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MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Sometimes it seems that Christians are the only people who wait for the coming of Christ during the season of Advent. While we watch and pray in anticipation of Jesus’ birth, cable networks, radio stations, community theaters, and streaming services are hard at work providing a nonstop medley of Christmas music, Christmas specials, and Christmas movies. The Hallmark Channel alone offers 41 brand-new holiday movies (with Lifetime close behind with 35) and the Freeform Channel is once again programming its 25 Days of Christmas.

The one with the fewest holiday specials would have to be baby Jesus. This is to be expected, since the Nativity is held in high regard, with a biblical narrative that cannot be changed without offending the faithful.

Santa Claus is a different story. Call him Saint Nick, Santa, or Kris Kringle, there are dozens of different origin accounts representing a diversity of countries, languages, and folk traditions. Anything goes, as long as you can shoehorn in some holiday traditions into the plot, along with some tender moments and heartfelt sentiments.

A Boy Called Christmas is this year’s Santa Claus reboot. After all, Father Christmas was once a child.

It helps to have Maggie Smith narrate the story as Aunt Ruth, recruited to babysit her two nieces and nephew when their dad (Joel Fry) is called back to work on Christmas Eve. The kids are initially resistant but soon find themselves engaged with her story about Nicholas (Lawfull), a young boy in Finland, the son of a woodcutter named Joel (Michael Huisman), whose mother has recently died. When the king (Jim Broadbent) challenges his subjects to go on a quest to bring hope back to the kingdom, Joel decides to join a team of adventurers in search of Elfhelm, the legendary land of the elves. Before going on his journey, Joel leaves Nicolas in the care of Aunt Charlotte (Kristin Wiig), an evil caregiver. It’s not long before Nicholas leaves home to follow his father on a journey to Elfhelm himself, accompanied by his talking pet mouse Miika (voiced by Stephen Merchant). And the story is just getting started.

The film is based on a popular 2016 children’s book by British author Matt Haig (The Midnight Library) with a story that is such a jumbled-up mix of cute characters, exciting adventures (with moments of peril that include death and resurrection) and anachronistic jokes that it really shouldn’t work. But a first-rate British cast, outstanding special effects, a nice symphonic score, and some beautiful location filming in northern Finland combine to make this a very entertaining family film. It’s the rare made-for-streaming movie that should have had a theatrical release.

Best of all, the themes of love, hope, peace, joy and forgiveness are all represented in A Boy Called Christmas. Jesus Christ is here, too, if you are willing to seek him.

Halo and Pitchfork Rating:

Four halos: A charming bit of holiday whimsy with positive messages of hope and forgiveness.
One pitchfork: Tragic deaths of parents takes place offscreen; some scary moments for young children.

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