A Boy Called Christmas

Review: Based on the 2015 book of the same name, this 2021 film focuses on a young boy named Nikolas who ends up searching for a magical town called Elfhelm. He tried to get others to believe in magic and learns about the elf tradition of Christmas along the way. A sweet movie that serves as a new origin story for Santa (that’s a slight spoiler, but I do feel as though that’s a pretty obvious plot point) it introduces some silly circumstances that led to Christmas traditions we have in the real world. Henry Lawfull stars as Nikolas, nicknamed Christmas, with the rest of the supporting cast having some pretty prominent names (see my Low). If you’re desperate for a Christmas movie to watch and want something you haven’t seen, you can stream this on Netflix. In my opinion, other Santa-focused films like ‘The Santa Clause’ & ‘Fred Claus’ surpass this one.

High: It was pretty creative. I haven’t read the original book, but appreciate the film’s ingenuity in giving Santa a fresh new origin. I will admit that the result was a story with a pretty apparent trajectory and ending, but I do feel as though that’s probably true with most Christmas movies, which I think is what makes them so comfortable.

Low: The cast was filled with some big stars like Toby Jones, Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins, Jim Broadbent, Stephen Merchant, Michiel Huisman, Kristen Wiig, & Joel Fry, and I feel like none of them were really able to do much. Smith’s narration was good, Merchant’s voice acting was fun, and I enjoyed Broadbent & Jones, but there were only bits and pieces of each of them.

Rating: 5.5/10