other Christmas films; a room jammed with little elves and a bunch of toys - nothing too special! Nevertheless, I let this single scene pass and got on with enjoying the rest of the film!

I took an instant disliking to that Clyde - there was something about him straight away that reminded me of the villain in Cbeebies show Lazytown! Ok, that may seem like a weird connection, but they have very similar evil characteristics! I knew he was trouble! Though, never did I imagine he would actually be granted the 'privilege' of shutting down the North Pole!

"He sees you when you're sleeping! He knows when you're awake…!" Ever wondered how Santa Claus does this? Well the giant glass ball in this film explains this! Just state the name of the person, and their location, and there you can see them! What an invention that would be if we could really own it! I could have some real fun spying on people with that…!

This film is supposed to be quite funny, though both my friend and I said that this was not the case. We didn't really find ourselves splitting our sides laughing at anything in particular, though we cannot deny that it is a good film! This is just not down to the humour!

BASIC FILM FACTS

The film has a total runtime of 1 hour and 56 minutes!

It has a PG certificate - it should be safe for all to watch, in my opinion, unless you are scared of a mob of Santas!

It is a Warner Brothers production!

Director - David Dobkin

Genre - comedy/family/fantasy

CONCLUSION

This film has certainly got me well-prepared for a very festive and fun Christmas, with a little help from the extremely talented lead, Vince Vaughn, and the spectacular plot! It certainly was an experience I will treasure forever, and I cannot wait until the DVD is released next year!