When funny turns painful
The holiday movie season kicks off at the box office with “Fred Claus,” the story of Santa’s older brother that quickly makes it clear why all Christmas movies are based on Santa himself.
With numerous Christmas movies every year, “Fred Claus” takes a unique approach of showing what it is like to be Santa’s (Paul Giamatti) underachieving brother Fred (Vince Vaughn) and the difficulties of being related to a saint.
There have been advertisements for “Fred Claus” since this summer and numerous mentions that Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin helmed the movie. A unique plot, well-known actors and a popular director seem like a surefire way to create a great holiday movie.
Apparently it’s not.
It is impossible to tell if this is a movie for adults or children. With so many people in this movie from Wedding Crashers, combined with a sexy Santa’s helper, it would seem it’s aimed for adults.
However, by boring joke number three and awkward childish sound effect number four combined with a PG rating, the intended demographic becomes blurry.
Before going on about what is wrong, there are some highlights worth mentioning: it’s short. Which means the torture (or nap) ends sooner rather than later.
Now, on to the negatives.
The script is dull. One cannot help but wonder if the Hollywood writers strike somehow sabotaged this movie’s script.
The acting is mediocre. The only person worth watching was Kevin Spacey, even though he basically replayed his “bad guy” role as Lex Luthor from “Superman Returns.”
The computer animation is horrible. The elves are downright frightening with their computer-shrunken sizes and the North Pole’s “graphics” looks like it came straight from a Nintendo 64.
What seemed like a unique and fun movie in theory is anything but. The person most likely to benefit most from “Fred Claus” is Tim Allen. After seeing this movie, people will soon be begging for another installment in “The Santa Clause” series.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Cameron Naish at cameron.naish@colorado.edu.
