Movie Review: Santa Claus

Santa Claus a.k.a Santa Claus: The Movie 

Calash Corporation, GGG, Santa Claus Ltd., TriStar Pictures, UK, USA, 1985. 

Hundreds of years ago woodcutter Claus (David Huddleston) and his wife Anya (Judy Cornwell) brought Christmas presents for kids with their reindeer Donner and Blitzen. One winter they got into a deadly blizzard. Magical beings named Vendegums (better known as elves) saved them. Elves transport them to new home. They will now live forever and bring presents for all the children in the world. Elves are always busy manufacturing toys. 

Anya and Claus

Elves

Santa's workshop

Elf Patch (Dudley Moore) takes care of reindeer. He is also an inventor. First Claus needs a proper work costume and he has to learn to drive the flying reindeer sleigh. Ancient Elf (Burgess Meredith) tells that Claus is the Chosen One who will bring gifts to all the children in the world in Christmas Eve. 

Patch

Ho, ho, ho!

Santa's workload increases through the centuries. In the 20th century elf Puffy (Anthony O'Donnell) wants to use the traditional toy-making techniques while Patch wants to modernize the factory. Patch wins but pushing the machine to its limit causes the toys to fall apart. 

Santa makes friends with two kids: poor kid Joe (Christian Fitzpatrick) and wealthy girl Cornelia (Carrie Kei Heim). The toy production problems however make the other kids hate Santa. Patch takes the responsibility and resigns. Meanwhile greedy toy-company boss B.Z. (John Lithgow) is neck-deep in lawsuits because of unsafe toys. Patch offers to save his business. However naughty B.Z. tries to run Santa out of business. Joe and Cornelia plan to stop B.Z.'s evil plan. 

Joe and Cornelia

B.Z.

This is a fun Santa Claus- origin story with 1980s aesthetics. The first half with Santa learning his business and adapting to changing times is good fantasy for the whole family. However the second half that is set in the modern times does not quite reach the magic of the first half and has a more traditional style adventure story. Still John Lithgow is fun villain. Dudley Moore as elf is fun also and his attempts to get Santa's acceptance through his inventions (although he already has it) gives the story some depth. The flying scenes look like 1980s "Superman" movies, that were also produced by the Salkinds. Also a worthwhile scene to see is when Santa's sleigh makes a full loop.

Rating: Good

Starring: Dudley Moore, John Lithgow, David Huddleston, Burgess Meredith, Judy Cornwell, Jeffrey Kramer, Christian Fitzpatrick, Carrie Kei Heim, John Barrard, Anthony O'Donnell, Melvyn Hayes, Don Estelle, Tim Stern, Peter O'Farrell, Christopher Ryan, Dickie Arnold, Aimée Delamain, Dorothea Phillips, John Hallam, Judith Morse, Jerry Harte, Paul Aspland, Sally Cranfield, Michael Drew, Walter Goodman, John Cassady, Ronald Fernee, Michael A. Ross, Morgan Deare, Roy Evans, Kevin Hudson, Caroline John, Stuart Milligan, Nancy Paul, Shannon Spruill, Fred Wood

Director: Jeannot Szwarc