Richard Curtis is no stranger to Christmas movies. After returning with Genie last year, he's back in the festive spirit with Netflix's new animation That Christmas, which held its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in October.
The filmmaker has adapted his own trio of children's books – That Christmas, The Empty Stocking and Snow Day – for the movie, co-writing with Peter Souter. Curtis has also landed a veritable festive feast of British talent, including Jodie Whittaker, Brian Cox and Lolly Adefope, to bring his characters to life.
You'd think that would be a formula for another winning festive outing for Curtis, but That Christmas never quite soars. It's not as bad as finding a lump of coal in your stocking, but it's unlikely to become a perennial Christmas watch.
It's Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus has successfully navigated a blizzard to arrive in a delightful English seaside town. When he lands, though, he spots three major problems that need his help if the residents are to have a truly merry Christmas.
Danny accidentally attends school during a Snow Day with the terrifying Ms Trapper when his permanently busy mum misses the message, five children are left home alone and choose to make their own Christmas traditions when their parents are stuck in a blizzard, and twins Sam and Charlie are faced with the dreaded empty stocking.
The movie tries to weave these three tales into a cohesive whole but doesn't quite pull it off. None of the stories are fleshed-out enough, and it feels like three short stories stretched to feature length. There's a contrived final problem to pull them all together and provide the movie's nice, if unoriginal, message.
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Danny's tale is the strongest of the three, thanks to affecting vocal work from Jodie Whittaker as his mother and Fiona Shaw as the stern teacher. Even here, though, it's too obvious where it's all going and lacks the depth to make the emotional punch land as hard as it should.
We don't want to be a total Grinch, as there are good elements in That Christmas. Brian Cox is an excellent fit as Santa and, arguably, the movie could have used more of him rather than largely relegating him to narration. Guz Khan is fun as Santa's sole reindeer Dasher.
As traditional as the story elements are, the movie also takes care to portray a multicultural and diverse community, as well as including modern themes like climate change. The script doesn't labour the point either, making it feel more authentic than speechifying.
But a few elements – and even an excellent Love Actually gag at Curtis' expense – aren't enough to make That Christmas truly sparkle. It ends up being too slight and familiar to be a Christmas classic.
That Christmas is available to watch now on Netflix.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
