A Boy Called Christmas

A Boy Called Christmas

An ordinary young boy called Nikolas sets out on an extraordinary adventure into the snowy north in search of his father who is on a quest to discover the fabled village of the elves, Elfhelm. Taking with him a headstrong reindeer called Blitzen and a loyal pet mouse, Nikolas soon meets his destiny in this magical and endearing story that proves nothing is impossible…

  • Released: 2021-11-25
  • Runtime: 104 minutes
  • Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
  • Stars: Henry Lawfull, Kristen Wiig, Michiel Huisman, Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins, Jim Broadbent, Toby Jones, Rune Temte, Zoe Colletti, Indica Watson, Stephen Merchant, Sinéad Phelps, Philip Lenkowsky, Peter Hosking, Perveen Hussain, Abiola Ogunbiyi, Kendrick Roger Ong, Rishi Kuppa, Joel Fry, Carol MacReady, Isabella O’Sullivan, Eden Lawrence, Ayomide Garrick
  • Director: Gil Kenan
 Comments
  • glori1491 - 31 December 2023
    A fantastic and adventurous Christmas
    This fantasy and adventure film tells us another story about how Santa Claus came to be. It tells us the story of a boy who lives with his father in a town with many difficulties, poverty and little hope, whose mother died a few years ago. The father goes to look for a town and leaves him alone with his bad aunt, the boy runs away with his mouse friend to find the Elf town that his mother told him so much about, in the end he finds this town with the help of a reindeer and elf magic, in this world he discovers fairies, elves, magic, he discovers that his mother was there when he was a child, he saves an elf who was kidnapped by his father's team, his father sacrifices himself to save him, and despite all this The child makes Christmas toys together with the elves and takes them to all the houses. The story is told by the magnificent Maggie Smith, who turns out to be the fairy. It is a story based on a book, with emphasis more on children, however I do feel that the story has some gaps or is told very quickly, for example the death of the father and why he kidnapped an elf, it needs to be expanded. 2 phrases that I liked the importance is not the gifts but that we give what we have to show that we care and thus we share joy that becomes hope. Another was grief, it is the price we pay for loving and it is worth it a million times over. Sometimes for a fantasy and adventure film the plot becomes a bit slow. It is still an enjoyable movie, but in my case it is not the movie I go to see every Christmas.
  • d_penn - 25 December 2022
    N/A
    The production value in terms of set and costumes definitely makes it enjoyable to watch, it has several cute and touching moments, but the rest is just meh. The writing is noticeably lacking, the effects are cheap, and all of the acting is so-so... there are some actually good performances (ie the father) but the majority are extremely mediocre and the bad writing doesn't help that any. It's like every time the actors interact they are just saying lines with another behind them or connecting to each other and after a while that actually starts to get uncomfortable because it is just so socially off. Unfortunately, the main boy is far from a strong actor making it uncaptivating and a drag at times to watch as he is on screen most often. Lastly, its message for "the meaning of Christmas" leaves much to be desired and very forced as a concept. Like- we know it's a Christmas movie! You don't have to repeat yourself over and over (again horrible script!) Glad to have watched it just as a little holiday fun for an evening but doubt I will ever watch it again.
  • ginasharp - 22 May 2022
    Christmas with heart!
    Loved this story! Maggie Smith was awesome telling the story. This was a real adventure to dive into and forget the troubles of the world for a while. Full of Hope and imagination.
  • frannypatter - 27 December 2021
    Just Wonderful
    Not really a Christmas film fan to be honest so I wasn't that bothered about watching this.

    I thought it was going to be all sentimentally sugary.... I was wrong!

    Yes, you can pretty much predict where the story is heading, but it felt original and well done. I loved the little quirks and the scenery is truly beautiful.

    Maggie Smith, as always, was great, but all the actors were.

    I found the film warm and wonderful and yes, I cried.

    I would definitely recommend a watch.
  • forgotten707-1 - 24 December 2021
    Really wanted it to be better...
    Maggie Smith, Jim Broadbent, Sally Hawkins, Toby Jones, Kristen Wiig... for goodness sake with these kinds of names I thought for sure it would at least be enjoyable. Every one of these great actors are completely wasted in this time waster that was too dark for kids and too dumb for adults.

    There really could have been some magical moments here (SPOILERS) like:

    • Blitzen learns to fly (overshadowed by the death of the the father?!?!)
    • Sally Hawkins character has a revelation that changes her outlook on humans (scene takes forever while extras stand around awkwardly...)
    • Main character freezes to death, comes back. Gets half eaten by troll, gets spewed out... How many times can we kill this kid?


    It felt like the writers didn't know when to end a moment on a high note. And the dialogue was really bad even for a children's movie, which I'm pretty sure was the intended audience.

    There was so much more wrong with this film. My wife and I loved the trailer, thought it looked like a magical Christmas tale. The movie was a disappointment.