The Christmas Star

Release Date: December 14, 1986

Watch Date: December 14 – December 15, 2024

“Counterfeiter Horace McNickle escapes prison through his extraordinary likeness to St. Nick. The police are closing in, but Christmas is so near that there are Santas everywhere. McNickle is desperate to recover loot from an earlier caper but can’t make a move until he takes advantage of two neighborhood kids who really believe he is Santa.”

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   There was a period of time when Disney movies were allowed to have a lot more Christian undertones than they are now, to the point where, let’s be honest, they weren’t undertones – they were overtones. And when you start your film off with how the Christmas Star is the star that Jesus was born under, but that also it appears special to each person when they do a good deed – which I’m pretty sure what this movie was trying to start off with – that’s pretty obvious what religion you’re appealing to here.

   Which is fine, it’s a Christmas movie and Christmas is – at it’s base – a Christian holiday. But I do prefer the more religiously neutral holiday films of the modern era. But that’s me I guess, taking the Christ out of Christmas.

   I don’t hate this movie. I think it feels weird, an old conman hanging out with a bunch of kids, but I also think it’s kind of charming – in a very old Christmas movie kind of way. I think it gets it’s emotional point across without needing to bring a barely mentioned star in to it, and I wish it had delved a little deeper into the clear abuse one child was suffering from with his dad, and a dog dies and that’s not fantastic.

   Bob finds the concept, as a father and a husband, of a man living in your house – with your children, without you knowing terrifying. But they did manage to make it Christmas-y, which feels like a difficult thing to achieve. I do love the scene where he’s grumpily writing down all the kids Christmas wishes. Which, let’s be honest, if a group of kids had Santa inexplicably hiding out in their basement, they probably would bombard him with present requests.

   I don’t know, it’s charming and I don’t hate it, but it’s also not going to be my first pick for a Christmas movie. There’s not a lot to say about it, it gets it’s point across effectively, but it does feel a bit like it’s hitting you over the head.