Product Details

• Actors: Mel Smith
• Directors: Dave Unwin
• Writers: Dianne Jackson, Michael Adams, Raymond Briggs
• Producers: Gower Frost, Iain Harvey, John Coates
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: September 30, 1997
• Run Time: 25 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0767800400
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #361,033 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This irreverent Santa breaks from tradition in many ways. He has no Mrs., owns only four reindeer, and decides to convert his sleigh into an airborne motor home for a pre-Christmas vacation. He finds France too snooty, Scotland too cold, and Las Vegas just right. Tanned and rested, he returns to the North Pole in time to sort through the mail, pack up the toys, and hit the skies. Like the Santa of the Raymond Briggs book on which this 24-minute video is loosely based, he narrates his own story (splendidly voiced by Los Angeles stage actor William Dennis Hunt). But fans of the 1973 book will find the animated version far less cranky than the original. Although the book was aimed at ages 4-8, the video may have a wider appeal, depending on how you feel about the children seeing Santa gambling at the casino tables, dreaming of bikini-clad babes, and suffering a bout of diarrhea. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, December 12, 2000

By 

kennedy19 "kennedy19" (wakefield, ma USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Father Christmas (Hardcover)

This beautiful and comic picture book stands as one of Briggs' finest achievements. A pop song in the nineties asked the famous question "What if God were on of us?" This book answers a different intriguing question - what if Santa Claus were just an ordinary bloke? In his inimitable careful style, Briggs follows Father Christmas through his ordinary routine on December 24th and 25th. Each page is a series of illustrative panels, rather like a comic book, though the artistic style is the same kind of fine color work Briggs used in "The Snowman." Many panels are silent, or else punctuated by our hero's curmudgeonly mutterings ("blooming chimneys!") Father Christmas is rudely awoken by his alarm clock on December 24th, in an ordinary semidetached home in England somewhere (this is a very British book.) He gets up, has breakfast, feeds the dog and cat, gets some presents from storage in the barn, hitches up a few deer, and is off through various kinds of weather to visit various kinds of homes, mildly complaining about his hardships the entire time. The humor of the book's tone grows on the reader as the story proceeds. At last he finishes his rounds at dawn and comes home to a most pleasant Christmas of a warm bath, a good meal, and some holiday brochures. Then we follow him up to bed. I reread this book every Christmas, with equal joy each time. It is funny in a slightly irreverent way, but it still captures the warmth and joy of a Christmas well spent. Kids may enjoy the comic book format of the story, but I think this book can be even better enjoyed by adults who can imbibe its full wit.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Beware! This film does not have the correct voice for Father Christmas, December 11, 2007

By 

AM Clare Kelly (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Father Christmas (DVD)

Beware everyone familiar with this film from British TV. This is an americanized version of what, to me, is a Christmas classic - and it ruins it. Mel Smith no longer provides the funny, colloquial voicing for Father Christmas. Instead you get a sanitized "posh" British accent, killing most of the humour. He hardly says "bloomin'" at all!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most memorable, enjoyable books I read as a child., December 5, 2005

By 

K. Clark "kikiclark" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Father Christmas (Picture Puffins) (Paperback)

A friend of my mother's gave me this when I was very small. I remember most my mother's happiness in reading it to me and because of that it has always been a dear memory to me. I had forgotten about the book when I happened upon it a few years ago and bought it in the hope that one day I would have a child I could share it with. This year, I can't wait to introduce it to my 14 month old daughter even though she is probably too young to appreciate it.

My favorite memory in the book is of Father Christmas trying to figure out how to get inside the mobile home. I pondered that for several years! It really made me wonder.

If possible, buy the hardback edition, it's a book you will cherish for many years.