The Night Before the Night Before Christmas (2010)

This is a movie that presumes Santa Claus is real complete with a magic gift bag capable of producing endless gifts. So we shouldn't expect it to be aimed strictly at adults complete with plot realism. However, unlike a lot of this kind of movies, it is also not dumbed down so much that there is nothing for adults. This is a fun movie for the entire family.There is some good humor that both kids and adults will appreciate. There is one ridiculous disaster to ruin Christmas after another and they get resolved in crazy ways. First we go through the wave of people who encounter the memoryless Santa and his head elf. And meanwhile Nigel the elf is trying to come up with ways to spark Santa's memory. Then they start chasing the bag around.The movie is a little preachy about parents who don't pay enough attention to their children. The acting could be better but it's fine for this type of movie. Rebecca Williams who plays Hannah, the high school age member of the Fox family, is obviously way older than her character. But these faults can be overlooked if you just sit back and enjoy their crazy trek to save Christmas. And as we'd expect there are some heartwarming moments.

Okay, so it's Christmastime and you want to get into the festive spirit by watching a movie... which one do you choose? They all have similar plots and twists that they've become staid.That can be said about this movie too as you have a Santa who's lost his memory (Santa Who? (2000) & The Search For Santa Paws (2010)); Santa loses his sack; and a dysfunctional family find come together through the spirit of Christmas (The Family Man (2000) & Home Alone (1990)).So what makes this film worth watching. The script is well written and keeps up a decent pace throughout the film, and there are some excellent funny lines that shine through - Angie Fox - "How did we miss the eight tiny reindeer and sleigh in our garden?"Wayne Fox - "Because we were too busy with the Santa in our house!"The actors are well above average, with (the much underused) Jennifer Beals shining through and R D Reid giving us a great "Jolly Santa" even though he's lost his memory - this is my favourite portrayal of "Big- Red" to date. Then there's Jordan Prentice as the dapper dressed though highly-strung Nigel Thumb. These three lift the movie out of "good" into "wonderful" cast; making the movie more appealing.That said there are a couple of slight encumbrances with the film. The direction could've been better and a little tighter. There could've been some better camera shots at times, everything seems a little safe. Also, the reason why Santa was sent out a day early grated on me a little. None of Santa's little helpers, Mrs Clause, or even Santa himself realised it was the day before Christmas Eve. Surely for somebody who's been doing the same job for thousands of years, you'd expect him to remember what day it is (there are not many important things to remember as Santa, but this has to be a major one).This is one Christmas film I would recommend to everyone and I will watch again when it's on... I may even purchase a copy.494 Ratings but only a 5.8 Average - This is woefully low for such a good film.

even though i am watching this movie in 2015,i must say... This is an excellent family Christmas movie... The main & most IMPORTANT feature of this movie is, from start to end this movie sticks to main concept of it & that is >> Christmas & FAMILY <<it never looses its family & Christmas oriented track throughout entire running time.So if you want to see a perfect Christmas movie this holiday season..( without stupid romantic angles or enemies or stupid fight sequences....)Please please please !!! watch this movie...

I joined this site to say this.Television movies get a lot of flack. The reality is these movies often operate on a shoe-string budget, select their casts for who is willing to take the role and generally have a fairly limited scope when writing movies for companies such as Hallmark. Christmas television movies must be the most difficult to write for - with every possible idea being rehashed and reused ad nauseam to promote the festive season.With that said this movie was not able to hit the level of mediocrity of a D level television movie. It was uninspired, unoriginal and felt like yet another pay-check for an average director. This movie was obviously not made for me - I didn't get smothered by Chief at the end of 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest', but I don't know why someone would put any effort into making the movie. I can take a bad movie when it's done with a bit of passion and enthusiasm, but this movie felt like running through the motions.