Dear Santa (1998) User Reviews

Just because you own a camera doesn't mean you should use it.

[dgrove-4 · 2/10 · 28 December 2007]

Just because you own a camera doesn't mean you should use it.

My wife is a Christmas nut so I've seen my fair share of Christmas movies, this is the first one I've felt compelled to write in about.

This movie delivers the cinematic experience you'd expect from bad porn without the porn to make it worth watching. If you're looking for a fun family Christmas experience, you'd be better off taking turns vacuuming the living room.

The few hints of potentially fair acting (it's Christmas so I feel compelled to be charitable) were buried by the primarily teleprompter-esquire dialog delivery, speaker-phone quality audio, late 70's sound track, grade school Christmas play effects... Someday I'd like someone to explain the funding behind a movie like this.

Go do your taxes, you'll have more fun. This was someone else's write off.

Bad.

[Christmas-Reviewer · 4/10 · 4 March 2018]

Review Date 3/4/2018

PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. I HAVE OVER 400 REVIEWS OF "CHRISTMAS RELATED FILMS & SPECIALS" WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY " C H R I S T M A S " MOVIES AS I CAN.

Now Someone keeps reporting my reviews. I guess they are jealous because I do tell the truth. I want to point out that I never make snide remarks about actors weight or real life sexual orientation. If there acting is terrible or limited "I talk about that". If a story is bad "I will mention that" So why am I being "picked on"? IMDB? When one of my reviews gets deleted IMDB will not even tell me what someone found offensive. Well on to this review.

In this movie Gordon Covington (D.L. Green) doesn't get to spend enough time with his family because of woes associated with his job as a used-car salesman. Work pressures keep him from family obligations, and he even misses Christmas with his wife and kids. His lack of caring about his family sends out a red alert to "The North Pole" and one elf is determined to reset Gordon's life.

Now all of this sounds good but it was poorly made. The acting was "terrible" and the overall plot feels forced and unnatural.

Skip seeing this

I want my 90 minutes back

[gbarwis · 2/10 · 9 December 2007]

This was airing on movies-on-demand under the title of "My Santa, My Dad." Seemed like a fun family film from the description... the only reason I didn't give it only 1 out of 10 is that no movie could ever be as bad as House of the Dead, but this was at least as painful as the Star Wars Holiday Special.

This was so terrible that it didn't even have the "so bad it's good" appeal of a Troma film (Toxic Avenger, anybody?), and frankly the Troma films have better production values and acting than this movie. The acting was wretched, the directing abysmal, the lighting, the cinematography, the editing, the score... quite honestly there just isn't anything about this movie to make it worth viewing.

Avoid at all costs, unless your only other choice is an Uwe Boll marathon.

So bad it's almost comical...almost.

[endent · 1/10 · 19 November 2013]

Dear Santa (Secret Santa)…with a weak plot, dodgy acting and the worst special effects since a 1970s film, this is one to avoid. Gordon (DL Green in his last acting credit) breaks a promise and neglects his family during Christmas. Stuck selling stolen cars over the holiday period, his wife (Debra Rich) and son (Harrison Myers) leave him to the life he so obviously wants. After being visited by a perky elf (Tena Fanning in her only acting credit), he transforms into one of many 'secret Santas' who help Santa do his job. One kidnapping and a trip to the North Pole later and he's learnt his lesson. You might be forgiven for thinking that this is just some cute, harmless Christmas film; and what's wrong with that, you may ask. I would reply 'nothing', but I would also riddle you this…what's right with it?

The opening is slow and dreary, as are the majority of the scenes, and some of the music is more suited to The Notebook. The acting pains, physically pains my every sense; it's so unbelievably bad it's almost comical, but it's mostly just sad. Even those with few lines manage, somehow, to say them in the most unrealistic way possible. The plot is perplexing, the script confusing and unnecessary, and even a talking owl can't save this pariah of a film. The only thing that can save this strange, but disappointing mix of The Santa Clause and A Christmas Carol is Debra Rich, but even her acting is dodgy in the beginning; her best scenes coming 20 minutes in. But don't waste 87 minutes of your life like I did.

