'Dear Santa' Deserves a Lump of Coal

         On November 25, 2024, Paramount+ released 'Dear Santa', which quickly established itself as one of the biggest disappointments of the year with a score of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the film, "a young boy mails his Christmas wish list to Santa with one crucial spelling error, a devilish Jack Black arrives to wreak havoc on the holidays. From the hilarious minds behind DUMB & DUMBER, Christmas is about to go up in flames." The ensemble cast includes Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Post Malone, Hayes MacArthur, and Brianne Howey. But what did the critics say? 

        Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter says, "It should hardly come as a revelation that Black’s hardworking comedic efforts are the film’s saving grace." Adding, "Adopting a deep growl that makes him sound like late-period Jack Nicholson, the actor is clearly having a ball with his colorful role, and the fun proves infectious. He makes the many bad jokes bearable and the decent ones even funnier with his typically manic, perfectly timed delivery. And to be fair, there are a few decent ones in the screenplay co-written by Peter Farrelly and Ricky Blitt (Family Guy, Loudermilk), even if it inevitably includes bathroom humor in the form of Satan casting a gastrointestinal distress spell on Liam’s obnoxious English teacher (P.J. Byrne). “Every time a grown man sharts himself, a demon earns its horns,” a smug Satan informs Liam. There are several funny pop culture references that should please adults while befuddling the target audience, including a reference to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Satan announcing that he’s staying at the “Redrum Motor Lodge.”

        Matthew Jackson of AV Club notes, "If Christmas movies can’t be good, they can usually at least be pleasant distractions. Dear Santa is neither. It’s a regrettable film, one that wasn’t ever worth the wordplay that started it." Continuing, "Farrelly and Blitt’s script, which feels like someone chopped it up and remixed it at least once somewhere along the way, meanders between wild adventure (like a drawn-out concert sequence that lets Liam shine in front of his crush) and utter, unspeakable darkness (like the tragedy that recently befell Liam’s family). It pushes into edgier, more traditional Farrelly brothers territory just for a moment, then pulls back into cutesy, stilted family fun the next. One moment encapsulates that seesaw tone perfectly: Satan offers a substitute for a swear word because, for some reason, he decides he shouldn’t cuss around a kid, then just a few sentences later decides to swear anyway. Dear Santa is a movie at war with itself, constantly pushing and pulling between two or more contrasting vibes, never finding a balance and, worse, never feeling like it ever cared about a balance."

Photo by Brian Suh on Unsplash

        Jesse Hassenger of IGN Movies writes, "It’s a surefire premise perhaps best-suited to a Tales from the Crypt holiday special: A sweet-natured sixth-grader named Liam (Robert Timothy Smith) writes a letter to Santa, only he accidentally addresses it to “Satan” – and thus dutifully materializes a genuine demon, ready to get Liam whatever he wants for the low, low cost of his soul. Maybe this idea could’ve worked as a Tenacious D music video, especially with master showman Jack Black playing the Devil himself. But Black also has a lucrative side hustle in kid-friendly entertainment (or is it his main deal, these days?), so Dear Santa is, in fact, a family movie – albeit one salty enough to be made by the Farrelly brothers. Their trademark mix of the juvenile and the good-hearted should’ve made them well-suited to crafting a kiddie crowd pleaser, but while their trademark crude-and-sweet mixture remains, Dear Santa falls well short of their own comedy high-watermarks, and can’t even muster the kiddie crowd-pleaser that might have been." Adding, "Dear Santa takes its seemingly irresistible premise – a sweetly earnest middle-schooler asking for Santa Claus but getting a resplendent demon played by Jack Black – and never does better than toy with it. Rather than follow in the vein of classic Farrelly Brothers comic showcases like Harry and Lloyd getting dressed up fancy in Dumb & Dumber or a tiny dog attacking Ben Stiller in There’s Something About Mary, the movie settles for some incidental chuckles based largely on Black’s charismatic enthusiasm. When the filmmakers decide to tug more insistently at the heartstrings, this would-be holiday classic goes from middling to deeply misguided."

'Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Reviews: "If you loved Mutant Mayhem, you’ll also enjoy Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"

         On August 9, 2024, the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' franchise continues with 'Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' on Paramount+, which has earned predominantly positive reviews from critics. In the animated series, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo not only work to protect the city but survive high school. The ensemble cast includes James Sie, Micah Abbey, Ayo Edebri, Brady Noon, Nicolas Cantu, Shamon Brown Jr., Post Malone, Rose Byrne, and Pete Davidson. But what did the critics say?

        Tyler Robertson of IGN Movies says, "The first half of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles never reaches the heights of Mutant Mayhem. But it still plants a unique flag in the ground by beautifully reimagining the film’s animation style." Adding, "The more detrimental downgrade is in the music. So much of Mutant Mayhem is defined by its amazing soundtrack full of 1980s and ’90s hip-hop – tracks by De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, to name a few. Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is totally devoid of any hip-hop, in both soundtrack and score, and the distinctly New York sense of personality the music provides gets lost as a result. Thankfully, most of the personality of the Turtles comes from the voice acting, and with Abbey, Brown, Cantu, and Noon, returning to their roles from the movie (along with Ayo Edebiri as their April O’Neil), they pick up right where they left off. The casting of the Turtles remains nigh-perfect, bringing so much life and reality to the brothers. The only thing missing is the improv that made their dialogue feel so natural in Mutant Mayhem. Due to the way the first six episodes split the Turtles up, it obviously didn’t make sense for the four actors to record their lines together. Not too much is lost, however, thanks to the wonderful talent of the young actors, but it inherently makes things feel a little different."

        Tessa Smith of Mama's Geeky praises the series, stating, "Continues right where Mutant Mayhem left off, following the brothers as they end up separated in the big apple. Stunning animation, intriguing story, and great humor." Concluding, "Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is packed with incredible action sequences, while also delivering some truly grounded moments. This series explores the boys as teenagers, and we can all remember how difficult that is. Put having to fight crime on top of that, and there they certainly struggle at times. The humor hits, the animation is beautiful, and the story is captivating. We hope that we get to see this version of the turtles for a long to come. Thankfully there is already a second movie in the works."    

        Michael Thomas of Collider notes, "If you loved Mutant Mayhem, you’ll also enjoy Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which makes for a terrific follow-up that expands the world and sees the four boys grow as individuals." Continuing, "The Turtles' main antagonist for the first half of the season is Bishop, a character who is bent on revenge. Bishop is a special agent who, in most iterations, is tasked with handling mutant and extraterrestrial affairs, a cross between both Agent Smith and Neo from The Matrix as well as the definition of cool. However, in Tales of the TMNT, he's reimagined in an entirely new way. Now, played by Alanna Ubach (Ted), Bishop is a woman bent on ridding the world of mutants, and she takes aim at the four teenagers. To win, Bishop splits the boys up, leading to each getting their own storyline where they're forced to fight for themselves."

Photo by Sarah Pflug from Burst