The Christmas Martian (1971) User Reviews

Lo fi Canadian weirdness

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 24 December 2022]

The first children's film ever made in Canada by a commercial studio independently of either the National Film Board of Canada or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Le Martien de Noël is the first - retoactively - of the Tales for All kid movie series that also includes The Peanut Butter Solution.

Before Quebec would give birth to child movies like Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, director Bernard Gosselin and writer Roch Carrier made this movie which is...well, it's pretty wild. Cathy and Frankie meet the Christmas Martian, who has literally fishnet over his face, when his flying saucer crash lands in the snow. What's that alien's name? Poo Flower.

The kids help Poo Flower fix his ship and escape a bunch of Earthlings chasing him when they aren't eating candy or watching an alien turn into a llama. There isn't much holiday stuff in it until the end, but then again, it has a weird alien flying with a magic wand and bubbles flying out everywhere. It's not like any Christmas movie that would ever get made in our country, a strange piece of magic that's lo fi but all heart. I'd never seen this before but wow, it made an impression.

I grew up watching this at Christmastime

[Tigger63 · 19 July 2002]

I'll echo someone else's comments. I grew up with this movie. Much like watching the Grinch cartoon and listening to the Norad report tracking Santa, this movie was watched whenever it was on the TV. Campy...yes. Low budget...yes. but enjoyable because of the bad makeup, poor special effects and everything hokey. Saw it again last year on a visit back to Canada and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I guess you needed to grow up watching this in order to enjoy it.

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 23 December 2020]

"Le Martien de Noël" ("The Christmas Martian) is a very low budget and cheesy French-Canadian film. The version I saw was dubbed into English and the print was extremely overexposed.

I noticed that several reviewers gave this film a high score and loved it growing up. Well, perhaps you might love the film if you grew up watching it. As for me, I never saw it before today and thought it was a rather silly and cheesy film...sort of like a lower budget "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" in quality. In other words, it's a pretty dopey movie...the sort most people either would never watch or they'd watch it an make fun of it.

The story is set in some small Canadian town. Two young kids happen upon a creepy Martian (he is essentially a guy in a raccoon coat with a net over his face) who has a strong penchant for eating candy. They play together in the snow quite a bit and help him repair his ship so he can head back home.

By most objective standards, this is a bad movie. The acting is amateurish, the costumes pretty cheap and the sound effects rather poor and a bit annoying. But if you enjoy this for nostalgic reasons, more power to you As for me, as an adult seeing it for the first time, it was pretty tough viewing.

Nice but dull children's SF.

[GazHack · 3/10 · 30 October 2000]

An odd little film which anticipates "E.T." with its story of a friendly alien who is hunted by the local law enforcers but befriended by two children who help him repair his flying saucer. This slight story is bolstered by plenty of shots of people driving around on snowmobiles and shots of the snowy landscape which means the film often resembles a tourist travelogue. Still it is one of the only SF films made in the French Canadian region which gives it a slight curiosity value.

The alien resembles a circus clown whose make up was devised by Andy Warhol. He indulges in some lame slapstick and low key alien behaviour which confuses the local adults and delights their children. This film has a warm fuzzy feel to it which stops me being particularly vitriolic about it, but I can't seriously recommend it to anyone either due to the rather slow pace and predictability of the whole affair.

That was weird...

[Aaron1375 · 3/10 · 19 December 2023]

I have seen a French Christmas film titled I Believe in Santa Claus and I have now seen this French Canadian Xmas film and must come to the conclusion that the French like to make really strange holiday films. This thing was just so weird, nothing was really driving this film and what is up with the Martian? What was with the full body fishnet costume?

The story first hears a young man talking about the best day ever and then focuses on two children playing in the snow. In a store a strange man comes in and soon hijinks come as this dude is a Martian and he is flying and soon is the talk of the town! Soon the boy and girl befriend him and try and help repair his ship, steal snowmobiles and plows and fly in a ship that has no windows and only has a horrid video of what they are flying near. What a wonderful day indeed!

The Martian is overly goofy, apparently they are either killers of the human race or act super comedic, there is no in between! The kids do okay, as far as young children go and the rest of the town is even more goofy than the freaking Martian who is named Poo Flower by the way...

So, the thing was not all bad, just has that overacting comedy stuff I do not care for. The kind that almost makes one uncomfortable. The movie looked really good considering it was made in 1971, I was thinking late 70's or early 80's. The effects were not top notch, but I am doubting they were working with a high budget so I will give the film a pass on that front. I will not totally dismiss it, a younger child might enjoy it, but too goofy for my tastes.

I've often wondered....

[troyinJax · 7/10 · 6 December 2020]

I've often wondered if the scene/ concept of creating a trail of Smarties/M&M's candies to lead the alien was copied from this movie by Spielberg in E.T. It's just such a glaring similarity!!

One of my favourite memories.

[mojo_60s · 10/10 · 8 April 2006]

I hope i never see this movie again.

Not in a bad way though, it's just the memories of this film give me a warm, fuzzy, nostalgic feeling & i wouldn't want to spoil this by watching as an adult.

I've given this movie 10/10 just because of the nostalgia factor, if i watched it again as an adult, i get the feeling it'd struggle to get past 3.

I've kinda spoiled some TV memories by re-watching old shows & we all know that however much we want to, we cant feel the same way about the things we loved as kids.

Anyway, I'm off to watch reruns of Diff'rent Strokes.

:-)

XX mojo XX

nostalgia factor

[favreauna · 7/10 · 1 December 2001]

I've seen this movie again recently and it is very dated. But I can remember loving it when I saw it some 25 years ago. It is low budget and simplistic, but it had kid appeal when we didn't have 200 tv stations to choose from and video stores at every corners.

Something apart from the usual Christmas filler.

[alexm-3 · 8/10 · 31 March 2007]

Well, it has been a very long time since I have seen this film. In fact it is so long ago that my memory of it is probably more filled with nostalgia rather than reality. But that is probably a good place to begin. If I were 4 or 5 years old as I was when I saw the picture I would seriously impress upon you the qualities of this film. Thinking about it now I am not to sure why?

What I remember is strange events - People flying around on giant match sticks, odd coloured sweets, a strange alien sort of chap and a snowy Canadian landscape. And also the fact that I really enjoyed it at the time (Christmas). Often when you manage to catch a hold of things from your childhood they are not as well made as you remember them, but, if it really sticks in your mind they must have got something right other than just glossy special effects we now come to expect. I would definitely recommend this film as I guess the makers good intentions and hardy endeavours were matched by the resulting unique Christmas fantasy.

A classic Christmas film!

[r_larkman · 10/10 · 12 November 2001]

It may be confusing, and it may be a bit strange, but I recorded The Christmas Martian off TV years ago - it was an instant classic! I just love the funny effects used (such as a handheld floating device which resembles a match stick!).

I can't completely explain why I like this film so much, but it's just so funny!

Anyone who likes stupid films (films which were intended to be for children, but no-one can understand) should definitely see this!