As pumpkin spice season closes and you enter the season of yule logs, roasted chestnuts, and egg nog, you also signal the annual release of Christmas movies. Each year, more Christmas movies come out than you can count on two hands with varying budgets, some theatrical, most made for Hallmark and Lifetime, or the like, in the movie of the week style. There are a few themes often explored, finding love and/or happiness is a common one; another one which can be viewed as tied with the first is finding the spirit of Christmas, usually by going from being a non-believer to a believer. This one is the most resonant and can be viewed in many holiday films that have become classics over the years. When viewed at its most basic, Miracle on 34th Street (1947) is about a girl who was raised to be a realist at a young age and didn’t get to believe in Santa until her mother hires a man who convinces her and the world, he is the real Santa Claus. The Santa Clause (1994) is about Scott Calvin, a toy exec who is cynical about the holiday but still wants his son to believe in Santa until Santa falls off his roof and Scott takes over his coat; the problem becomes getting others to believe he’s Santa. Dear Santa follows in the footsteps of these films with a character who is perhaps a little cynical, but then magic happens, and they believe, it then comes to getting those around to believe.
In Dear Santa, Liam (played by Robert Timothy Smith) sees his parents fighting, and despite not really believing in Santa anymore, he knows it is something that brings his mother joy, and, on the off chance he’s wrong and Santa exists, then by writing a letter he’s covered. Only he has dyslexia, and instead of writing to Santa, he writes to Satan. This is where the fun begins as Jack Black shows up as Satan, promising to grant three wishes in exchange for Liam’s soul.
The thing is, Liam is a good kid, an unselfish kid. His first wish is regarding the girl he has a crush on, but he doesn’t wish for her to like him, kiss him, or do anything outside her free will. His wish is to have a chance with her. This may have influenced her breaking up with her boyfriend, though she implies it was done before the wish was made, however, it shouldn’t have influenced her to say yes to going out with him. So, his selflessness leads to a battle of wills between Satan and Liam to make the remaining wishes.
Now, even though Liam is a good kid, he does have a habit of lying/withholding the truth, and this is something that makes him not a perfect character but also a ground of conflict for him. His best friend in this new town is Gibby (played by Jaden Carson Baker), and for whatever reason, Liam lies to his parents about Gibby having a major health problem. I don’t know if it was because he was trying to avoid having Gibby come to his home. After all, his parents were arguing constantly, or because he was worried if Gibby was around, he would find out the reason they moved was because his brother died. His brother’s death seems to be a ghost hanging over the whole family and a subject not talked about. One that is only finally brought to the surface when they are dealing with the ramifications of the wishes and how they affect their relationship with each other.
I will try not to spoil the end of the film, which has some nice character twists. But, perhaps the final reveal could have used some more tweaking because while it plays nicely into Liam and his lying subplot, it’s maybe a level of wish fulfillment too far even in this holiday season and diminishes moments earned earlier that characters worked for to get back their closeness.
Dear Santa is available on Prime Video in Canada and Paramount+ in the US.
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