5/5 I enjoyed this
  by Chris D. Williams
live action was just as much fun as the original stop motion diferent but fun!

5/5 Great Movie!
  by mommy2one
great re-make, stellar cast, beloved story! I am so dissapointed that this is not showing on tv this year :( I will have to buy it now. this is one of my new favorites. As for others not liking the casting choices, perhaps they do not like these actors. I think it was perfect as a christmas movie the kiddos can enjoy, while parents get to see actors who they have loved for years!

1/5 Appallingly bad
  by Zanzibar McFate (Ohio, USA)
The original version of The Year Without a Santa Claus may not have been one of the absolutely best couple of Christmas classics -- it wasn't The Grinch or Rudolph or A Charlie Brown Christmas. But, it wasn't terrible. TYWASC was one of my childhood favorites, though I suppose it wasn't as popular as some others (given that it took a while to come out on DVD, and was packaged with a couple of other obscure holiday titles when it did). Still, I think it was among the better Christmas specials. And it definitely didn't deserve the lame remake.

John Goodman as Santa was about the only good casting choice.

Delta Burke? Chris Kattan -- Mango as Elf? Eddie Griffin as a streetwise elf? Jack LaLanne as a retired Hercules? Yes, Hercules. He and some other non-Christmas-related mythical figures appear in the movie. Maybe it was a clumsy homage to The Santa Clause, which featured the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc.

Carol Kane (the abusive Ghost of Christmas Present from Scrooged -- "the b**** hit me with a toaster") plays Mother Nature, and does basically the same character as in Scrooged. She abuses Heat Miser, Cold Miser, and Chris Kattan's elf character in the same way she abused Bill Murray's character in Scrooged. Come to think of it, maybe that was a clumsy homage to Scrooged.

Examples of "updates" to the plot and lines:

* The plucky mayor of Southtown is faced with a couple of slick salesmen trying to sell a big retail center (read: WalMart or large mall) in the town, but refuses them because "this town has a history" (the shysters' reply: "ghost towns have histories, too"). Gag. The town must hold a Christmas festival to raise money for their "endowment," so that they don't have to let the retail center into town. ("Hollywood has no agenda," part 1)

* In the remake, Iggy is the neglected child of the too-busy Mayor. In the original, Iggy had a non-dysfunctional family, the mayor was unrelated. In the original, the snow in Southtown is for the sake of convincing the Mayor of the elves' sincerity; in the remake the snow is intended to shut down the town so that the Mayor will have to spend time with his son. ("Hollywood has no agenda," part 2)

* Jingle: "What are we doing here?" Jangle: "It's a school; it's where kids hang out. Don't you watch South Park?"

* Heat Miser (attacking Cold Miser): "How's that for Shock and Awe?"

* In the original, Heat Miser and Cold Miser's "minions" were smaller versions of themselves. In the remake, they're scantily clad dancers. Seriously.

* In the remake, Jingle and Jangle end up in an arcade playing, among other things, Dance Dance Revolution Extreme. The elves can break the laws of physics -- jump high a la The Matrix, get astoundingly good scores on video games, etc. In the original, they were lost and stuck, but in the remake their super powers make it harder to believe that their predicament is dire.

* Heat Miser vs. Cold Miser in a boxing match.

* Instead of Mrs. Claus going to Cold Miser for help, Santa Claus confronts the Miser Brothers over shooting down his elves. Instead of going to Mother Nature as a last resort, Santa summons her into the boxing ring to deal with her problem children.

* When Santa goes to pick up Vixen from the dog pound... Santa: "I remember you from when you were young." Dogcatcher: "I'm still waiting for that BB gun, Santa." Santa: "You'll shoot your eye out." (A lame homage to A Christmas Story?)

* In the original, Santa proves he is real by making it snow in Southtown. The Mayor declares Christmas a holiday for Santa, and all the kids around the world send letters and presents. Santa is moved to not skip Christmas by this outpouring of Christmas spirit. In the remake, Santa is first moved by the mention of how the kids in the homeless shelter will miss him. ("Hollywood has no agenda," part 3) Come to think of it, shouldn't The Kinks' song "Father Christmas" have been playing in the background -- pointing out that the kids in the homeless shelter don't generally get anything for Christmas anyway?

* The second-best song from the original ("So You're Too Old For Santa Claus") is missing from the remake. And the best song ("Heat Miser / Cold Miser") is butchered. The best "borrowed" song (Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas") isn't there, either.

* Chris Kattan's elf character tries to take over Christmas delivery, in the absence of Santa ("Sparky was my slave name; I'm Extreme Santa now"). He's sort of the head elf -- "the CEO" of the toy-making company. But he is picketed by several elves who demand the real Santa make the deliveries, and then threatens to fire all elves who don't cooperate with him. ("Hollywood has no agenda," part 4). Apparently the remake is not "The Year Without A Santa Claus" so much as "The Year With A Substitute Evil Elf Santa Claus." I wonder why they didn't go with that more honest title.

I wonder, who could have read this script and believed it was a good idea to get involved with this project? Sure, I can see Delta Burke taking anything she can get these days. But John Goodman? He shouldn't be hurting so much as to need to participate in this sort of crap-fest. And, unbelievably, it's already available on DVD. This thing is Plan Nine From Outer Space awful.

My recommendation if you're looking for a DVD, buy the original version The Year Without a Santa Claus / Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey / Rudolph's Shiny New Year instead: it's one-third the cost and about a thousand times better. And if you want to just listen to the Heat Miser song, check out Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's version Everything You Want for Christmas.

5/5 The Year Without a Santa Claus
  by Evor S. Kerr (Fontana Ca USA)
A great addition to my Holiday Collection. Goodman is outstanding as Santa and the story line does follow the cartoon enough to remind you of the original. The supporting cast made it interesting and entertaining! Recommend for the entire family!

4/5 John Goodman Will Make You Believe In Santa
  by Mel Odom (Moore, OK USA)
Originally a claymation holiday film made almost forty years ago, THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS gets remade into a live action movie. THe plot is simple and the solution is relatively simple as well, but the fun of this film is getting through the story. Sure, you know everything will work out in the end, but that takes some of the worry out of the entertainment process. You can sit back and enjoy the lighthearted festivities just in time for the holidays.

John Goodman delivers a solid and entertaining version of Santa. Delta Burke plays Mrs. Claus with dignity and grace, and an understated love for her husband. Chris Kattan stars as an obnoxious elf. Ethan Suplee and Eddie Griffin star as Jingle and Jangle, two of Santa's favorite elves.

The plot stays much the same in the remake as it was in the original version. Santa is tired of the commercialization of Christmas and thinks of going off to retire. (In the original he got sick.) Where Mrs. Claus saved Christmas in the first movie, Jingle and Jangle are largely responsible for the events that pull Santa back to the Christmas spirit. The movie has a lot of funny bits, especially with Jingle and Jangle as they try to prove they're elves to Iggy, the mayor's son. He wants to believe in Christmas and bring it to the people in his town, but he's struggling with his own doubts. Vixen, Santa's reindeer, is also on hand to bring a few laughs.

Although the movie can keep the adult attention, it's too simple to do justice to that audience. But that isn't the audience THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS is going for. The movie is for the kids, and it succeeds well.

THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS is a good addition to the family DVD collection. It will become a holiday favorite that the kids will want to see again. And again.