Una Navidad diferente

Lots of people go overboard with their Christmas decorations. But in June? And the newcomer to this charming neighborhood has a white beard, wears a red suit and drives a bright red Cadillac. His name is Robert George, and he once worked as a barber in Nebraska, but he wasn't happy. Then he saw a vision of what he could do to make the world better. His goal: to give children Christmas year-round in a theme park. Shelley Long plays the pretty city attorney who is given the unfortunate job of shutting down this 'Santa Claus' after neighbors complain about noise, traffic and trash (as well as the outrageous decorations). Long is also running for mayor and dealing with a developer who wants to tear down the historic train station. And her son, whose father left years ago, doesn't like being neglected by his ambitious mother. He doesn't believe the man is Santa at first but later becomes one of the man's strongest supporters. Barry Bostwick is a cynical newspaper reporter who was fired from the New York Times and doesn't like being sent to do fluff stories. But this is the story that may advance his career. He later dates Long's character. You won't believe why this Santa Claus chose this town, and why he knows so much about the people. Later, the man has to get a real job, but he is so compassionate he loses every job he tries (well,almost). As with most movies like this, it takes a near-tragedy and a couple of miracles to make everything come out all right. A nice family film.

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 400 Christmas MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE.

A family secret threatens to thwart the mayoral bid of a single mom (Shelley Long) whose father (Bruce Kirby) thinks he's Santa Claus.

This film is very good. It deserves a better rating than the 5.7 it has on IMDb. You have to take into account that the average IMDb user is not a fan of these types of films.

Shelly Long plays to type in this film however her character is suppose to be 35 and at the time of filming she around 47.

What works is the fact that "The Christmas Spirit" is in everybody and that spirit should be limited to just one day a year.

The film works and it is very entertaining. Family Safe. Give it a try!

Long-time Santa Robert George has set up his home like he's the real Santa Claus all year around. He invites everybody to visit. The kids believe again. City attorney Elizabeth Gates (Shelley Long) fights bad developers and plans to run for mayor. Her hard-hitting reporter boyfriend Frank Mallory (Barry Bostwick) does a story on the Santa house and it becomes a popular destination. The neighbors are not happy and Elizabeth is bombarded with complaints.

Elizabeth's character doesn't make sense. I can accept that she is so clueless that she can shut down Santa. Once that happens, she should be working overtime to smooth over the situation. It can be excused by the big reveal but that only makes her original shutdown much more reckless. That scene needs more to set up the eventual reveal. Maybe she can recognize him at the last minute and sends in a cop to do the deed. She needs to sell that moment. In the end, the solution should be easy despite the family dysfunction. If he needs to be Santa, set him up in City Hall and get him out of the neighborhood. Non of this story makes political sense. With some rewrites, this premise could work but it needs a lot of fixing.

Not one of the best. A very 80's film made in 1996 and before they realised that the leads should be vaguely attractive and not just recycled C-Listers.

Although I say that, the story wasn't bad. It could have been delivered with a bit more drama, but I didn't turn it off at least.

When you're Dad is Father Christmas, you might get a bit overshadowed, but isn't the whole point of Christmas to learn how to love and forgive. That's what we find out here. A lot of stories intertwining and some silliness ensues with a really bratty kid, although she is a terrible mother too.

Even the fact that "The Rocky Horror Picture Show's" very own Brad appears, does not help it along and Diane from Cheers does nothing for me.

If you've seen the rest, then watch this one.

I really wanted to like this film. On the one hand it was refreshing to see a real Christmas movie instead of some formulaic rom-com from the H Factory. However, the movie did not maintiain the cuteness factor it started with and instead got into a lot of dark depressing drama that seemed to drag the film to almost a standstill, then boom everything is fine and it's over. Disappointing.