While it is nothing truly revolutionary, “Santa Claus: The Movie” delivers heart-warming and fun Christmas adventure. The film does not seem to have been received very well and so I went into it with mixed expectations.

Santa Claus (David Huddleston “The Big Lebowski”, “Blazing Saddles”) delivers presents to the good boys and girl all over the world with help from the elves in his workshop. When the elf Patch (Dudley Moore “Arthur”) accidentally embarrasses Santa, he leaves the North Pole. In New York, he meets a corrupt businessman (John Lithgow “Cliffhanger”) that is eager to takeover Christmas with a dangerous product. Only Santa and his new friends, Joe and Cornelia, can save Christmas.

David Huddleston does a fine job as Santa Claus and he definitely looks the part. We actually get to see him before he becomes Santa, which is quite interesting. Dudley Moore is okay as Patch. Judy Cornwell (“Wuthering Heights”) is good as Mrs. Clause. John Lithgow steals the show as the dastardly B.Z., who should have really had more screen time. The kids in the movie are fine. The reindeer are quite good but there is no Rudolph (maybe they were saving him for a sequel). Burgess Meredith (“Rocky”) has a cameo.

“Santa Claus: The Movie” contains good special effects, lots of charming scenes in the workshop and a great performance from Lithgow. This is good wholesome Christmas fun. I think children will definitely enjoy it and I imagine most adults will find it hard to resist its charm. Again, I would have liked to have seen Lithgow more, particularly considering how much screen time Dudley Moore gets as Patch. I do not really know what people were expecting from it as I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. If you are looking for some light-hearted Christmas entertainment then look no further than “Santa Claus: The Movie”.