The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus

This version of The Life and adventures of Santa Claus is a pale, saccharine sweet sham when compared to the supurbly done stop motion animation of the 1985 version of this same story done by Rankin / Bass. This felt cheesy and half-hearted whereas the stop motion animated one has the distinct feel of a classic and was more true to the heart and feel of the old story by L. Frank Baum.

The story is good but it feels dumbed down compared to the stop motion version. A seldom known fact, Baum connected this story to his loved The Wizard of Oz by saying the immortal faeries of this story are the ones who enchanted the land of Oz to begin with.

In today's market where the flashiest commercials are used to optimize profits at Christmas time, this movie takes us back to the early days of Santa Claus, St. Nicholas. It's a relief to see the joy of giving. Although L. Frank Baum is known, justifiably, for his other classic, his style shines through in this movie, inspired by Baum's book. Clearly, Nicholas is the main character. But his mother, his carvings, which became the first toy gifts to children, the lion, the fairies, especially Winky add substantially to the plot. The youngest child will enjoy this movie. However, don't think it's just for young child. Our teenage children also like the playfulness and innocence that shine through in a good versus evil plot within the movie.

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.

This film had great source material! However the makers of this film add and subtract the wrong things. What they get right is the tone. What they do wrong is everything else. They add songs (not a bad idea) however these songs are terrible.

They also dumb down the story because since this is made for small children they break the rule about children's show. The makers of this film think children are too stupid to get the subtext and they dumb down the story and dialog.

Based on the popular book by L. Frank Baum, the beloved author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," comes "The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus". The story starts off many centuries ago, long before toys had even been invented, a baby abandoned at the edge of an enchanted forest was adopted and raised by a beautiful wood nymph, thus beginning the life story of Santa Claus. From his truly magical childhood through the discovery of his life's work of making children happy, discover the origin of every tradition surrounding Santa Claus!

I hope one day someone with more talent will adapt the book into a full length feature film. If done correctly it would become a classic. This however is barely worth watching.

I caught this film on Sky Premier and was glad I did. The characters were appealing, especially Nicholas, Blinky and Whist. The Argawal were good villains. The story was filled with the joy of giving and caring for others which is what Christmas is all about. The songs were pleasant to listen to and the ending was touching. 7/10

My son loves this and it is beautifully animated. Unlike the 1985 version of this same story, the angel of death is beautifully unthreatening. Let your kids try it out and you might not mind watching either. To quote my son, "It's kind of cheery watching these Christmas shows."