Now in all honesty, I don't really have too much to say about the short film or its plot. The short film is just basically about a family celebrating Christmas, as Santa flies over to deliver presents. That's pretty much the whole plot for this short. However, as boringly simplistic as the premise sounds, it does have a really nice Christmas look and feel to it. Scenes with the family taking part in Christmas traditions like decorating the tree, opening the presents, and sitting by the piano as they sing a Christmas song brings a warm comfort of celebrating Christmas at home with your family. There's also a scene when we see a choir of young boys in a church singing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" which is not only a beautiful moment in the short, but it also brings out a bit of the religious aspect of Christmas. As for the scenes with Santa, those scenes aren't as silly or creepy as many other live action shorts that involve Santa, they're actually handled pretty well. I think the best scene with Santa is the opening scene when he's at his Workshop with three of his elves as they make toys and play with them because it's actually adorable to watch, especially since the elves are played by kids (Either that, or little people that look like kids) as Santa acts all kind and humble when he interacts with them. In my opinion, that for me is the highlight of the whole short.
As much as I praise the short, that doesn't mean I think it’s great or anything. I mean it's good, real good, but it's nothing that special. The Christmas look and feel is nice, but it's nothing really that powerful or that cool to look at, it's just as average as the Christmas look and feel that you'd see in many of these kind of old live action Christmas shorts. The scenes with the family, while being wholesome scenes, the family themselves are pretty boring. They're really just your typical goody two-shoes white American family from the 50s that act all perfect. I'm not saying their perfect image distracts from the enjoyment of the traditions that they do together, nor do I expect them to have flaws in a short that's pretty much about the enjoyment of celebrating Christmas. I just hardly get a sense of actual personality from them. They don't even say much either since the majority of the short is being narrated, which the narrator does a pretty good job at getting you into the Christmas spirit. I have to also admit, as humble as the guy who plays Santa Claus is, I sadly don't find him to be that memorable. Also the scenes with Santa flying is Sleigh are decent effects that seem to be good for the time that this short was made, but that scene when he's suddenly animated for a few seconds did feel very out of place and is the only time we see him with his reindeer.
While I do think it's a really good and enjoyable Christmas short, especially in the standards of live action Christmas shorts made around the era that these shorts were made, I don't think it's anything incredible. It's just a nice and simple Christmas short that touches on a good amount of traditions that many of us celebrate during Christmas, which I think does have a very nice nostalgic Christmas feel to it, despite how old the short is. It's nothing spectacular and I'm sure many of you might be turned off by it's simplicity, but if you're looking for a under 10 minute Christmas short that exploits a good chunk of the joys of celebrating Christmas that’s harmless and nostalgic, then give it a watch.
RATING 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment