I had to give my 2 cents on Red One. My family and I went to see the movie over Thanksgiving Day weekend. As a dad, it was not my favorite Christmas movie. It was intended to capture money at the box office with Marvel-style fighting and not intended to spiritually enlighten anyone. Just a popcorn movie.
- Red One – Name for Santa
- Krampus – Santas Brother (Kristofer Hivju)
- Gryla – Ice Witch (Kiernan Shipka)
- Jack O’Malley – Hero who is on the Naughty List (Christ Evans)
- Callum – Head of the ELF (the Rock)
Well, it is more of an adult movie. Kind of like Christmas Vacation is more of an adult Christmas movie than a kid’s Christmas movie.
- Swearing – More than expected. The swearing stood out to every one of my family members who went with us to see the movie. That is true, each of them commented on it in the car on the way home.
- Beach Scene – The swimsuits were a little more sexy than I would have wanted my boys to watch. I don’t need to explain them. They were what you would expect to see in the Caribbean vs the local swimming pool.
- Morals – Jack O’Malley is a bit of a mess. He steals from people. He lies. His family is broken. He is a bad dad. And even when he starts to help Santa, there isn’t anything good about it. The only sliver of good that comes from him is that he starts to bond with his estranged kid at the end of the movie.
- Krampus – The whole movie was full of mythological creatures, but the Krampus part was odd. He was Santa’s brother but almost like a Christmas demon. Maybe like a Nightmare Before Christmas type Halloween-Christmas mix. They end up in this world that Krampus is banished to and are forbidden from leaving.
- Jack O’Malley – He is naughty. They make that very clear from the moment he steals a little kid’s sucker in at the beginning of the show.
I felt I would have spent my money better on “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”
There were some cool things in it. It was very Marve-like. Chris Evans is Captain America. But it was more the gadgets, the fighting, the mystical or superpowers, and other stuff that made it feel more like a Marvel movie.
I will say, my favorite scene was Santa riding in his sleigh. It was like delivering presents at the speed of light. Santa’s face was full of joy.
In the end, I left the movie theater feeling as though I was NOT blessed with any measure of the Christmas Spirit. Remember in the Santa Claus movie when Tim Allen was commenting on Santa riding into town in a tank? That isn’t Christmas. Besides that, Christmas is truly about the Christ Child. This makes the daemon side of this movie a bit like Christmas repellant.
