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We mentioned Dear Santa the other day and everyone said that Jack Black was the most off-putting point. I find Black is like Adam Sandler, he has some hits, but also a lot of misses.
Anyway, Mrs Boba Phil isn’t well at the moment, so I thought I would put on something easy to watch and there was Dear Santa. Honestly, it was the best of a bad bunch of movies. Sometimes trying to find something new to watch is like trying to find meaning in a Paul Shore movie.
Dear Santa stars Black, Robert Timothy Smith, Keegan-Michael Kay, Brianne Howey, Hayes MacArthur, Post Malone, P. J. Byrne, Jaden Carson Baker, and Kai Cech. Bobby Farrelly directs and his brother, Peter Farrelly, writes with Ricky Blitt, and Dan Ewen.
I will say, I have a soft spot for the Farrell brothers movies. I’ve said before that Dumb & Dumber is one of my all-time favorites. Peter has gone on to more serious things, like Green Book, whereas Bobby has kept with the comedy.
The Story
The story of Dear Santa is about a simple miss-spelling:
When a young boy mails his Christmas wish list to Santa with one crucial spelling error, a devilish Jack Black arrives to wreak havoc on the holidays.
Young Liam (Smith) is the new kid in town. He’s finding it hard to make friends and only has Gibby (Baker) at his side. Even though Liam is 11, he still writes a letter to Santa, because he thinks his mum likes him too.
His newest letter has a miss-spelling and it ends up going to hell, where Satan (Black) picks it up and shows up at Liam’s house. He grants Liam three wishes, but the downside is, on the third wish Satan will own his soul.
The rest of the movie is a standard affair. Liam likes a popular girl at school and Satan helps him get her, through one of his wishes. To help, he gets tickets to a Post Malone concert. Malone is a popular music artist, so I’m told.
The rest of Dear Santa is about Liam and his wishes. It’s a sweet movie that made me laugh.
The Cast
Obviously, the main problem is Black. As I said, he is hit-and-miss, but in Dear Santa he’s not too bad. He’s not being over the top with it and he had some good lines where I did find myself laughing.
Liam (Smith) is a great little actor, I thought he was really good. The movie rests on his shoulders and he carries it well. However, this balances out with Gibby (Baker) not so good.
I know they say never to work with animals or children, and Baker is one of those reasons. He’s a nice kid, but his acting is very noticeable. He does have some funny lines though and there is one scene with a girl that did make me laugh out loud.
I have to say this, but in Dear Santa, even Post Malone was pretty good. Honestly I have no idea about his music, but I know he is popular with the youth of today. Liam and the popular girl, end up at the concert.
Satan puts a spell on Malone, to let the kids go on the stage and again, I found myself laughing.
Overall
I’m going to say it, I liked Dear Santa! It’s a family-friendly comedy, it has a little heart at the end of it and it made me laugh. It’s not going to be for everyone, obviously, but if you have kids they might enjoy it.
Satan isn’t too scary, more like a naughty mate than the devil. It’s not going to be a Christmas tradition movie, but honestly, to kill 2 hours with a bit of a giggle, it’s perfectly alright.
I’m going to give it 3 out of 5 stars. I thought it was slightly better than average and I honestly shed a single tear at the end, in a good way. Come on, it’s now December, get in the Christmas spirit you Grinch!
Dear Santa is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
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