6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The first half of this film, set hundreds of years ago, shows how the old man who eventually became Santa Claus was given immortality and chosen to deliver toys to all the children of the world. The second half moves into the modern era, in which Patch, the inventing elf, strikes out on his own and falls in with an evil toy manufacturer who wants to corner the market and eliminate Santa Claus.
Starring: Dudley Moore, John Lithgow, David Huddleston, Burgess Meredith, Judy CornwellFamily | 100% |
Holiday | 62% |
Fantasy | 38% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS 2.0
English SDH, German
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Reviewing Santa Claus: The Movie in January? Hey, just think of this a warm-up for Christmas 2 on March 25.
Die-hard fans of Jeannot Szwarc's 1985 film have a reason to celebrate with the unveiling of Studio Canal's recent 4K restoration -- it's available in full strength on this sparkling UHD combo pack or in a separate restored Blu-ray edition. They're both a marked improved over the film's last home video release: Lionsgate's 2010 Blu-ray, which for whatever reason never earned a site review. My middling star rating might read like I don't really care for this questionable cult classic, but far from it -- I watch and actually kinda enjoy Santa Claus: The Movie each holiday season because it's a beloved childhood favorite of my better half. Happy wife, happy life, happy Christmas and all that.
Soon enough, the outlook of Santa's operation and the film's plot take a sharp turn for the worse. His ever-increasing workload leads to exhaustion and, after the most one-sided competition in history, Santa chooses Patch and his fully automated toy-making system over the old-fashioned way. The quality control plummets and Patch, in despair, sets out to find a new path in life. He's soon paired up with struggling toy magnate B.Z. (John Lithgow), whose own company is struggling but might recover with a few well-placed sprinkles of Patch's magical dust. The innocent elf doesn't realize what B.Z.'s really up to, but meddling kids Cornelia (Carrie Kei Heim) and Joe (Christian L Fitzpatrick) get involved to bring down his sinister plot from the inside. Will the kids save Christmas? Maybe with Santa's help.
There's a lot to unpack after Santa Claus: The Movie careens off the rails around the halfway point. What begins as a thoughtful, well put-together story devolves into something more clumsy, commercial, and frankly kind of baffling, with logic gaps and plot holes big enough to fly a sleigh through. From John Lithgow's kind of enjoyably hammy take on his cigar-sucking tycoon to shameless product placement and the worst excuse to do a "Super Duper Looper" ever, it's the kind of film you just have to go along with. Like The Polar Express, it barely makes sense in the moment and damn sure doesn't add up in hindsight, but the good parts are strong enough to keep it above snow level.
Whether you're a lukewarm apologist of Santa Claus: The Movie or a full-blooded disciple, it's finally been given a fairly definitive home
video package that's worth importing; it might make the trip Stateside in the next year or two, but you may not want to wait that long. Although
one or two nitpicks keep this from being a perfect release, it's fine treatment for a film that features impressive production design and a fantastic
original score by Henry Mancini.
NOTE: This review's screenshots are sourced from the included remastered Blu-ray, which is also available separately from Studio Canal and reviewed by yours truly here.
If you like film grain you're going to love this new 4K restoration of Santa Claus: The Movie, which treats its diffused visuals about as well as you could hope for on home video. (Though I don't own the 2010 Blu-ray for comparison, I have personally seen it... and while it certainly improves upon even older versions like Anchor Bay's scruffy-looking 2000 DVD, the Blu-ray's VC-1 transfer was already beginning to show its age more than a decade ago.)
For this new UHD restoration, the UK-based company Silver Salt Restoration scanned the original 35mm negative of Santa Claus: The Movie in 4K (16-bit) and performed additional color grading and manual cleanup to eliminate dirt, debris, and other damage, and only trace levels remain. It's a very clean and stable presentation that, yes, keeps all that grain intact, although noise fluctuates depending on light levels and other factors; it's generally kept in check, but black levels run light in a handful of sequences and exacerbate the noise a little more than expected. Yet the overall picture looks so healthy and film-like that it's a perfectly acceptable trade-off, with tight textures and excellent color saturation doing most of the driving here. The HDR10/Dolby Vision enhancement adds depth to the attractive sets and costumes, such as the colorful North Pole factory and its inhabitants, Santa included. (The 20th century scenes are obviously a bit colder and more naturalistic, but likewise get a renewed sense of depth that, if nothing else, creates a nice visual contrast.) There's not a whiff of color revisionism or other sneaky tactics and, while I wouldn't call this a perfect presentation, it reaches far beyond previous editions and that alone should thrill die-hard fans.
Although I don't have Lionsgate's 2010 Blu-ray on-hand for a direct comparison, varying reports indicated that its lone audio track -- an LPCM 2.0 mix -- was of questionable quality, with one user review in particular mentioning a volume imbalance in the left channel. Since Studio Canal's new 4K restoration obviously includes a complete spruce-up of the original audio elements, I'm happy to report no such deficiencies can be heard on this dated but accurate DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track which serves up crisp dialogue, decently prioritized sound effects, and more than enough room left over for Henry Mancini's original score (which I proudly own on CD and, in many respects, enjoy more than the actual film). For what it is, this is a perfectly respectable effort than surely beats the 2010 Blu-ray edition.
Sadly, it doesn't include the outstanding six-channel track originally created for limited 70mm engagements of Santa Claus: The Movie during its original theatrical run. As far as I know, this superior 5.1 mix has only ever been released on DVD and, though limited to lossy Dolby Digital format, it greatly enhanced a handful of specific scenes including the deadly snowstorm that occurs just before Claus and Anya are discovered by the North Pole elves.
This two-disc set ships in a keepcase with cover artwork that prominently features David Huddleston as Santa but amusingly still doesn't credit him by name. A slipcover was included with first-run pressings, but I missed that boat. The on-disc extras are enjoyable and worth watching, but a vintage audio commentary (featuring director Jeannot Szwarc and special project consultant Scott Michael Bosco) and various trailers are confined to earlier discs.
All extras below are included on both the 4K and Blu-ray discs in English with optional German subtitles.
Santa Claus: The Movie damn sure isn't flawless holiday entertainment, but it has its charms and anyone who grew up watching it has long since forgiven all the logic gaps, odd detours, and shameless product placement. Lionsgate's 2010 Blu-ray obviously looked better than earlier DVDs, but its VC-1 transfer showed room for improvement. Studio Canal's 4K UHD combo pack goes two steps further with a new 4K/HDR restoration that really helps the film to shine brightly. Sadly it doesn't include the earlier DVD edition's six-channel surround track and a few legacy extras, but a pair of new supplements and other careful touches tips the scales even further in its favor. A separate restored Blu-ray edition is available for less than half the price but, like the 1080p disc included here, is Region B locked. Any way you slice it, though,this is a nicely put-together package that die-hard fans will enjoy for years to come.
Limited Edition Artwork Sleeve
2019
2000
1971
1994
1977
2018
2007
Limited Edition
2012
2016
2020
2006
2019
1996
1964
2008
30th Anniversary Edition | Die unendliche Geschichte | US Version
1984
1971
30th Anniversary Edition
1982
2016
Multi-Pack
2009