Saving Santa (2013)

A lowly stable elf finds that he is the only one who can stop an invasion of the North Pole by using the secret of Santa's Sleigh, a TimeGlobe, to travel back in time to Save Santa, twice.

Directors:

Leon Joosen, Aaron Seelman

Writers:

Tony Nottage (story) (as Antony Nottage), Ricky Roxburgh (screenplay)

Stars:

Newell Alexander, Noel Clarke, Joan Collins

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Newell Alexander	...	Butterscotch / Mercenary #4 (voice)
Noel Clarke	...	Snowy (voice)
Joan Collins	...	Vera Baddington (voice)
Tim Conway	...	Santa (voice)
David Cowgill	...	Mercenary #1 (voice)
Tim Curry	...	Neville Baddington (voice)
Holly Dorff	...	Minty / Reporter (voice)
Moosie Drier	...	Tin Soldier #1 / Old Man Elf (voice)
Pam Ferris	...	Mrs. Claus (voice)
Martin Freeman	...	Bernard D. Elf (voice)
Jackie Gonneau	...	Female Santech Elf with Glasses (voice)
Nicholas Guest	...	Blitzen / Shortbread (voice) (as Nick Guest)
Richard Steven Horvitz	...	Orange Haired Elf / Chestnut (voice) (as Richard Horvitz)
Ashley Tisdale	...	Shiny (voice)
David Zyler	...	Tin Soldier #2 / Mercenary #3 (voice)

Storyline

With dreams of being an inventor, opportunist and eccentric elf Bernard D. Elf (Martin Freeman) is made to feel like a a fool yet again when his innovative creation to bring back people's favorite Christmas memories back to life fails miserably. However, he is then presented with the perfect opportunity to prove his worth, when Santa (Tim Conway) is kidnapped by the evil Neville Baddington (Tim Curry), and his demanding mother Vera (Dame Joan Collins), who have their heart set on discovering Santa's big secret: how he delivers presents across the world in just one night. However, Bernard knows how he does it, using a time travelling device to ensure all children wake up on Christmas morning with their presents under the tree. The elf decides to use this to his advantage, as he plans on going back in time and preventing the abduction from ever happening, and save Santa, and Christmas, for the entire world.

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Plot Keywords:

santa | elf | christmas | presents | north pole | 

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Taglines:

Adventures of a time-traveling elf

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The pose of the Mrs. Claus statue right inside the "Santa's Pancake Palace" is a nod the "Big Boy" statue usually found at a "Big Boy" restaurant (which, by the way, used to be known as "Bob's Big Boy" until it was bought by Marriott in 1987). In the 1980s and 1990s, the "Big Boy" statue was also a favorite kidnapping target of college students who would usually return the statue unharmed.

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Soundtracks

A Christmas Wish Reprise
Music & Lyrics by Grant Olding
Performed by Benjy Norman (as the Cast), Tim Conway (as the Cast), Ashley Tisdale (as the Cast) and Martin Freeman (as the Cast)

User Reviews

.. maybe i'm feeling festive this holiday season ...

It's movies like this that really make you appreciate Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks for the talent in their animation departments because it's when you actually watch a movie like this that makes it so apparent how easy the others make it look because 'Saving Santa' really did lack the animation skills that we have all grown accustomed to.

The story here was actually a lot of fun because it was primarily built around time travel and took all it's basics from a very familiar movie (Back To The Future) so i think the adults probably already know the 'rules' of time travel (for example, don't let your old self see the new you...etc..) .. but the plot - a global shipping company wanting to steal Santa's sled and all his secrets just so they can be the biggest shipping company in the world - just went beyond cheesy... and not exactly one that the kids would understand all that well either.

The voices really didn't offer too much excitement... the songs, which were much more than i had hoped for and were used very 'musical-esque', easily had no excitement and/or energy... and the dialogue was also very predictable and uninspiring, although there were two parts that i thought were legitimately funny.

Even with all the warts, i gave this movie a six - but mostly because it surprisingly excelled in the future scenes and the tying together of the storyline between past moments and present moments (if you are an Arrested Development fan, you may really appreciate how well these all work) and also because it was still a Christmas movie set in the north pole :-)

.. maybe i'm feeling festive this holiday season with an almost undeserving six stars - would be a little more accurate to give it a five and a half - but it was fun and not even a full ninety minutes.

Merry Christmas everybody.

Details

Country:

UK USA India

Language:

English Mongolian

Release Date:

5 November 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Saving Santa

Box Office

Budget:

$7,500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,278,821

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gateway Films, Prana Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Color:

Color