22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
A good Christmas 2007 movie
For the month or so as well as the past year or two, Hollywood has been releasing a string of disappointing or downright bad Christmas movies (The Golden Compass, Happy Feet, Deck the Halls). Thankfully, Fred Claus was a pleasant surprise.
I agree with some of the reviews. This is not the funniest Christmas movie that I have seen. Then again, it does not...
Your opinion of this movie rides on your opinion of Vince Vaughn
This movie has a lot going for it. The cast is great, with Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth Banks, Kathy Bates, Kevin Spacey and Rachel Weisz. Most of the movie is spent at the elaborate north pole set, which should be captivating to kids. There is even a touching, stereotypical tame Christmas plot.
But the key is, do you like Vince Vaughn. Vaughn is the star and...
For the month or so as well as the past year or two, Hollywood has been releasing a string of disappointing or downright bad Christmas movies (The Golden Compass, Happy Feet, Deck the Halls). Thankfully, Fred Claus was a pleasant surprise.
I agree with some of the reviews. This is not the funniest Christmas movie that I have seen. Then again, it does not really need to be. Vaughn is funny overall. He was funnier than he was in 'The Break-Up' (not hard to do). It is generally a good story with a fair amount of good laughs along with a good, semi-touching story.
The other thing I do when I see a Christmas movie is ask "Do I want to add this to my movie collection when it comes out on DVD?" My answer is definitely yes.
In summary, it is fairly good movie. It is worth seeing. You decide after that if it is good enough to add to the home Christmas movie collection.
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I read many reviews from both Amazon and other print sources and the overwhelming reaction to Fred Claus was one of disappointment and worse. This won't be the first nor last time I am glad I looked into something for myself instead of trusting others. I don't know if it is my own sordid, pathetic personal life history or what, but this movie touched me and I left the movie emotionally moved and struck by how something advertised as your typical holiday comedy fare (read: stupid and infantile) could have delivered such a blow to my heart.
Vince Vaughn, who is the Bill Murray of his generation, delivers an endearing performance, Paul Giamatti is, as always, brilliant, and the rest of the cast is very good. The plot is simple enough but the undercurrent of family relationships and how they can influence people throughout their life hit me hard. One last positive - the soundtrack is a wonderful mix of seasonal favorites old and new with the bonus of a haunting Silent Night by Sinead O'Connor (which just sent me over the teary edge) and the Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World medley by the Hawaiian singer whose name I can neither remember nor spell.
Fred Claus will not make you throw out It's A Wonderful Life or even Rudolph the Reindeer, but it is heartwarming and deserves to be judged before dismissed as yet another warmed over holiday leftover.
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Vince Vaughn makes an excellent jaded older brother of Santa Claus. Only Vince Vaughn can play such a sarcastic character and pull-off also having a heart of gold. It's similar to his character in Dodgeball, but with a little more bite. His clever wit alone makes this film worth seeing. Paul Giamatti makes an excellent St. Nick - a seemingly perfect and nice Santa Claus who is also very human (imagine a chubby Claus maniacally driving a snowmobile through Santa's village). The film is fresh for adults, while still being cute, and has a happy ending full of all the Christmas cheese one expects from a Christmas film. Overall the film is very satisfying. The true estimate of a good film lies in the number of watches it has, and this film has several.
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Since it is the month of December it was a no brainier that I would have to get into some holiday films. I decided I would start this out with a new release from this month in the form of "Fred Claus", which is a really good film despite being a PG rated film [took me by surprise]. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of good PG rated films out there but one starring Vince Vaughn just seems weird at first. I bring that up because some reviews I have read say that Vince's performance was bad, mainly because he wasn't in R-Rated mode. I also wanted to do this one because I just went to see Vince's new film which is also a Christmas film, "Four Christmases" which was a really funny film.
