The Christmas Star (1986)

So much average

Absolutely Fantastic

A Masterpiece!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

ed asner gives a great performance as Horace mcnickle in a Disney family film gifting the full spirit of the festive season mcknickle who escapes prison he was a counterfeiter he looks very like st nick the search is on for him by the police and the one detective who looking for him cant catch a break and want to be home for Xmas but with so many Santa's to find one is tough ordeal for police mcknickel lost something from his last caper but decides to take advantage of two kids who accidentally find him sleeping rough but as he realizes as it dawns on him about his past his past catches up with in the form of 3 ghost of Xmas past so in order to help the kids he pays hi dues gives them something to cheer so rather than keep running he tries to change and promise to be more cheerful this is a great family movie at 1hr30mins its not to bad

*Spoilers* First of all, this movie is...not good. It's the kind of movie that's only good if you enjoy watching bad movies to make fun of them. It absolutely does not make sense, even in movie terms. It is corny at best, and ridiculously stupid at worst.The movie follows a convict who escapes from prison by beating up a man from the Salvation Army and stealing his Santa suit. (Just puts you in the spirit doesn't it?) After we meet our lovable felon Horace, we meet Billy, John, and Trudy. Billy and Trudy are siblings. Billy is an extremely optimistic and gullible young boy, and Trudy is something like a clone of Cindy Brady that went horribly wrong. Their parents are recycled nice parents who love their kids but are stuck in poverty. John on the other hand, is a complete and utter jerk. John's father is an even bigger jerk who is a caricature of a modern day Scrooge, and is just short of emotionally abusive to his son. Not only that, but he plans on foreclosing on Billy's family and all the other tenants by the end of the year. Then of course there is John's (or is it Billy's?) dog Spider, a scruffy stray that didn't make the cut for the Annie movie.Anyway, after Horace escapes he becomes a... squatter I suppose, in the building the kids live in. Billy and Trudy find him and believe he is the real Santa, which he reinforces rather unconvincingly. Then he has the kids help him break into some special Santa throne that has a sack of money inside. No...really. Along with that, "Santa" bonds with John, relating to his cold and unfeeling relationship with his father. After Horace finally gets the money he ditches the kids and... has a bizarre Dickens-esque moment on a train he's escaping on. This makes him go to give John's dad an equally Dickens-like moment, and Christmas is saved! This movie is bad. The premise is strange, the acting is mediocre at best, and the characters are bland. The end of this movie created more questions in my mind than answered them. It was so confusing and made little sense. Along with that, Billy's "innocence" is so exaggerated that he comes off as stupid. It might have been more believable if he were under age seven, but the boy is at least ten years old, maybe even twelve. There were some scenes that were decent, even "good" acting, but the characters were underdeveloped, so it had little emotional effect. It's almost like they tried to put in too many story lines, and never finished any of them well enough. On top of that, the "Christmas star" is completely irrelevant to the plot! It only comes into play during the first few minutes of the movie, and then the last few minutes. Take those out and this would be the exact same, dumb movie. If anything the movie should have been called "The Christmas Convict." This movie is stupid. Watch one of the other few dozen worthwhile Christmas films instead.

It's a shame that this movie isn't available on DVD (or VHS, for that matter). Thankfully, I did tape it on VHS (commercials & all) when it last aired. Truly a wonderful film, it made remember some of those "warm & fuzzy" feelings that I used to have about Christmas when I was a child. A Disney © production, maybe someday it will be available for purchase...

Probably one of the most underrated Christmas movies out there. Ed Asner was perfectly cast as a grumpy prisoner, the storyline was a very touching one, and the acting was all-around excellent. Would recommend this to anyone. Only wish I could find a tape or DVD of it somewhere ...