Voiced by Gerard Butler and Emilia Clarke, this is cosy-as-crumpets family fare, although padding out the book into an 80-minute film is a stretch
t was the night before Christmas – and as if Santa didn’t have enough on his plate, he falls down a rabbit hole. Carys Bexington and illustrator Kate Hindley’s popular kids’ book sending Santa on an adventure to Alice’s Wonderland has now been turned into a family Christmas movie. Gerard Butler stars as the big guy, with Game of Thrones’voicing the Queen of Hearts . It’s all very charming: as cosy as crumpets in front of an open fire.
Sticking with the picture-book feel, it looks gorgeous. The animation is sweetly naive yet detailed and closely observed. Santa’s present-making operation is a delight: a conveyor belt of toys, pint-sized elves beavering away, stroppy reindeers playing darts in the shed. And it’s the reindeers who are the real stars here, with their sarky comments and eye-rolling. “That isin my contract,” one mutters when Santa announces a last-minute drop-off at Wonderland to deliver a present to a princess.
The problem with the stopover is that the Queen of Hearts has banned tinsel and mince pies. No one is allowed to mention the C-word in Wonderland – or it’s off with their heads. The queen’s loathing ofis the result of festive-related childhood trauma, as Santa soon discovers. And there are some lovely playful moments: his favourite elf eats a magic shroom and grows to monstrous proportions.
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