Product Details

• Actors: John Goodman, Chris Kattan, Delta Burke, Harvey Fierstein, Michael McKean
• Directors: Ron Underwood
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: December 12, 2006
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000J10F2I
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #41,071 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Based on the classic 1976 animated Rankin and Bass Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus, this 2006 live-action, modernized version of the story features John Goodman as Santa Claus, Delta Burke as Mrs. Claus, Eddie Griffin as Jangle, Ethan Suplee as Jingle, and Chris Kattan as Sparky. In both productions, Santa is disgusted with the commercialization of Christmas and feels overworked and underappreciated. Add in a bad cold and Santa declares that he is canceling Christmas this year and it falls to two elves, Jingle and Jangle, to restore Santa's faith by finding a child who understands the true spirit of Christmas. The most striking differences in this new production are the cynical, almost satiric portrayal of the extreme commercialization of Christmas at Santa Company (complete with punk rocker dolls, violent video games, and a crazed employee named Sparky who dreams of taking Santa's place as action-hero-inspired "Extreme Santa"), a makeover of the elf Jangle as a television-junkie obsessed with talk shows, a less prominent role for Mrs. Claus, and a twist on the young boy and town Mayor story line that focuses less on encouraging the boy (who just happens to be the Mayor's son in this version) to believe in Santa Claus and more on inspiring the Mayor's realization that his relationship with his son is much more important than his political ambitions. While neither version has the warmth of the more optimistic Rankin and Bass animated specials like Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Frosty the Snowman, this latest live-action version of The Year Without a Santa Claus is full of modern day references that will date it in future years, is somewhat crass, and at times downright unlikable. (Ages 9 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

Product Description
When his devious head elf, Sparky (Kattan), tells him that he must "keep up with the times" no matter how materialistic Santa Claus (Goodman) resists, fearing that the holiday has become far too commercial. Convinced that no one believes in him anymore and that people have forgotten the real meaning of Christmas, Santa decides to take the year off and not deliver any gifts, much to the dismay of his two closest elves, Jingle (Suplee) and Jangle (Griffin). When Santa tells them that he doesn't think there are any children left who still care about the true spirit of Christmas, the two elves decide to prove him wrong. But their efforts are complicated by Heatmiser and Snowmiser, the two feuding sons of Mother Nature (Kane), whose help Jingle and Jangle will need if they want to save Christmas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Appallingly bad, December 3, 2007

By	Zanzibar McFate (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

The original version of The Year Without a Santa Claus may not have been one of the absolutely best couple of Christmas classics -- it wasn't The Grinch or Rudolph or A Charlie Brown Christmas. But, it wasn't terrible. TYWASC was one of my childhood favorites, though I suppose it wasn't as popular as some others (given that it took a while to come out on DVD, and was packaged with a couple of other obscure holiday titles when it did). Still, I think it was among the better Christmas specials. And it definitely didn't deserve the lame remake.

John Goodman as Santa was about the only good casting choice.

Delta Burke? Chris Kattan -- Mango as Elf? Eddie Griffin as a streetwise elf? Jack LaLanne as a retired Hercules? Yes, Hercules. He and some other non-Christmas-related mythical figures appear in the movie. Maybe it was a clumsy homage to The Santa Clause, which featured the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc.

Carol Kane (the abusive Ghost of Christmas Present from Scrooged -- "the b**** hit me with a toaster") plays Mother Nature, and does basically the same character as in Scrooged. She abuses Heat Miser, Cold Miser, and Chris Kattan's elf character in the same way she abused Bill Murray's character in Scrooged. Come to think of it, maybe that was a clumsy homage to Scrooged.

Examples of "updates" to the plot and lines:

* The plucky mayor of Southtown is faced with a couple of slick salesmen trying to sell a big retail center (read: WalMart or large mall) in the town, but refuses them because "this town has a history" (the shysters' reply: "ghost towns have histories, too"). Gag. The town must hold a Christmas festival to raise money for their "endowment," so that they don't have to let the retail center into town. ("Hollywood has no agenda," part 1)

* In the remake, Iggy is the neglected child of the too-busy Mayor. In the original, Iggy had a non-dysfunctional family, the mayor was unrelated. In the original, the snow in Southtown is for the sake of convincing the Mayor of the elves' sincerity; in the remake the snow is intended to shut down the town so that the Mayor will have to spend time with his son. ("Hollywood has no agenda," part 2)

* Jingle: "What are we doing here?" Jangle: "It's a school; it's where kids hang out. Don't you watch South Park?"

* Heat Miser (attacking Cold Miser): "How's that for Shock and Awe?"

* In the original, Heat Miser and Cold Miser's "minions" were smaller versions of themselves. In the remake, they're scantily clad dancers. Seriously.

* In the remake, Jingle and Jangle end up in an arcade playing, among other things, Dance Dance Revolution Extreme. The elves can break the laws of physics -- jump high a la The Matrix, get astoundingly good scores on video games, etc. In the original, they were lost and stuck, but in the remake their super powers make it harder to believe that their predicament is dire.

* Heat Miser vs. Cold Miser in a boxing match.

* Instead of Mrs. Claus going to Cold Miser for help, Santa Claus confronts the Miser Brothers over shooting down his elves. Instead of going to Mother Nature as a last resort, Santa summons her into the boxing ring to deal with her problem children.

