The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006) (TV)

User Rating:

3.2/10   

Director:

Ron Underwood

Writers (WGA):

Larry Wilson (teleplay) and
Tom Martin (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

11 December 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Plot:

Thoroughly disgruntled, Santa (Goodman) opts to take a year off from delivering presents, until a young man helps his rediscover the meaning of the holidays. |

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Christmas | Santa Claus | Based On Cartoon | Live Action Remake

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Mitchel Baker
Hunter Ballard	...	School Boy
Aaron Beelner	...	Ring Announcer
David Blackwell	...	Dr. Broadbeam
Dodie Brown	...	Festival booth owner
Marcus Lyle Brown	...	Officer Jefferson
Delta Burke	...	Mrs. Claus
Matthew Carroll	...	Dog catcher
Mellinda Craig	...	Wife of Officer Varmit
Namaiya Cunningham	...	Toddler at festival
John F. Daniel	...	Christmas Festival Worker
Brooke Devenney	...	Craft booth worker in festival
Laine Dubroc	...	Festival Goer
Fred Ellis	...	Drunk santa (as Fred E. Ellis)
Dustin Estis	...	North Pole Elf
Dorcas Everette
Harvey Fierstein	...	Heat Miser
Travis Fontenot	...	Festival Goer
Chris Freihofer	...	Sparky's Attorney
Eric Gipson	...	Power Elf #1
John Goodman	...	Santa Claus
Lara Grice	...	Rachel Thistlewhite
Eddie Griffin	...	Jingle
Mya Holloway	...	Toddler girl in snow at festival
Parker Holloway	...	Boy with clown at festival
Rebecca Holloway	...	Mom at arcade - Token Town
Denver Houghton	...	Child in Gift Wrapping Booth
Pamela Houghton	...	Gift wrap booth owner
Deborah R. Jones	...	Journalist
Carol Kane	...	Mother Nature
Chris Kattan	...	Sparky
Lori Knighton	...	Festival visitor
Carson Kressley	...	Elf Costumer
Daniel Lachman	...	Southtown Citizen
Jack LaLanne	...	Hercules
Amber Dawn Landrum	...	Blonde Jingle Jangle Girl
Chelsea Lewis	...	Girl at festival
Daniel Magill	...	Elf
Mike Martindale	...	Festival / Restaurant Patron
Jay Martin	...	Christmas Festival Kid
John McConnell	...	Dog catcher
Michael McKean	...	Snow Miser
Yolanda Mercadel	...	John Goodmen / Eddie Grifin
Dylan Minnette	...	Iggy Thistlewhite
Steven Miramontz	...	Pinstripe Elf
Noelle Monteleone	...	Gleam
Rebecca Newman	...	Festival shopper
Ashley-Anne Parker	...	Token Town Employee / Festival Patron
Andrea Powell	...	Julie Kadlubowski-Sanchez
Laura Schlessinger
Raleigh L. Shelton II	...	Teddy Bear Buyer
Kayla Shoemaker	...	Girl at festival
Billy Slaughter	...	Nerd Elf
Alexis Smith	...	Festival Goer
Nicholas Smith	...	Gift wrapper
Ethan Suplee	...	Jangle
Odessa Sykes	...	Reporter
Todd Terry	...	Wilkes
Jody Thompson	...	Clop
Lana Underwood	...	Female tv reporter
Taylor Vosbury	...	Girl Student
Maya Waterman	...	Medusa
Jack Watkins	...	Boothe
Amanda Weisner	...	Heat Miser Boxing Fan
Brent Weisner	...	Snow Miser Boxing Fan
Cheryl Ariaz Wicker	...	Elf
Lesley Wright	...	Girl in Stocking Booth

Runtime:

USA:120 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Natchitoches, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Television

Trivia:

One of the Christmas specials that is shown on Jingle's TV is the original The Year Without A Santa Claus.

Movie Connections:

Features The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Snow Miser Song

What the heck were they thinking?

Acting=bland, storyline=contrived, pacing=dirge-like, charm=none. A live action "Year Without a Santa Claus" seems like a great idea, unless the people involved turn it into a remake of the Salkind's "Santa Claus: The Movie" instead. And that's what happened.

Not everything about this movie is worthless. The first Heat Miser/Snow Miser scene was well done, but then again it's the only thing left over from the original. At least the powers that be recognized the appeal of that number.

Everyone else was just sleepwalking through their parts, which is a shame. I was excited to see John Goodman as Santa, but he wasn't weary enough in the scenes where Santa is weary, and certainly wasn't jolly enough when Saint Nick needed to be his old self. And Delta Burke? Did she really have a part in this? Mrs. Claus was an important part of the original...here she just seemed like an observer.

I was looking forward to this...I'm no purist. I'm open for all kinds of remakes. But this just didn't cut it.

Watch the original instead. It's a classic, despite its age.