As someone who mainly looks forward to the month of December solely to drink hot chocolate while snuggled up on my couch watching Christmas movies, when I saw a newly released Christmas movie by the title of Dear Santa, I eagerly selected it and was hopeful of finding yet another feel-good cozy holiday movie to watch on repeat each holiday season. Sadly, I was exceedingly disappointed.
Dear Santa is your classic movie starring a middle school boy but with a holiday twist. While funny, I found the plot line to be strange and abnormal, and frankly, quite difficult to follow. Dear Santa follows around 11-year-old Liam Turner (Robert Timothy Smith), an avid Santa believer, despite his age, as he recently moved to a new town near the holiday season. Liam has what is described by his parents as a ‘learning difficulty,’ which leads Liam to make a crucial spelling error when addressing his annual letter to Santa (Jack Black).
After “Santa” magically shows up in Liam’s bedroom shortly after his falsely mailed letter reaches the recipient, also known as “Santa,” Liam realizes his mistake soon after. “Santa” ends up making Liam a deal: he gets to make three wishes for whatever he wants. Unfortunately for Liam, he doesn’t find out what the one important condition of the deal is until later. Despite the fact that “Santa” was considered to be devilish and ‘evil,” we follow both him and Liam as they start to develop a friendship through it all.
Negative review aside, towards the end of the movie, as the plot line shifts from weird to heartwarming, we uncover a meaningful message. Throughout the film, we see an inflatable snowman decoration in the Turner’s front yard, consistently knocked over on its side. While somewhat random and insignificant, upon closer thought and consideration, I found it to have somewhat of a sincere and meaningful message, and seen to be somewhat symbolic, as revealed towards the end of the movie. When we discover what Liam’s third and final wish is, we simultaneously also find out why the Turners suddenly moved from their last town, and why they don’t ever mention it. So, after getting through an hour and forty-three minutes of strange and irrelevant jokes and moments throughout the film, a portion of the movie is found to be worth your time and was meaningful like a breath of fresh air.
Somehow, in between ‘cringe’ and embarrassing moments from our main character Liam, throughout the story, the writers weave in ideas and themes of the importance of family, selflessness, and being true to yourself. When “Santa” tries to convince Liam to make a wish based on selfishness, Liam refuses, showing the audience the importance of selflessness, and staying true to your own beliefs and opinions, therefore displaying the common themes of the movie. So, while I would most definitely not add this movie to my list of annual holiday films to watch each year, nor would I recommend it to anyone, it did contain an unexpected but meaningful message that everyone needs to hear.