Santa Claus - The Movie (DVD)

...to come, not just because santa would be coming to leave me lots of lovely presents but because it would mean taking part in one of my favourite traditions- sitting down with my parents and siblings to watch Santa Claus the movie. Out would come all the snacks and a hot chocolate and we'd pile onto the sofa to put in the video(or frequently watch it on tv) now as a grown up i carry on the tradition with my own children and still watch it every christmas ...
...be known as "santa Claus" Santa then departs on his first ever delivery.

Gradually the years pass in a montage of clips showing the people of the world as times change and modernise, we see the indtroduction of the naughty and nice rule as well as a race for promotion between 2 elfs in order to become Santas assistant, one elf is chosen but the path never runs smoothly and accidents occur. Time eventually stops in the "present ... more

As a young girl christmas eve would be spent excitedly waiting night time to come, not just because santa would be coming to leave me lots of lovely presents but because it would mean taking part in one of my favourite traditions- sitting down with my parents and siblings to watch Santa Claus the movie. Out would come all the snacks and a hot chocolate and we'd pile onto the sofa to put in the video(or frequently watch it on tv) now as a grown up i carry on the tradition with my own children and still watch it every christmas eve.

Now some people reading this review will be wondering why on earth im reviewing a christmas film in march. Well im a sentimental old fool who could watch it at anytime of the year, its certainly a feel good movie.

The Story-
The story begins hundreds of years ago, where Claus is an aging woodcutter who delivers hand carved wooden toys with his wife Anya to the children of poor villages. One night, after making a delivery of toys Claus, Anya and their reindeer Donner and Blitzen are caught in a terrible blizzard, the reindeer collapse and as it seems they are all about to perish they are magically transported to the vast "ice mountains, way up at the top of the world." the north pole. AS they awake they find themselves surrounded by small men, the elfs. The head elf Dooley reveals that were expected. Patch(one of the elfs), and his trusty companions Boog, Honka and Vout soon take charge of the reindeer and sleigh as Claus and Anya are led into the wondrous, wooden elf compound, at first they do not see a building but as Dooley tells them to look again a magical building appears. Dooley soon explains to Claus and Anya that they have been brought here to spend eternity crafting and giving a fantastic array of toys every child on Earth, they have no children of their own and it is their gift.

As the couple settle in to their new surroundings they meet the other elves and 6 further reindeer, who will help in Claus' quest to deliver toys.They become accustomed to their new home and are soon celebrating Seasons Greetings with the elfs. Soon comes Claus first Christmas eve, he is gathered with the elfs and his wife as a procession of solemn elfs approach led by ann ancient man, he is Father Time. Father Time announces to everyone gathered how Claus had been brought to them through a prophecy and that he was a "chosen one" he would now and forever be known as "santa Claus" Santa then departs on his first ever delivery.

Gradually the years pass in a montage of clips showing the people of the world as times change and modernise, we see the indtroduction of the naughty and nice rule as well as a race for promotion between 2 elfs in order to become Santas assistant, one elf is chosen but the path never runs smoothly and accidents occur. Time eventually stops in the "present day" of the 80's when it was filmed. Santa has become saddened by the changes in the world and the lack of people who believe in him he finds a new friend though in a young homeless boy called joe. Meanwhile Patch has become dissillusioned at the north pole and thinks santa no longer likes him, he leaves and ends up in manhatten where he teams up woth toy manufacturer BZ.

Patch is unaware that BZ is corrupt, that his company is in legal trouble for poor quality, dangerous toys. In his youth BZ had been a naughty boy and had never recieved presents from Santa giving BZ a dislike of Santa. Patch works with BZ to create a special gift for all the children of the world, he wants to impress Santa and show him what a good elf he can be but BZ only see's it as a good PR stunt that when repeated in future will get him alot of money.

The main adventure unfolds after Joe is taken in by Cornelia. Cornelia is BZ's step niece, she has always been kind to Joe and takes him in during a storm, as the pair go to find orange juice in the kitchen thay over hear a converstaion between BZ and his assisant Towzer. What they hear means not only danger to Santa but all the children buying BZ's new product. Joe is caught by BZ and is held captive at the factory where patch is creating his new gift, Cornelia calls Santa for help.

I wont reveal what happens next as it will ruin the ending, naturally there is some peril, comeuppence for the bad guy and a happy ending- its a christmas movie, of course theres a happy ending.

As with a few of my other reviews this may be a long one, just a little warning!

Soundtrack-
The soundtrack was composed by Henry Mancini(composer of the theme from The Pink Panther) lyricist and screenwriter Leslie Bricusse contributed five original songs.

"Main Title: Every Christmas Eve 1 and Santa's Theme "
"Arrival of the Elves"
"Making Toys"
"Christmas Rhapsody"
"It's Christmas Again"
"March of the Elves"
"Patch, Natch!"
"It's Christmas (All over the World)"
"Shouldn't Do That"
"Sleigh Ride over Manhattan"
"Sad Patch"
"Patch Versus Santa"
"Thank You, Santa"

My favourite piece from the soundtrack has to be the main theme tune, there are very few lyrics but it has a beautiful melody which stays with me long after the film has finished. "Thank you santa" is also a lovely song, a bit more upbeat, it is sang by children thanking Santa for being there and telling him how glad they are. The songs do not appear in the same way as they would in a musical, they are background songs. The music is very well written and isnt too christmassy or jingley, it captures the warmth and magic you would hope for in this kind of film.

Effects-
For a film made in 1984 the effects are pretty good. While real reindeer are used in some scenes, animatronic reineer and miniture puppet versions are also used. The animatronic reindeer are very convincing and as the puppets are usually used in flight scenes at a distance they are barely noticable as puppets. Alot of images are superimposed so we can see the sleigh and reindeers in flight as well as Santa's ability to get from the roof to the inside of the house.

