Taking a look at Red One, you can see some of the issues right away. It’s a gigantic movie, with a massive cast, and with those gargantuan looks comes a feeling of bloat. Yes, this is a Christmas movie about Santa Claus getting kidnapped; and the leader of E.L.F. and a regular scumbag kind of guy coming together to save him. And yet, as I watched it, like the Grinch, my cold, rotting film critic heart felt a tinge of warmth. The holiday cheer shone through through the visuals that lacked magic, through the hamfisted dialogue, and through a villain that was sorely in need of more work.

Jake Kasdan directed Red One and he makes the most of what I can only assume was a massive production. The set pieces alone, are dizzying. The movie globe-trots from toy store to toy store (the web that connects Santa and his workers worldwide); from the realm of Krampus to the North Pole and back again. The script from Chris Morgan is based on a story by producer Hiram Garcia, and it feels like it jumbled together one too many ideas. It gets a bit much at certain points, but the worldbuilding here is also great. Red One assumes that audiences know this will be an insane ride and just throws in-world North Pole and magical government agencies at you.

When Red One is doing that, it’s great. You get to see this whole different world that we’ve never even heard of. One where our myths and legends are real but hidden away from the general populace. Chris Evans’s character Jack O’Malley does a lot of reacting to this in a way that we as an audience might, but there are also just far too many moments where he’s going “WHAT?!” or “HUH?!” for my liking.

It follows Callum Drift (great movie character name) played by Dwayne Johnson, who is the commander of E.L.F. who make sure that Santa’s Christmas activities run smoothly and that he’s safe. On Christmas Eve, Santa (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped and up springs an agency, MORA, led by Zoe (Lucy Liu), who tracks mythical beings for the world. They’re led to a hacker named Jack (Chris Evans) who sold the coordinates to the North Pole to Gryla (played by Kiernan Shipka), an evil witch who wants to punish the people on the naughty list.

Along the way, Red One throws a LOT at audiences. You learn about relationships between Krampus (played hilariously by Kristofer Hivju) and witches, slap fights, and how Santa Claus and his brother deal with one another. Some of it is quite silly, some of it makes little sense, but it’s still hilarious hearing Dwayne Johnson monologue about all of these things.

What makes a holiday/Christmas movie magical? There’s a visual quality and warm feeling to proceedings that feels missing from Red One. The visuals here are rough in spots. It definitely looks like they had Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson standing in front of green/blue screens in certain points. That bit takes some of the magic out of Red One. The other digital effects, like the monsters and creatures, look better, though.

The thing that saves Red One is the underlying message that it’s trying to present though. This might be a $250+ million movie that features a bloated plot filled with some silly dialogue, but it understands that people are far too cynical these days. If the Naughty List was actually a real thing, it would be filled to the brim with everyone on Earth. Red One‘s Santa Claus sees everyone as they were as a kid before the world brought them down and made them cynical.

The only thing I would give pause to, is that it is PG-13. They use the word “shit” and its variations quite a lot in the film. If you’re good with your kids hearing that, then there’s nothing really to worry about in Red One.

The more I thought about this, the more Red One resonated. It might be bloated, messy, and lacking in magic; but it ends up as a cute holiday film with solid action and plenty of heart.

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