Saving Santa (2013)

Overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

good back-story, and good acting

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Review: This movie was made just for the kiddies, without a thought for the adults who would have to sit through it. The jokes were pretty patronising and the storyline was confusing in some parts. The animation didn't look too bad, but the attention to detail wasn't that great. I also found the singing annoying and the main character, who was a cockney elf, was just a bit to silly for me. I know that the movie was made for kids who still believe in Santa and the whole reindeer and sleigh myth, but I honestly think that kids are a bit too advanced nowadays to find this movie watchable. As I hadn't heard of the film before I watched it, I wasn't overly disappointed, but I honestly think that it was a waste of time and money. Round-Up: Martin Freeman's career seems to have its up and downs, but I can't fault him for trying out every genre. From being a porn star in Love Actually to being a murderer in the Fargo TV series and then switching to play the main character in the Hobbit franchise, he has definitely had some different challenges to sink his teeth into. There was also the weird and obscure Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, were he also played the main character pretty well, but Sam Rockwell stole the limelight. I personally find his, very English dry sense of humour, the same in all of his movies, which is why I liked him in the serious role in Fargo. Anyway, I doubt that this movie will hurt his career, but it definitely won't be one that will boost his portfolio.Budget: $7.5million Worldwide Gross: N/AI recommend this movie to people who are into there animation comedies about an elf who is trying to save Santa from an evil doer who wants to know the secret behind his time travelling sleigh. 2/10

You can do with better than Saving Santa but you can also do with worse. It is formulaic with moments of cheesiness and some of the story is thin and only just about sustains the running time. The songs are hit and miss with Some Kind of Miracle and Do and Die being quite nice but the others rather forgettable and some of the voice cast like Joan Collins don't have much to do and don't register as much. The animation is colourful and well-textured with appealing character designs- though Neville's is on the stereotypical side. The music score, songs aside, is pleasant and catchy with some contemporary Christmas sparkle too. The dialogue has cheesy moments but also heart-warming and funny moments too more often than not, and the time travel stuff, while maybe convoluted for some children but something that adults will enjoy and appreciate, is very clever and inventive. And there is a really heart-warming Christmas spirit here, it is easy for considering what's happening in the story to be mean-spirited but that never did come across to me. The characters are cute and easy to like, Bernard in particular, and most of the voice acting is great. Martin Freeman- always an engaging actor- is immensely charming as Bernard and allows you to relate to him and his plight. Ashley Tisdale is both sassy and sympathetic, but top honours with no bias intended belongs to Tim Curry whose voice acting oozes with smarmy menace and it is the most energetic characterisation of the film(not a surprise, he is the most experienced voice actor in the cast and villains always has been his speciality). All in all, thoroughly decent family entertainment but perhaps won't please everybody, have already seen a rather indifferent reaction from some critics. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The kids love it and that is the target. I don't like Christmas movies much but this one has a story line out of the normal Christmas sap! Plus the kids love it! SO as long as they don't learn some gory lesson and learn a sweat lesson I am all for it. They are the ones who count anyway. My grandchildren are 9 and 6 and they can not get enough of this movie! The grandson gets the biggest kick out of watching the elf. He loves him! The granddaughter just enjoys the whole movie. So if they like it I am all for it. The animation looks pretty good to me and even though it might not be as sharp as the other kids movie producers out there I think they have a hit here.

It's movies like this that really make you appreciate Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks for the talent in their animation departments because it's when you actually watch a movie like this that makes it so apparent how easy the others make it look because 'Saving Santa' really did lack the animation skills that we have all grown accustomed to.The story here was actually a lot of fun because it was primarily built around time travel and took all it's basics from a very familiar movie (Back To The Future) so i think the adults probably already know the 'rules' of time travel (for example, don't let your old self see the new you...etc..) .. but the plot - a global shipping company wanting to steal Santa's sled and all his secrets just so they can be the biggest shipping company in the world - just went beyond cheesy... and not exactly one that the kids would understand all that well either.The voices really didn't offer too much excitement... the songs, which were much more than i had hoped for and were used very 'musical-esque', easily had no excitement and/or energy... and the dialogue was also very predictable and uninspiring, although there were two parts that i thought were legitimately funny.Even with all the warts, i gave this movie a six - but mostly because it surprisingly excelled in the future scenes and the tying together of the storyline between past moments and present moments (if you are an Arrested Development fan, you may really appreciate how well these all work) and also because it was still a Christmas movie set in the north pole :-).. maybe i'm feeling festive this holiday season with an almost undeserving six stars - would be a little more accurate to give it a five and a half - but it was fun and not even a full ninety minutes.Merry Christmas everybody.