On that note I must say that I really enjoyed this film although to be honest I knew I would because of the cast. It turns out that we really did not know everything about Santa after all, sure all the myths were true but we never knew about his big brother Fred. It seems that Fred is the exact opposite of his little bro and is actually a bitter person holding a lot of animosity towards Saint Nick. So after a not so good childhood between the two they go their separate ways and well you know what became of Nick, Fred on the other hand ended up quite different. If Santa is a giver [at least once a year] Fred is a taker, literally, he is a repo man. Fred is an unhappy man who only has one friend in a little kid named Sam, and a shaky relationship with his girlfriend Wanda. One day he gets into a little mishap with a gang of Santa's and ends up behind bars; it is here that he makes a deal with his brother about posting bail and also giving him a lot of cash. The deal is in order to get the cash he needs Fred must agree to come to the North Pole to visit his family and work for the cash at Santa's Shop.
The film really picks up here as not only is the family getting into it with each other but they are doing it in front of Clyde Northcut, a man who is there to shut Santa's operation down. So naturally Fred's being there only adds to the problems, especially since they are on a three strike rule by Clyde. I have to say that writers Jessie Nelson and Dan Fogelman have crafted a really heartfelt, warm and funny film that is much better then it gets credit for, come on any film with some "ninja action" secret service Elves is good in my book. These two along with director David Dobkin [who provides a good commentary for the film] have really done a good job of not only adding in and sticking to the mythos of Santa Claus but also making this film feel real up to date. Take for instance a scene were the family Claus call an intervention for the black sheep trouble child Fred, what other film has done that?
As far as the actors go everyone does an outstanding job and really make their characters seem real. Vince Vaughn [who co-produced this film along side 4 other producers one of which is Joel Silver] as usual shines as the troubled yet quick thinker who while bad will find his way to the light, his character really is a smart guy. He is a jerk but at the same time he is really a kind hearted guy, and Vaughn brings his character to life. Paul Giamatti is nothing short of brilliant as Nick Claus, he brings a lot of emotion to the character. You can see the stress he is under from Clyde come through in his face and you can see the pain in his eyes about how he feels about his relationship with his brother. Kevin Spacey is great as Clyde who is there to end Christmas, his scene with Vince about chopping down the bigger tree is brilliant and he truly is Superman [just watch the movie]. John Michael Higgins as Willie the head elf shines as Vince's best bud up at the pole, and Bobb'e J. Thompson as Sam is really good as is Ludacris as the Elf DJ, and Trevor Peacock is great not only as Papa Claus but also as the narrator.
But this film would not have been as good if the ladies were not up to par, and they all do wonderful jobs. My favorite actress of all time Kathy Bates is great as Mama Claus who just can't seem to treat her oldest as well as her youngest. Her tension with Nick's wife is really played well, and both actresses do great jobs. Speaking of Nick Claus's wife, Miranda Richardson plays Annette Claus wonderfully and her scenes laying it onto Fred for being a screw up are great. Elizabeth Banks plays Charlene who is Willie's love interest and she does a great job, Rachel Weisz does a great job as well playing Wanda Fred's girlfriend.
I would say that this is really a good film, just go into it wanted to have a good time and you will. Maybe I liked this film so much because it is the first Christmas related film I have watched this month or maybe it is because of the significance of this month. It may be because for the first time in years I sat down and watched a movie with my mom, step dad [both came down from Maryland], brother, sister [who came down with them two], grandparents, Aunt, Uncle, 2 year old cousin and my girl that I liked it so much, either way I was really entertained. I recommend this film to everyone reading this, especially during this month. It may not be the greatest Christmas movie ever but it was still very enjoyable. Kids will defiantly like it and adults should to, it is a great story full of out there, likeable, endearing characters. I had a great time watching a funny family movie with my family gathered round.
P.S. there are some deleted scenes.
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This movie was seen by my 7 and 5 year old grandsons and myself. They both enjoyed the entire film (as I did). They both also got the object lesson! Families aren't perfect, don't always get along, have issues, but in the end they stick together. They talked about how Fred and Nicholas treated each other for two days after, and what was right and what was wrong. It may not be a classic, but these two little boys got it! If you have sibling rivalry between younger children. Take them.