* When Santa goes to pick up Vixen from the dog pound... Santa: "I remember you from when you were young." Dogcatcher: "I'm still waiting for that BB gun, Santa." Santa: "You'll shoot your eye out." (A lame homage to A Christmas Story?)

* In the original, Santa proves he is real by making it snow in Southtown. The Mayor declares Christmas a holiday for Santa, and all the kids around the world send letters and presents. Santa is moved to not skip Christmas by this outpouring of Christmas spirit. In the remake, Santa is first moved by the mention of how the kids in the homeless shelter will miss him. ("Hollywood has no agenda," part 3) Come to think of it, shouldn't The Kinks' song "Father Christmas" have been playing in the background -- pointing out that the kids in the homeless shelter don't generally get anything for Christmas anyway?

* The second-best song from the original ("So You're Too Old For Santa Claus") is missing from the remake. And the best song ("Heat Miser / Cold Miser") is butchered. The best "borrowed" song (Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas") isn't there, either.

* Chris Kattan's elf character tries to take over Christmas delivery, in the absence of Santa ("Sparky was my slave name; I'm Extreme Santa now"). He's sort of the head elf -- "the CEO" of the toy-making company. But he is picketed by several elves who demand the real Santa make the deliveries, and then threatens to fire all elves who don't cooperate with him. ("Hollywood has no agenda," part 4). Apparently the remake is not "The Year Without A Santa Claus" so much as "The Year With A Substitute Evil Elf Santa Claus." I wonder why they didn't go with that more honest title.

I wonder, who could have read this script and believed it was a good idea to get involved with this project? Sure, I can see Delta Burke taking anything she can get these days. But John Goodman? He shouldn't be hurting so much as to need to participate in this sort of crap-fest. And, unbelievably, it's already available on DVD. This thing is Plan Nine From Outer Space awful.

My recommendation if you're looking for a DVD, buy the original version The Year Without a Santa Claus / Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey / Rudolph's Shiny New Year instead: it's one-third the cost and about a thousand times better. And if you want to just listen to the Heat Miser song, check out Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's version Everything You Want for Christmas.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If a movie deserved zero stars, this is it, December 11, 2006

By	octobercountry (the Land of Trees and Heroes) - See all my reviews

I went into this with high hopes, as I'm sure did many who grew up with the stop-motion original. But what a bitter disappointment. The tone was COMPLETELY wrong. I was hoping for something that would recapture some of the joy and innocence that the Christmas season can hold, but this film most certainly did not. The entire opening was very unpleasant in the extreme, with an adult, bitter, cynical tone. (If anyone wanted to know why Santa became disillusioned with the Christmas season, well, he probably watched this film!)

Also, with the first few minutes of the film featuring a very brief (but vivid) clip of a video game in which a character is decapitated amid buckets of blood, and a fellow singing a song all about how "Santa Sucks," I really don't think this film is appropriate for very young viewers---which SHOULD have been the target audience, for goodness sake. As for the bikini-clad dancers in the Heat Miser musical number----well, this isn't the sort of charming fare that brings the feeling of Christmas to the heart.

Again, I'm very, very disappointed. With the wonders that can be worked with modern visual effects, this could have been a totally magical story. Something that kids and adults alike could enjoy---but the tone seemed totally misdirected. I can't imagine ever wanting to watch this again.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An adequate ... but miscast adaptation, December 11, 2006

By	Darren (Jersey Shore, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

A remake of this Rankin/Bass classic was finally made using an idea that I suggested over 5 years ago in an Amazon review (see my review from 2000 under the original Rankin Bass title). In my original review I suggested John Goodman as Heat Miser but then thought Danny DeVito would be better.
It seems like it was on a very tight budget and probably a tight deadline to get completed. (Production started in July of 2006).

Beyond the cheese factor, the real problems with this project involve some of the casting. Ironically, in this new 2006 live action remake, John Goodman is Santa Claus ... He was cast very well. He plays an awesome Santa that even adults can believe in and Delta Burke is also cast well as his cherubic Mrs Claus.

Chris Kattan of SNL fame plays supporting role and through most of the movie, he seems to be suffering from a bad case of conjunctivitis (pink eye) that is annoyingly attemped to be hidden by camera angles, lighting, props and motion. It turns out to be a very distracting part of the movie. He plays a good Mango (old SNL character) but this one just doesn't work for him.

Carol Kane plays a freakily scary Mother Nature but then again I can't imagine Carol Kane playing any normal role, so that one works with her. Although Michael McKean and Harvey Fierstein do ok as the Miser brothers, Jack Nicholson and Danny Devito would have ROCKED in those roles and turned this live action project into blockbuster that people would have gone to the movies to see. In this remake, the replacements for the little mini misers were ok, (I won't spoil it for ya, you'll have to just check it out), but I think using dwarf actors like the Oompah Loompahs in Willy Wonka would have worked better. Besides dwarf actors need work too. I hope they have a union.

Some other cameos by fitness guru, Jack Lalanne and a few others don't seem to add much to this miscast mess.

..anyway this adaptation adds a few modern elements to the old classic without losing the real message of Christmas that the original conveyed. I'm sure Rankin/Bass would have it no other way. The sets and new costumes were a bit hokey but worked ok, and a few scenes are worth a chuckle or two. It's a remake the kids and some adults will enjoy but I hope it gets remade again in a few years with the proper casting.

Although it wasn't as cheesy as I expected it to be, this movie, could have .. and should have been much better.