Take a nap, rob a bank, run naked in a field…anything but watch this film.

Now I've seen them all

[wpaul-1 · 1/10 · 6 December 2008]

As a lover of Christmas my wife and I enjoy good Christmas Movies and I am sorry to say that this was far from that description. Like other reviewers I thought it had bad acting, bad script and wonder how films like these ever get passed those who have to Rate them, why this was rated PG for the United Kingdom beats me, surely its time for a Z classification to warn people away from movies like this. Lillith was the only character worth watching and I see that she has never made any other films since, which is a shame as she seemed to be very promising.

Do yourself a favour watch Tim Allens Trilogy of Santa Claus Films or Miracle on 34th Street but not this.

Used Car Santa Dad

[crawleyseaholm · 1/10 · 1 December 2001]

This movie was not good. The acting is quite awful and memorable only because of this. Specifically, though, if you watch, you should most enjoy the following: The zip code for the North Pole is 90210. The "electric boy" is shocking. The father is a used car salesman. There is one scene in which he wears a blinking bow tie for no apparent reason. Not a good choice for parents who think they're doing their kids a favor by renting a Christmas flick.

Make it a Game!

[mrez-176-149993 · 3/10 · 3 December 2014]

I watched this with my daughters and it became a memorable event. Not for the plot, acting, or cinematography which were all very forgettable, but for the video game that we created. We were extremely bored with the movie, but my daughters insisted that it must get better in the end.

Then it happened...Santa fell from the sky. For a slow movie, they made it even slower by showing an empty screen as Santa fell for an excruciatingly long period of time. And he screamed all the way down. No worry. He survives. But like the video of a car crash, I couldn't resist rewinding it to watch Santa hitting the ground again, and again, and again.

Then it became a game to hit the pause button on the remote at just the right moment when Santa appears on screen, but has not yet struck the ground--a levitating Santa. If he hits the ground, you lose. The kids all wanted their turn at the game. And each needed numerous attempts before they were able achieve levitation.

As others have suggested, I recommend that you tend to your house chores at the start of the movie and listen for the screaming Santa. Then let the games begin! The movie gets 1 star but if you make a game out of it, I'd give it 3.

Shameless Ripoff of "The Santa Clause"

[BatStarIndyFreak · 2/10 · 22 November 2022]

Ripoff of the Santa Clause, and the episode of Highway to Heaven titled, "Another Song for Christmas". It has a thoroughly unconvincing plot, forced emotions, forced resolution, and all the actors are phoning it in. It makes you think, who let "The Asylum" make a Christmas movie?

Part of the forced emotions rests in the marital tensions, where you're throughly settled on the prospective Santa being a complete scumbag, and a bouquet of roses is enough for his wife to have serious second thoughts.

As he goes through the Santa-morphing, his beard never gets better than that of a mall Santa.

Don't expect a Plan 9 level bad Christmas movie. It's so bad it's BAD.

Dear Santa, thank you for this gift

[emmarileyet · 10/10 · 19 March 2021]

Great filmmaking is empathetic. It lets us experience the world through the eyes of someone else. I have never been a used car salesman turned santa clause but this movie helped me to understand just how trying it must be. The minimalist script provides space for the audience to ponder. The combination of practical and special effects are visually stunning. My favourite character was the owl. I think his disheveled appearance juxtaposed his wise advise perfectly. This is a film that will deepen with repeat viewings, which is a good thing because I plan on watching it every Christmas.

Nice heartfelt family film.

[shirleyallennn · 7/10 · 14 July 2001]

It's a story about a father named Gordon Covington, who is having financial problems. Christmas is approaching and Gordon is really down because he can't provide for his family. There is the side story that the owner of the used car lot where Gordon works wants him to sell some questionable cars. Not to give away the story, but basically Gordon begins turning into Santa (i.e. "The Santa Clause"), he learns a lesson and his family is reunited. Heartfelt story.