'Twas the Night (2001)

A mischievous 14-year-old boy and his irresponsible uncle almost ruin Christmas when they decide to take Santa's new high-tech sleigh for a joyride.

Director:

Nick Castle

Writers:

Jim Lincoln (story), Dan Studney (story)

Stars:

Josh Zuckerman, Brenda Grate, Bryan Cranston

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Josh Zuckerman	...	Danny Wrigley
Brenda Grate	...	Kaitlin Wrigley
Bryan Cranston	...	Nick Wrigley
Jefferson Mappin	...	Santa
Barclay Hope	...	John Wrigley
Torri Higginson	...	Abby Wrigley
Rhys Williams	...	Peter Wrigley
Sandy Robson	...	Harry (as Sandy Wayne Robson)
Jeff Geddis	...	Bill
Jung-Yul Kim	...	Eliot
Jamie Robinson	...	Pablo
Oliver Dennis	...	Mr. Okun
Joe Bostick	...	Salesman #1
Santiago Garcia	...	Salesman #2
Paul MacFarlane	...	Bus Driver

Storyline

A mischievous 14-year-old boy and his irresponsible uncle almost ruin Christmas when they decide to take Santa's new high-tech sleigh for a joyride.

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Plot Keywords:

joyride | santa | uncle | boy | 14 year old | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

TV-G

Did You Know?

Trivia

The control stick for Santa's sleigh is a Logitech Wingman Attack 2.

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Quotes

Nick Wrigley: I know he won't hurt me.
Eliot: Oh yeah, and why wouldn't I do that?
Nick Wrigley: Because I know, deep inside, you're a sad little boy.
[everyone starts laughing then Nick holds up the magic ball]
Nick Wrigley: And because I have this.
[He presses the shrink button and Eliot shrinks and slowly stops laughing]
Eliot: Oh, mommy.

User Reviews

Under Appreciated

Of course, another movie is given no credit whatsoever and passed over for the fact that Walt Disney Co. has attached itself to it.

Despite being in Florida(well, Disney World, ironically) and having access to the Disney Channel(which wasn't really used because of the unpredictable scheduling of their holiday marathons) in 2001, I only watched this on the Canadian Family Channel when I noticed that Josh Zuckerman, who played Young Dr. Evil in Austin Powers in Goldmember(and is a very good actor) was in it. I would have probably watched it in 2001 if I had known that the man who plays Hal on Malcolm in the Middle was involved, I think his name is Bryan Cranston, who has taken a sidestep from his familiar role as the panicky, bad father role model, to a cunning, bad uncle role model.

Danny Wrigley(Zuckerman) has a younger brother, the kind who's dumb yet smart a.k.a. he will buy junk from Danny while "Christmas shopping", yet knows some things about computers and the outside world. He also has a younger sister, so smart she doesn't believe in Santa or Christmas. Danny spends a lot of time scheming, e.g. the Christmas shopping incident. Their parents are either doctors or lawyers, I can't recall, who, guess what, are called in to work on Christmas Eve night. Luckily, Uncle Nick(Cranston, who believe it or not isn't Santa despite having the name Nick) has dropped by for no apparent reason. But when the kids go off to bed, we find Nick has been a little naughty. He has to place a virus on his computer, but it also effects every computer for another 50 miles. Santa then comes by, using technology to shrink and unshrink presents, and freeze time. But whilst leaving, he gets knocked out cold, and is found by Danny and Nick, who then take his sleigh to save Christmas.

But Danny isn't the only schemer. Soon enough, Uncle Nick has conned him, too. Meanwhile, incredibly annoying sequences of Santa and the two younger siblings trying to bring down the new high-tech sleigh driven by Danny & Nick interrupt the latter's events, yet are unfortunately necessary to stop the movie from really going slow with 30 minutes or so of Danny and Nick just doing the same things over and over again.

The acting is the best job here. Cranston is great, and Zuckerman is going to grow up to be great, but he needs to work on his sadder emotions. The story and writing has points taken off for not coming up with a more enjoyable sub-plot. Casting is strong, there couldn't really be anyone else fulfilling the characters in this movie, but if I had to choose one guy I didn't like, it was Santa himself. The effects, well, they probably meet the budget. Some great props and computer stuff was the detail in the shrunken and unshrunken objects. Just look at the car, or the piano.

It's definitely something to watch in the holidays, but not one to cash out $10 American for an official VHS copy from Disney, especially for the measly hour-and-a-half you can watch it for on commercial-free TV(which is probably the only stations it may show up on). And though it's easily passed over, I enjoyed it, and you probably will too.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

'Twas the Night

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

'Twas Productions, Adam Productions, Disney Channel

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD