BEFORE: We drove up to Massachusetts today, and helped my mother select ornaments and decorate her tree - had pizza and beer instead of the usual Christmas Eve chinese food. Now I thought I had a copy of the original 1947 film, but it looks like I outsmarted myself and got a copy of the remake instead.
THE PLOT: Six-year-old Susan has doubts about childhood's most enduring miracle - Santa Claus.
AFTER: The hook here is that the "real" Santa accidentally ends up working for Cole's department store, instead of the usual hired "fake" Santa - they call the store Cole's here because apparently Macy's wanted too much money, or didn't want free publicity, and it would have been too obvious to call the store "Schmacy's".
The central issue is a child's belief (or disbelief) in Santa - which is a favorite topic of debate between me and parents I know - when should a child be told the truth? What would be the harm in raising a kid to appreciate that Santa is just a symbol, and his or her parents have been working extra hard to deliver something special during the holiday season? For me, at the age of 5 or 6 I approached my grandmother, demanding to know if fairy tales were real or not - I needed to get it straight in my head and separate fantasy from reality.
Of course, Santa is just an allegorical Supreme Being - God Lite, if you will. Both live up above, one at the top of the world and one in the heavens, both can monitor our activities 24/7, both work in "mysterious ways", and both are keeping track of our sins, supposedly. But even though kids eventually figure out the skinny on Santa, many seem to not be able to make the next leap in logic and apply the same principles to the man upstairs. I'll be delving into religion-based films to finish out the year, so this is a good time to transition to that topic.
NITPICK POINT #1: Wouldn't Kriss Kringle need a valid Social Security Number and fill out a W-2 to work for a major department store? Wouldn't listing his legal residence as "North Pole" raise a red flag with the H.R. department?
NITPICK POINT #2: If Kringle is the real Santa, shouldn't he be up at the North Pole supervising his workshop?
NITPICK POINT #3: Santa tells customers in this film that they can shop in other stores to get lower prices than Cole's, and instead of firing him, the store creates a service to get people items from the other stores. But why not just lower their own prices? Wouldn't they make up for the loss in added sales volume?
NITPICK POINT #4: I've seen enough episodes of "Law & Order" to recognize that there is some really bad lawyering going on in this film's trial. The prosecuting attorney rests its case after about 5 seconds, then demands more time once he realizes that he's actually got to work to prove his point. Umm, you had your chance to call witnesses, and you blew it! Later the judge meets with the defense attorney about the case, without the prosecution present. Even I know you can't do that...
Starring Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, Mara Wilson, Robert Prosky (last seen in "Rudy"), Jane Leeves, William Windom, and the late great J.T. Walsh as the prosecuting attorney. Cameos from Allison Janney, Jack McGee.
RATING: 4 out of 10 parade balloons
I thought the original version got the court stuff exactly right. They managed to find the perfect rationale for the judge. The case was getting lots of press attention and he was certainly going to grab at any excuse to NOT be That Judge Who Had Santa Claus Put Away.
ReplyDeleteI kind of wonder about the ending. Did Santa give the little girl a house? Or were those two adults responsible for getting approved for a $380,000 mortgage, and then going into debt for twenty to thirty years?
(And we thought _Oprah_ was a jerk, for giving away free cars that came with a huge tax bill)