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This movie has a lot going for it. The cast is great, with Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth Banks, Kathy Bates, Kevin Spacey and Rachel Weisz. Most of the movie is spent at the elaborate north pole set, which should be captivating to kids. There is even a touching, stereotypical tame Christmas plot.
But the key is, do you like Vince Vaughn. Vaughn is the star and plays Fred Claus, Santa's older, underachieving brother. Vaughn plays Fred as he has every other character (without the swearing or low brow humor.) He is a fast talking, wise cracking loser who gets a second chance. If you don't mind Vince Vaughn's schtick, then you'll enjoy this film.
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I went into this movie with low expectations to be honest, thinking it was just a silly story about Santa having a jealous brother. But from the very beginning when they showed the boys together from the time Santa was born, I was hooked! They actually did some development of the characters, relationships, and why people sometimes turn out the way they turn out to be due to adversity, misunderstandings, etc. There were funny moments and demonstrations of true unconditional love. Even the character who was not the "sainted" Santa, Santa's brother Fred, was able to deliver an important lesson to Santa and make Santa realize the error of his ways, which is EVERY CHILD DESERVES A PRESENT AT CHRISTMAS, there are really no "bad" children, just children who have done bad things because they haven't received enough love. The North Pole Santa's workshop, etc. scenes also looked completely professional, as good as the "Santa Clause" series of movies. Excellent special effects, looked like they spared no expense here. I know why it's rated PG but since Santa doesn't look like your typical cutesy jolly soul, and since the messages are a little bit mature, I wouldn't recommend watching it with your 3 year old. My 10 year old daughter and I enjoyed it thorougly and decided this will be a family favorite when Junior is asleep!
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I passed on this movie last year because it got poor reviews. I was looking through Amazon's selection of holiday movies this year, just because we felt like watching something different from our collection of favorites and classics. I chose this.
I looked quickly through the reviews here and many said that it was simply terrible, but some said it was okay. I am neither a huge fan or a hater of Vince Vaughn so I wondered if I would like him in this (as he has annoyed me in some movies.) I took a chance with it and my family actually watched it 3 evenings in a row. It isn't some wonderful classic that is earth-shattering in it's brilliance, but it is definitely watchable and often funny or touching. Vaughn is very good as Santa's brother and plays his snarky role with what seems like relish! Giamatti is very good as Santa and his "straight" type humor is effective. I have no idea what Elizabeth Banks purpose is in the movie really, but it doesn't take too much away from the story. Kevin Spacey plays a believable "jerk." John Michael Higgins is Head Elf, (I just loved him in "Best In Show") and the camera work to make him look much smaller than Vaughn is very effective. The main story itself is fine, but the other characters' stories are sort of loosely stuck in.
Overall, I think the movie is at least worth watching and even owning. We do have favorites that we like better than this, but it has some really great and funny moments that make me not regret buying it. It is a nice addition to our collection of holiday movies even if it doesn't end up being on the top of our "favorites" list! Don't buy it expecting Dickens, (or even "Elf") but it is fine for a runner-up!
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This creative movie is a delight to watch. A new idea is developed into a film that concludes with warmth, heart, and wholesome moral values. Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kathy Bates, and Kevin Spacey are excellent, and their talents are well utilized. The movie is funny and enjoyable throughout, with a loving yuletide spirit at the end that is truly moving. Of course suspension of disbelief is required, but so it is in most children's movies. My ten-year-old grandson loved it as did his grandfather and I. It is rightfully billed as this season's holiday classic.
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This was a terrible movie that didn't have enough (any) humor to redeem itself. It was not funny and just kept getting less and less funny. I spent valuable time writing this review because I wasted so much time watching this movie. I want to keep you from making the same mistake. Get Christmas Vacation or something else if you want a funny Christmas movie. Don't fall for the "Vince Vaughn in an apparently funny Christmas movie" trap. Save the 99 cents and watch Frosty the Snowman instead. This is my Christmas gift to you. Merry Christmas.
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