The Cast-
Dudley Moore ... Patch
John Lithgow ... B.Z.
David Huddleston ... Santa Claus
Burgess Meredith ... Ancient Elf
Judy Cornwell ... Anya Claus
Jeffrey Kramer ... Towzer
Christian Fitzpatrick ... Joe
Carrie Kei Heim ... Cornelia
John Barrard ... Dooley
Anthony O'Donnell ... Puffy
Don Estelle ... Groot
Tim Stern ... Boog
Peter O'Farrell ... Honka
Christopher Ryan ... Vout

Production Credits-
Produced by
Ilya Salkind .... producer
Robert Simmonds .... associate producer
Pierre Spengler .... producer
Original Music by Henry Mancini
Cinematography by Arthur Ibbetson
Film Editing by Peter Hollywood
Production Design by Anthony Pratt
Art Direction by Don Dossett, John Hoesli,Malcolm Stone
Set Decoration by Stephanie McMillan
Costume Design by Bob Ringwood

Special Effects by
John Coppinger .... animatronic designer
Martin Gutteridge .... special effects supervisor
Robert Harman .... flying effects
Robert Harman .... wire specialist
David Hayes .... animatronic miniature models
Graham High .... animatronics technician
Wu Kuo Jen .... animatronics technician
Gus Ramsden .... animatronics technician
Tad Krzanowski .... animatronic designer (uncredited)

Naturally there are alot more people who contributed to the film i have only listed a few.

Santa Claus: The Movie was filmed in Buckinghamshire, England at Pinewood Studios (known as the home of the James Bond films)in 1984

Santa Claus: The Movie novelization was written by science fiction/fantasy novelist Joan D. Vinge.

The DVD-
The dvd comes in the standard style plastic case but is also in a card outer sleeve. The card sleeve features an image of santa in his sleigh against a snowy backdrop, it has a holographic effect resemembling the Northern Lights(Aurora Borealis) The inner cover has the same image without the holographic effect, the back features a few pictures from the film as well as a description of the movie and the standard technical information

When loaded the dvd has the standard copywright warning and then takes you straight to a menu screen, it has an image of Santa, Patch and the logo with the main theme playing in the background.

The menu options are-
Play movie
scene index
Documentary
Trailer 1
Trailer 2

Features-
The dvd has 3 features-
2 trailers and a Documentary on the making of the movie.

Both trailers are compilations of clips from the film, set to the main theme tunes. Trailer 1 is introduced with a voice over by Father Time explaining the prophecy, trailer 2 has audio from the film. They claim to be telling "the true story of santa" and that "seeing is believing"

The making of the movie documentary runs for approximately 50 minutes and follows the production of the movie. There are interviews with the cast and crew as well as behind the scenes shots. You get to the the creation of the animatronic reindeer as well as the selection and training of the real life reindeer. It is introduced By David Huddleston as Santa and is co-hosted by Dudley Moore. There are some amusing incidents involving the director and extras and i loved when they are all asked if they believe in santa. Keep an eye out for the snow special effects too.

Other Info-
Cert U
Dolby Digital sound
104 minutes approx run time
Colour PAL
Tristar Pictures

The film idely available, especially at christmas. Stores such as virgin, W H Smiths, HMV stock the dvd as well as online stores. Usually also available on ebay. My copy cost £7 an prices are still in that region. Usually just before and after Christmas the dvd is heavily advertised within the stores as part of their winter collection.

My Opinion-
I love this film and happily sit and watch it every year, in fact id watch it more often during the year if i didnt want it to feel more special each christmas eve. Sadly it has recieved some less than positive reviews Vincent Canby of the New York Times called the production "elaborate and tacky" he described it as having "the manner of a listless musical without any production numbers" in fact the film's total United States box office gross at $23,717,291 was less than half the film's listed $50 million production budget, maybe its the childhood memories or a little bit of magic still within me but ive always enjoyed it and always will.

Ok so some of it is a bit dated, its bound to be considering it was made in 1984. I still prefer it to more modern Christmas tales such as Tim Allens The Santa Claus, it has a warmer feel to it and David Huddleston is by far the best ever santa, he's just big enough, has his own beard, kind eyes and rosey cheeks, its just what you exect Santa to be, Anya played by Judy Cornwall(daisy from Keeping up appearances) is absolutely perfect as a kind and lovable lady who stands behind her husband, supporting him and the elfs with their work . For its time the effects are amazing and it has the best animatronic reindeer which is pretty good when you consider how technology has advanced in the last 20 years.

Some of the scripting is a bit on the corny side but there are also a few great conversations, for example

Santa-"dont you know who i am"
Joe-"Sure you're a nut"
Santa- "Im santa claus"
Joe-"Sure and im the tooth fairy"

I also love when Puffy the elf is showing Santa a new ragdoll they've designed, Santa asks if it flys but all puffy can reply with is "she wets" good comeback!

I do find BZ's motivation as the bad guy quite odd, his desire to "finish" Santa by creating "christmas 2" i find a little weak but i suppose there had to be something that makes the bad guy who he is, you cant have a happy ending unless some bad events take place. It is quite easy to pick holes in the film, for example -the above mentioned ragdoll would not be able to "wet", but you have to ignore these things and simply enjoy the film.

Oh and keep an eye out for the Mcdonalds scene, ive not been able to sit near a restaurant window since!

I recommend this film as a seasonal family favourite, as long as you arent taken the plot line too seriously and are just enjoying it as a harmless piece of winter entertainment then you should enjoy the movie.  

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