The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.

This film had great source material! However the makers of this film add and subtract the wrong things. What they get right is the tone. What they do wrong is everything else. They add songs (not a bad idea) however these songs are terrible.

They also dumb down the story because since this is made for small children they break the rule about children's show. The makers of this film think children are too stupid to get the subtext and they dumb down the story and dialog.

Based on the popular book by L. Frank Baum, the beloved author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," comes "The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus". The story starts off many centuries ago, long before toys had even been invented, a baby abandoned at the edge of an enchanted forest was adopted and raised by a beautiful wood nymph, thus beginning the life story of Santa Claus. From his truly magical childhood through the discovery of his life's work of making children happy, discover the origin of every tradition surrounding Santa Claus!

I hope one day someone with more talent will adapt the book into a full length feature film. If done correctly it would become a classic. This however is barely worth watching.

I caught this film on Sky Premier and was glad I did. The characters were appealing, especially Nicholas, Blinky and Whist. The Argawal were good villains. The story was filled with the joy of giving and caring for others which is what Christmas is all about. The songs were pleasant to listen to and the ending was touching. 7/10

This version is better for little ones. The original version has a bit of darkness, so it's better to stick to the lighter version without having to worry about a little one's reactions to it.

The characters are still enchanting, and it's a very touching, light movie.

It's also an excellent way to open up a child's mind to the best part of Christmas... To bring happiness to the lives of others. It's a lot like the Pagan holiday Yule, so it's not as focused on religion but the Spirit of the Holiday... TO spend time with those you love in celebration and bring happiness to all, making winter a little brighter.

This is definitely a great movie to get to the heart of Christmas spirit.

(If you love this one, be sure to check out 1985 version.)

This version of The Life and adventures of Santa Claus is a pale, saccharine sweet sham when compared to the supurbly done stop motion animation of the 1985 version of this same story done by Rankin / Bass. This felt cheesy and half-hearted whereas the stop motion animated one has the distinct feel of a classic and was more true to the heart and feel of the old story by L. Frank Baum.

The story is good but it feels dumbed down compared to the stop motion version. A seldom known fact, Baum connected this story to his loved The Wizard of Oz by saying the immortal faeries of this story are the ones who enchanted the land of Oz to begin with.

I have written an adaptation of this book and directed it three times for my theater group, and while this is a very nice version, it strays from the original story a little too much. For example, Queen Zurline, who is one of Claus' guardians is completely left out of the story, and there a characters such as Wisk, who are not part of the book. The animation is fine, and they really captured Blinkie, whom I made into a more important and vocal character. The thing I think disappoints me is that Baum's language is so beautiful and it's not part of this version.

By the way, my play is available for production, so please contact me if you would be interested in a production. It can be done as a full production, with a large cast, or with about 7 or 8 actors as a Reader's Theater. Both versions were successful, and it's a pleasant alternative to A Christmas Carol.