SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE (PG)
D: Jeannot Szwarc
Salkind (Ilya Salkind & Pierre Spengler)
UK 1985
112 mins
Fantasy
W: David Newman
DP: Arthur Ibbetson
Ed: Peter Hollywood
Mus: Henry Mancini
PD: Anthony Pratt
David Huddleston (Santa Claus), Dudley Moore (Patch), John
Lithgow (B.Z.), Judy Cornwell (Anya Claus), Christian Fitzpatrick (Joe), Carrie Kei Heim (Cornelia), Burgess Meredith (The Ancient One)
A young, homeless boy stands famished outside a McDonald's
restaurant, as those inside feast their lips upon the bill of fare. Big, juicy Big Macs, succulent Chicken McNuggets, refreshing milkshakes, etc. This goes on for several
minutes.
Either side of this blatant advert is quite a humdrum
fantasy story about Santa and an attack on commercialism and greed (ha ha!) when one of Mr. Claus' elves quits the North Pole to work for an avaricious, unscrupulous toy manufacturer (played
with great glee by a scene-stealing John Lithgow)
Young children will enjoy it, but the obvious, ubiquitous
product placement will make most adults absolutely sick. The production itself is also quite ropey, with some unconvincing special effects, terrible production design (Santa's workshop just
seems to be a huge warehouse for plywood) and some of the cheesiest editing you'll ever see. Still, it's understandable that people will feel nostalgic about this film, probably
from watching it on Christmas morning while opening their presents, but that didn't count for anything in 1985 when the film was a huge box office flop, costing the studio millions and
causing the rights to Superman to be sold to Cannon Films.
That's right, kids. Santa Claus caused the death of
Superman. How's that Christmassy feeling now?
5/10