I'm surprised some reviewers thought this movie was vulgar. I thought it was the first movie I've seen in a long time, directed towards children, that did not have crude remarks and events. (Adam Sandler obviously had nothing to do with making it.) Yes, it does have some obscene words and a few inuendos, but nothing like most movies these days.
The movie's main strength lies in the relationships between the very likable family members. Two of the three kids are teenagers wanting to do their own thing, while the parents, especially Dad, think they know what's best for them. Thankfully, there are no gender issues or other politically correct stuff stuffed into this film. A pleasant surprise for an Amazon movie!
The kids are normal, the parents are normal, family life is normal, until it is not. There's lots of amusing lines and events in the film, but the humor is not that consistant. That's the biggest fault of the story. The evil elf is also neither funny nor scary most of the time. She is mostly irritating. The Christmas breakfast was an anticlimatic ending, too, and we really could have done without the "lady mallard".
In fact, that poor duck, as well as having all the birds in the film as villians, made me take off a couple stars. The Santa in the movie was one of the fun parts, but the funniest line involving him was not in the film itself. When the credits run, watch out for scenes not in the story, the funniest one being what Eddie Murphy says to the Santa.
