I was aware of Bozo the Clown growing up, but I couldn't tell you anything about him; having not grown up in the American Midwest, I certainly never heard of Whizzo the Clown until - hold on, let me look at the clock - about sixty-five minutes ago. Children's television is definitely a creature all its own, and live-action children's television even more so; take a trip back in time to a few decades ago in the medium, and we may as well be talking about hoop rolling. It can be often be hard enough as an adult in the twenty-first century to get on board with fare made for kids, and it's safe to say that Frank Wiziarde's signature creation is extra light, silly, simple, and unsophisticated, geared toward the very, very youngest of possible viewers. It's questionable at best what lasting value anyone might find in this almost sixty years later, but then, for something frivolous and uninvolved, I'd be lying if I said 'Santa's Christmas Circus' weren't occasionally mildly amusing in its own right.
The least that can possibly be said is that Wiziarde gives a highly animated, committed performance as Whizzo; I'm given to understand he had a background in the Big Tent before starting his TV show, and one can see how he would fit right in when dressed in his colorful suit and makeup. As these sixty minutes are filled with nothing but lighthearted bits and bobs intended for a very specific, very youthful audience, I'm sure that even such an audience in 2023 would get something out of the frivolity. Of course, on the other hand, there is no substance whatsoever to be found here: it's the cinematic equivalent of a clown being hired to perform at a child's birthday party, with doodads, tricks, pratfalls, and imagination galore. If you want anything more out of a picture beyond that random assortment of minimal merriment, well, you're going to be sorely disappointed, especially as no small part of Whizzo's Wonderland involves merely showing the attending children a television, or battery-operated toys. Still, it's not as if this is pretending to be anything it's not.
Yes, 'Santa's Christmas Circus' is unremittingly kitschy, and low-budget; in the same way that children might play with the power of imagination, any discerning viewer (adult or otherwise) must actively engage their imagination to pretend that the bare-faced contrivance and meagerness of the presentation isn't gauche to the point of being painful. Smidgens of cleverness at a few points don't really do much to distract us from how distinctly low-grade this is, surely obliterating the nadir of any assumptions we might carry about productions of this nature. For all that, though, there are still far worse ways to spend one's time; I've seen the bottom of the barrel, and this isn't anywhere near it. The feature is not good, but it's not abjectly bad, either - only unbelievably modest, weak, and downright humble, in every regard. Unless one has some special attachment to Wiziarde and Whizzo I can't conceive of any reason why one would seek this out to watch, though if you do happen to come across it, AND if you don't mind the style of entertainment it involves, AND if you're looking for something uncomplicated to pass the time, it's passable as a curious diversion, albeit very thin. Ultimately, for better and for worse, 'Santa's Christmas Circus' is exactly what we'd think it would be. Take that as you will.
