Travessuras de Natal

The Naughty Nine is an enjoyable holiday romp rittled with plot holes, which is somehow held together care of a few strong performances by the child actors playing the title characters. Beware if you have mischievous, thrill-seeking children... This movie offers plenty of inspiration. Some potential fun is sacrificed in service to a plot and pace that feels weighed down by the sheer amount of ground it purports to cover (and the number of characters sharing significant screen time). This reviewer may have dozed off in the latter half but I recall only one of the "Naughty" getting a satisfying redemptive arc, which, again, is a result of a story bogged down by the overall concept. There are fun moments and ideas a-plenty but leaks spring from the plot holes hastily covered with a thin veneer of sugary, peppermint glaze. Some solid performances left this viewer pining for a more concise holiday jaunt, but the 8 year old viewer next to us squealed in delight when the sequel was teased, so Naughty Nine certainly struck a few notes just right. 5.7/10.

Andy is a smart kid. His schemes keep getting him into trouble. Santa's Naughty List is real and Santa Claus (Danny Glover) puts Andy on it. He recruits 8 other naughty kids to do a heist on Santa's workshop.

It's a Disney Channel TV movie. I recognize one or two of these kids. I don't particularly like any of these characters. I do like the silly concept. At least, it's unique. The execution is another story. It's just so tween in filmmaking. Maybe you have to be that age to like this. There may also be too many kids. Fewer kids would allow each to stand out. In the end, I don't care about all these kids or their scheme by extension.

This is a Disney Christmas heist movie with the title being The Naughty Nine (2023), which has an interesting idea for a Christmas heist movie involving naughty kids breaking into Santa's workshop to take the toys/gifts they deserve. The movie The Naughty Nine (2023) is an entertaining enough little movie that has an interesting premise, good enough performances, and nice enough visuals to give the Christmas feeling to it; there are over the top moments, and there are moments in the movie that was unbelievable, but it also has an ending that went by quickly by getting things resolved in time to fit the one hour and twenty-three minute long runtime.

The performances from the main characters are entertaining enough to follow, and the main character who leads The Naughty Nine named Andy, along with his friend, do scams or heists in a way at school to take things back that also involves lying to people; that is how he gets on the naughty list, which makes sense, and he has the skills in planning out a heist to get into Santa's workshop. The rest of the members of The Naughty Nine have certain skills that Andy needs to break into the place, and there is a character who knows where Santa's village and workshop is found, and I thought it was unbelievable that a kid like him could do something like that. Also, Andy's sister, who is on the nice list, is brought in for a role in their plan, even though she is always trying to prove to their parents that Andy is lying and producing a plan without them knowing, but Andy lies his way out of it.

The look of the North Pole Forest and Santa's village looked like sets, but they also looked like miniatures when the characters are walking around because the trees and buildings looked like they were miniature made to look bigger; also, you have Danny Glover as Santa Claus who appears near the end of the third act, but he is not bad in this. The movie does have a Christmas feel to it, along with the sets being well put together and Santa's workshop looking and feeling big in scale in a way; the movie has entertaining moments with occasional funny moments that are not that bad.

There is not much to expect from this, other than that it is an entertaining enough Christmas heist from Disney, and kids will like it fine, with it also not being something rush and watch on Disney+. The movie The Naughty Nine (2023) is harmless and entertaining enough for a kid friendly Christmas heist movie, because it also has known tropes from heist movies like Ocean's Eleven (2001), which are done well despite seeing them before. Not a bad movie, but you will be entertained enough if you just watch the movie once.

IN A NUTSHELL: When a young boy finds out he's on Santa's "Naughty" list, he puts together a group of other naughty kids with specific talents for a heist in order to steal their presents from Santa's workshop in the North Pole.

The family-friendly film was directed by Alberto Belli. Writing credits go to Jen Elinoff and Scott Thomas.

THINGS I LIKED: Winslow Fegley is adorable and very talented. He has a bright future in Hollywood. He was also adorable in Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. If you haven't seen that family-friendly movie, check it out! I thought it was super cute!

The rest of the cute cast includes Deric McCabe, Madilyn Kellam, Clara Stack, Camila Rodriguez, Ayden Elijah, Anthony Joo, and Imogen Cohen.

The characters are well-designed and different from one another. They each have unique skills and get their unique learning moment in the movie.

Fantastic sets, especially at the North Pole.

It has all of the adventure and action that kids would want in a movie like this.

Great costume design by Julia Caston.

One of the characters has a really cool tent in his bedroom. You have to look fast! I feel bad for the crew that probably spent a lot of time building it because you only see it on screen for a split second but my sons would have absolutely loved having something like that in their bedrooms.

Anthony Joo's character lives in a beautiful house. Did you see the façade?

We get to see the incredible Aurora Borealis in the sky. I got to see it when I traveled to Iceland a couple of years ago! Amazing.

Ayden Elijah can do those adorable big eyes like Puss in Boots.

Some Latinos sing a traditional Christmas song for everyone. I sang that song when I was an exchange student in Mexico!

Danny Glover as Santa.

I love it movies reference other movies. For example, the two schools in the movie area named McAllister Elementary from Home Alone in 1990 and Griswold Middle School from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation in 1989.

Yep, the movie leaves a very wide-open door for a sequel. I'm up for it!

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: There are some bad acting moments.

Don't get annoyed by all of the plot holes; it's a kid's movie.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Bullying We see a lot of rude, entitled kids do really mean things We hear kids lie a lot One of the kids has gay dads Kids try to convince a good girl that it's dumb to follow rules.

A little boy swears.

Fart sounds Stealing.

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Staring the obvious: Home Alone meets Oceans Eleven. Some characters are frustrating cliches (I sincerely cannot handle Jon Anthony) and adults serve merely as plot-furthering side characters, but it's tolerable. If I'm subjected to more watches of it, however, it might wear me down as I have low tolerance for the genre of Precocious Kids Who Manipulate and Outsmart Oblivious Adults genre. As another reviewer mentioned, they try to cram as much individual character development as possible, but that comes at the expense of getting in depth enough for most of them. Also, let's just address the fact that the pilot is clearly to be a Chris Pratt type - I swear this guy must be his body double. I wish it had a touch more edge but I'm not the target audience. Grab some (potent) 'nog and you'll be OK.