Set in the Suffolk coast town of Wellington-on-Sea in the days leading up to Christmas, a series of interconnected events occur such as new kid Danny Williams (Jack Wisniewski) dealing with being unable to approach his crush, Sam Beccles (Zazie Hayhurst) , and his divorced dad failing to come to visit while his mom (Jodie Whitaker) is forced to work during the holiday. Uptight and neurotic Sam ) is worried her rambunctious mischievous twin Charlie (Sienna Sayer) will end up on Santa's (Brian Cox) naughty list, and a group of parents stranded during a blizzard result in their children Bernie (India Brown), Eve (Bronte Smith), Nisha (Kuhu Agarwal), Teddy (Freddie Spry), and Scarlett (Ava Talbot) by themselves on Christmas Eve. With all these issues befalling the town, Santa prepares some special gifts to save their Christmas.
That Christmas is the sophomore effort of British-American animation studio Locksmith Animation who had previously made their mark with Ron's Gone Wrong (albeit more critically than commercially as it was a Disney-Fox acquisition released during Covid). Much like Ron's Gone Wrong, That Christmas had been intended for theatrical release through 20th Century Fox prior to the acquisition with Locksmith then considering partnering with Warner Bros. Prior to Netflix acquiring worldwide distribution. The film is written by noted British screenwriter Richard Curtis in conjunction with Peter Stouter and is based on select stories from Curtis' own collection That Christmas and Other Stories. If you're familiar with Curtis' style and method, that's fully on display here in service of some solid animation from Locksmith.
Much like Curtis' prior works like Love Actually (which is comedicly name dropped in the film), That Christmas is an ensemble film with a quasi-anthology aspect wherein all the stories tie together through some narrative device. The film is primarily focused on its young cast with the adult performers primarily being in the background for support and I felt it did a nice job of using familiar elements to create something very warm and seasonal. Being both a British (in part) production and a Curtis penned effort, it should surprise no one there's a bevy of British talent making up the cast such as Jodie Whitaker as Mrs. Williams, Alex Macqueen as Mr. Forrest, and many others who provide strong background support in service of the talented younger cast of unknowns more at the forefront. Fiona Shaw is probably my personal favorite as schoolteacher Miss Trapper who at first seems like a standard stern disciplinarian but develops a rapport with her student Danny with the two gaining some insight into the holiday season and Trapper revealing some inner vulnerability she's carried with her. The animation from Locksmith looks quite good and while there are good details put to work in depicting Wellington-on-Sea's warm winter lights, powdery snow, and coastal waters, the character models are deliberately kept much simpler and allow for some good comic reactions as well as expressive character moments that work both comedicly and dramatically. I will admit the film isn't perfect as it did take some time for it to find its footing, particularly in the opening where it is pretty obvious this is a collection of independent short stories that have been tied together for a full movie and were it not for Curtis as writer it would risk feeling like a Direct-to-video Disney sequel made of TV episodes or Secret Life of Pets 2. I also felt sometimes the jokes could flirt with being a bit much such as the opening school play that features a "reworking" of The Nativity that seems to be Curtis making a commentary on performative "reboots" that feature things like gender swapping or being as the play puts it "more culturally aware". There are some funny reactions to that sequence, but it did kind of feel like maybe it was a bit ham fisted and overly cynical in what's effectively the stage setter for the rest of the film even if Curtis manages to just pull it off.
I enjoyed That Christmas and felt it utilized a talented younger cast of unknowns to create a warm holiday diversion that fell appropriately into the Holiday/Christmas season. I'm not sure it'll make its way into my annual rotation viewing, but like The Christmas Chronicles it's warm and familiar like visiting a good friend's home for the holidays.
