That Christmas Review: A Series of Netflix's Wholesome Christmas Tales
Title: That Christmas
Director: Simon Otto
Based on: That Christmas and Other Stories by Richard Curtis
Release Date: December 4, 2024
Christmas is around the corner, so Netflix is here to spread the holiday cheer around. Alongside, Locksmith Animation is back with another animated movie, after they made Ron's Gone Wrong three years ago. Would this new movie bring any good holiday cheer? Today's movie is That Christmas, the new animated Christmas anthology movie brought by Netflix. This movie is based on the book trilogy, That Christmas and Other Stories, written by Richard Curtis. It consists of three tales, The Empty Stocking, Snow Day, and That Christmas, which combine together into the worst Christmas night in the small town of Wellington. The movie gained a mixed reception, especially from critics, for its overstuffed story and modern humor. On Rotten Tomatoes, it gained a 57% Tomatometer. As for Metacritic, it gained a 57 Metascore. However, audiences generally liked the film, hypothetically judging from the 7.0 User Score. Even though the film may be cluttered in the structure, That Christmas is that one Christmas that can deliver a big holiday hug.
Summary
When a blizzard takes over a town, the townsfolk's plans are turned upside down. This story tells three tales of people who have their own hardships, from children to parents, which weave into a crazy night. Even Santa Claus (Brian Cox) himself has his own hardships, too.
Reasons
First, the best presents of That Christmas are the story, message, and execution. Unlike many other movies, the movie is put in a slice-of-life structure where it focuses on more than one plot. You get a boy who deals with his mom not being around, two twin sisters with one of them trying to be nice, and a bunch of kids spending Christmas night without their parents around. Even though there are some misses in between, they do work together to combine into one disastrous Christmas night. Thanks to the story, there is also a heartwarming message that is part of celebrating Christmas. This movie tells us that the true meaning of Christmas is spending time with your loved ones and giving rather than receiving. All three tales show that it is about doing more than just receiving presents and decorating the house. From the best batch, the last present is the execution, which is meant to make this movie just a wholesome treat. Even though this may seem like a generic story, this one leans more on the serious side. This movie is more for families to be sympathetic while enjoying the jokes that appear from time to time.
Some other presents That Christmas also delivers are the animation, characters, and soundtrack. Locksmith is a new animation company, yet it makes great animation for their movies. The character designs stand out well because they are meant to look realistic and down-to-earth. While it may look standard, the designs and visuals amp this film up from looking any cheap. Next up, the characters are very likable. Even though they do not have as much depth, they are sympathetic for the most part. The movie also did a decent and realistic interpretation of Santa himself. Finally, the soundtrack is actually fun. It mostly consists of existing songs like "Underneath the Tree" by Kelly Clarkson and "Levitating" by Dua Lipa. There is one original song from the soundtrack, "Under the Tree" by Ed Sheeran, which was a surprisingly good song.
Judging by its pros, That Christmas is a great film, but it does have its flaws that make it far from perfect. Although the movie handled well with its idea for its structure, it does get messy sometimes. At the start, it gets confusing to tell whether it is an anthology or not because this is not like other anthology films. Santa could have explained at the start that there are three tales of families changing plans because of the snowstorm. Also, there are some jokes that did not land in well. It is not that the movie is landing with bad jokes but they do not crack any laughs. However, only a little bit were enough to make someone laugh. One last flaw would be the reindeer, Dasher, who does not help in the very slightest in this movie. All he just does is crack out stupid jokes, with only one genuinely funny joke, and that's it. Thankfully, he does not have much screentime like with Santa, because it focuses more on the families.
Conclusion
That Christmas may not be anything fully festive but it is enough to deliver a big holiday hug. Out of the Netflix movies pumped out this year, this movie is one of the few going on the Nice List. Its structure idea may have sounded like a disaster that sounded good on paper. How did it turn out? The movie handled it simple enough to make it a great story! It just focuses on adapting the tales into a heartwarming story with a great message about celebrating Christmas. That is all that matters. If you have Netflix and you want a movie that goes well with Christmas this year, give this a watch.
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