While searching for an online copy of the 2017 Doctor Who Yule Log I came across last years' edition. Same basic idea, though the quality has been raised a notch.
Santa's Christmas Snooze (Santa and the Magician) (1995)
First Time Viewing | Streaming Vidmark
"He's not dead... he's sleeping like a baby!"
Dubbed version of a French cartoon featuring a village of woodland creatures, a grumpy, egomaniac bear magician, his bat companion and, of course, Santa Claus. When the bat informs the bear that Santa is most popular person in the village the bear resorts first to black magic and then to poisoning in order to sideline Santa.
Nothing special and scenes of a comatose Santa may not go over too well with younger viewers.
Based on the same Gogol story as the animation I reviewed the other day and even less Christmassy. Still worth watching as an very early example of fantasy film making.
If you check out the version linked to and embedded above be warned that it features an atrocious soundtrack that only detracts from the film. Mute abd replace with just about anything else.
"I am not the target audience, I am not the target audience..."
I have a feeling this is going to be my new mantra as I embark on this perilous journey through the lands of made for TV Christmas movies.
A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale drops loads of the sort of tired cliche's that fans seem to embrace and the script isn't nearly sharp enough to make up for the laziness. And, while it was competently filmed and the acting wasn't a disgrace, I just couldn't make it all the way through.
End of night results
The Naughty: I though it was going to be sleeping beauty Santa but the banal dog walkers beat out the creepy cartoon by a wide margin.
The Nice: I can't really recommend anything I watched today as above average holiday fare.
