Noelle (Anna Kendrick) is the daughter of Santa Claus (Jay Brazeau), and someone who loves Christmas more than anything in the world. Her brother Nick (Bill Hader) is being trained to be the next Santa but is not especially interested. After Santa dies, it is time for Nick to take over as the next Santa. He struggles with this and soon becomes completely miserable. Noelle suggests that Nick take the weekend and go somewhere to get away from all the stress. After the weekend is over he doesn't come back and Noelle sets out on a journey to find her brother bringing Christmas cheer to the people she meets along the way.
Yes that storyline sounds very familiar and if you aren't able to guess early on where the film is going than you have never seen a movie before. Despite this familiarity I found a lot to enjoy here. Anna Kendrick is downright fantastic in the lead role bringing tons of energy and charm to this character. Never does her high energy or enteral optimism and kindness ever feel forced. There is a real sincerity to this performance that can charm even a Scrooge. The humor in this movie is often quite funny. I was surprised by the amount of times I actually laughed watching this. Don't get me wrong there are some jokes that fall flat, but the ones that work are really good. Of course Anna Kendrick's great delivery helps a lot. The story may be very cliché but it is simply and charmingly told without any excess.
This may neither be a Christmas classic or a Disney classic but for what it is it is quite charming and a good movie to get you in the Christmas spirit.
By the way try to see how many hidden Mickeys you can find. There are a heck of a lot of them.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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