Sam Panico These are the kind of movies I hated as a kid - message films that told me how to feel, act and behave. This is why Godzilla and King Kong are my idea of holiday films - beasts condemned by the world who only want to destroy the works of man! Feliz navidad!

gwnightscream This 1985 fantasy stars Dudley Moore, David Huddleston, John Lithgow and Burgess Meredith. This sort of tells the origin of Santa Claus (Huddleston) who starts out as a woodcarver and becomes a Christmas symbol when he comes to the North Pole learning it's magical secrets. The late, Moore (Arthur) plays Patch, one of his elves who decides to leave to better his toy making abilities. He heads to New York City where he gets a job working for corrupt, toy manufacturer, B.Z. (Lithgow) who learns of his special talents and tries to profit from them. Soon, Santa tries to get Patch back, stop B.Z. and save the Christmas spirit from becoming lost. The late, Meredith (Rocky) plays an ancient Elf. I watched this as a kid and think it's underrated. The cast is good, there's neat effects and I like Sheena Easton's "Christmas All Over The World" song. I recommend this good Christmas fantasy.

Michael_Elliott Santa Claus (1985) * (out of 4) A Christmas favorite to many, this 1985 film starts off with a kind man and his wife being approached by some elves to become Santa Claus. Shortly afterwards we see how Christmas has changed and an elf named Patch (Dudley Moore) comes up with an assembly line to make toys quicker. When they fall apart Patch decides to head out on his own and ends up with a crooked toy maker (John Lithgow).SANTA CLAUS is a film loved by many so I guess I will embrace the hate mail and being called a Grinch by saying that I thought it was pretty darn awful on many levels. I think the biggest problem is the direction, which I found to be really bad as there's no style or flow to the picture. Another major problem is the screenplay, which is all over the place and I found each and every scene just to drag itself out. Even the sequence showing how Santa came to be just ran too long.The biggest offense here is that there's not an ounce of life, energy or laughs to be found. I was really shocked at how plain and bland the Moore elf was as there's just nothing fun about the character. Moore is pretty lifeless in the role and even Burgess Meredith doesn't get much to do. David Huddleston is good as Santa and he's about the only good thing. Lithgow is rather annoying in his part.SANTA CLAUS will find much support from people but I'm not one of them.

GusF This was always one of my favourite childhood films so I was a little apprehensive about watching it in case it didn't hold up. However, I'm glad to say that it held up very well. David Huddleston is my favourite Santa, playing the role with the requisite level of warmth and kindness. John Lithgow is wonderfully over the top as B.Z., who does not actually appear until almost an hour into the film. The Salkinds were almost always able to assemble great casts for their films and this one is no exception. Of the rest of the cast, I thought that Judy Cornwall, Dudley Moore and, in a great cameo, Burgess Meredith were the best.The Salkinds also made the first three "Superman" films and this film has certain similarities to the first of those: the first part of both films is concerned with the origins of the title character before transitioning to the present, which makes up the bulk of the film, and introducing a very entertaining, over the top villainous businessman who loves being evil.Donner being the name of one of Santa's reindeers goes back in the 19th Century but I couldn't help but think that the fact Donner was the (initially) unreliable one when it came to the Super Duper Looper might have been meant as a dig at Superman and (initial) "Superman II" director Richard Donner. Speaking of the Super Duper Looper, I found it impossible not to think of 9/11 when they attempted to do it around the Twin Towers.