Cancel Christmas

Starring: Judd Nelson, Justin Landry, Natalie Brown, John Fleming, Sante Scaletta, Connor Price.

The Board of Directors, represented by the crabby Constance, have determined that the children around the world care more about giving than receiving this Christmas, and so, they want to cancel Christmas. (Wouldn't this put them out of a job?) Santa Claus, who apparently has little say, has asked for a way to prove that kids do care about giving, and is given an opportunity in three boys: the naughty Farley and Steve, and the nice Adam. Adam's Mum Jeannie happens to be Steve and Farley's teacher, and seems to have a lot on her plate, what with two rich spoiled brats pulling pranks on unsuspecting janitors and getting away with it, and a recently disabled son who wants no help from his Mum. When Farley and Steve take their prank pulling too far on the school janitor, Santa (or Kris Frost, his 'undercover' name) and his free assistant Mr Elfman, make a timely appearance, convincing the janitor to take another job with North Pole Enterprises, and convincing the Principal to hire them in his place. Now, so far we are not too impressed. The acting is kind of corny, the plot is predictable, and while that's kind of what we love in made-for-tv Christmas movies, this one doesn't have us sold. Yet.

We soon find out that Jeannie's husband/Adam's Dad died in the car accident that disabled Adam, and bells start going off. Kylie predicted at this point that Santa and Jeannie will hook up, because come on, there's got to be some romance right? Helped by the fact that Santa and Mr Elfman move in to Jeannie and Adam's house, in the apartment over the Garage, things seem a little too predictable. Santa and Elfman hang out with Adam and Jeannie, and Adam seems like a good kid, just kind of lost and sad. He's been living in a room on the ground floor since the accident, because he can't make it up the stairs alone. He also has trouble getting into the house, with stone stairs leading to a porch. And so things come together, with pranksters Farley and his side kick Steve determining that something doesn't seem right with Mr Frost, who seems overly familiar with the boys. Determined to get him fired also, the boys devise a plan which involves glue - and find themselves in a sticky situation when Frost and Elfman have to help them out. In return, they boys promise to help out with a special project, which turns out to be helping Frost and Elfman install a large wooden ramp for Adam. Steve seems pretty into it, and we like him better already. Farley, however, is still kind of distant, and shows up with his dog. Adam and the dog connect right away, and Farley explains that the dog is a helper dog, who belonged to his own mother before she died - about a year ago. At this point, Kylie changes her prediction to Farley's Dad and Adam's Mum hooking up. This is supported by the fact that Jeannie is trying to reach Farley's workaholic father about his school performance… And is pretty much rebuffed (not to mention Mrs Claud was mentioned in passing).

Farley and Adam get along well, and it's kind of cute, Farley cares about the younger boy. A slow rift starts to form between Farley and Steve, and Steve enjoys helping out with the ramp, and Farley just gets more involved in finding out the truth about Frost. Feeling a little down about his lack of progress with the three boys, Frost decides to take a break and do some Santa-ing at a local mall. He causes a small ruckus when he asks a little girl what she is getting her mother for Christmas, instead of what she wants. The kids seem to love this, and a local news station catches video footage of Santa with all different kids - the only catch being in every shot, Santa is a different race, based on how the kids see him. One of the shots shows him how we see him - as Mr Frost, and both Adam and Farley see this. Farley starts to dig deeper. Steve meanwhile, felt so good about helping Adam with his ramp, he starts to get the kids from school involved in fundraising for a wheelchair that can go upstairs, and pretty much do Gymnastics. Steve is surrounded by the ladies - go Steve! and he and Farley hardly hang out anymore. Steve asks Farley to get involved, but Darley is distracted, and annoyed that Steve doesn't care about his Frost-revealing campaign.

Seems that there's more going on with Farley than first seen (shocker!). The poor kid is devastated over his Mum's death, and the only company he has at home is his Butler (side note - for someone who can hire a Butler and throw money around school like he does, Farley's house seemed pretty average). When Farley's Dad won't make it home to attend the Science Fair he worked hard for, Farley destroys his project and enters nothing. This prompts Jeannie to call his Dad again, with a little argument ensuing. Yep, these two are getting married! Finally, Frost and Elfman decide to do something about Farley's Dad, although it is certainly like nothing we had imagined - Elfman dresses in some of Jeannie's clothes and a grey wig - pretending to be a Grandmother (take a hint Jeannie!) and sits in the same airport lounge as Farley's Dad. 'She' then wields this story about her son and how he's thrown himself into his work since his wife died, and it's really affecting her Grandson, etc., and Farley's Dad gets the hint. He goes home and watches the video his wife left him, a very emotional video for both Farley and his Dad, and the audience, and finally seems to let go a little.

Steve meanwhile, has managed to get the wheelchair going. He's invited the kids from school and Frost and Elfman and everyone along to Adam and Jeannie's, where the ramp has been removed. Farley has bought along the local news, determined to catch Frost on film again, and the whole county watches as Adam gets surprised with his new wheelchair. Frosts phone rings signalling that Adam and Steve have learnt the true meaning of Christmas, yay! But there's not much time left, and Farley is a hard egg to crack. But his Dad, who put some money towards the wheelchair shows up too, and apologises for not being there more, like Farley's mother wanted (and he also sets a date with Jeannie - sooo on the money!) Farley, so overcome with emotion, or maybe just cause Adam is a cool kid, decided to let Adam have his helper dog. Ring! All three boys have learnt the true meaning of Christmas, and it's saved. Or is it? Constance the Board Member shows up, and is all annoyed and stuff, and isn't being cool about the miracle. But then, Santa figures out what's really upsetting her - she didn't get the pony she wanted as a kid, and boy can she hold a grudge! She gets her pony, and Christmas is saved for real, with Frost, now back to Santa, and Elfman disappearing right before everyone's eyes. The news guy is ecstatic! Breaking story! But the whole thing didn't film, and it seems like everyone is gonna have a good Christmas but him. Santa and Elfman then appear in the sleigh led by Reindeer flying through the sky, and everyone looks on. It's a Christmas miracle, and these three boys have saved it for us all!

Rating:

Sarah and I both gave this one a 6.5… We don't always agree, although we mostly have similar ratings. Towards the beginning I thought this would rate lower… Good premise but a little too corny for my taste. However it really picked up, and Steve and Adam won me over. Santa was a little too creepy for me, and Elfman was a little too hyper creepy, but otherwise good movie :)