J'ai rencontré le Père Noël

This is my favorite Christmas movie. I guess that when it showed on TV in the US, my parents taped it. Now we have a copy and I can't go a Christmas without watching it. Yes, it was made in the 80's but a lot of great films were! The story line is so cute and it will surely touch your heart. Though it might scare you that it is in French, they made an English version as well! Trust me, you will love this movie. It is good for children too. It is clean and fun for your whole family. My dad even took on the job of being the family ogre after watching it!! I hope you enjoy this movie as much as my family has. I have been watching this movie every Christmas for almsot 19 years.

This film was just totally insane suffice to say as the plot was not on point and the only thing that could have made this movie make any sense was not used. The film does get points for being different, but it is so way out there that you cannot even see it! Along with being different it also features a very attractive lady as the Xmas fairy/schoolteacher; however, aside from that there is little to enjoy about this film other than the fact it is sheer madness that this film exists in the first place!

The story, a kid is a bit of a sad child and the other kids tease him and blame him for breaking a window, so the custodian tosses him into a shed. Turns out this boy's parents have been kidnapped by an African warlord so the boy asks Santa to bring them back. At this point, you are probably wondering if I am making this up, but nope. The boy along with a girl somehow board a plane and head to a place where there is snow and they find Santa! Also, just outside the borders of the town lurks an ogre that eats children and Santa has apparently not bothered to do anything about this. Santa and Xmas fairy go to rescue the boy's parents and the kids get caught by the ogre because the girl wants to see it, because all girls like to look at bloodthirsty ogres...

The only road this film had to make its plot make sense is the tired "it was all a dream" cliche. I mean, why else would the ogre and the custodian be the same person? Why else would the teacher and fairy be the same person, it had to be a dream! Nope, they play it off like it all happened so puppies were eaten, Santa was almost killed by an African warlord and then Santa left the parents to their fate. Seriously, they could have easily been recaptured after Santa teleported back home.

So this film was complete madness! Which is a bit of why I give this one a three rather than a one or two. That and the very attractive fairy when she switched to her red riding hood costume! The story though also makes no sense and the fact that they played it off as really happening and not a dream seems crazy. Still, while it was a bit insane, it was also quite different so it had that going for it.

As someone who lives in America, I saw the English dubbed version of this film released by Starmaker Video. I don't know if anything was lost in the translation or if this is just an odd film. My guess is the latter.

The plot revolves around a sweet little boy named Simon whose parents have somehow become political prisoners in Africa. Simon's class in school writes letters to Santa and he tells the jolly ol' man that he doesn't want toys for Christmas. He only wants his parents back.

Soon afterwards, the class takes a trip to the airport. Interestingly enough, Simon and a little girl named Elodie end up separated from their classmates and are placed on a plane. The plane supposedly takes them to the same part of the world where Santa lives (although it's not the South Pole). The two little kids wander around in the snow and into a forest in search of Santa.

This peculiar film includes more than just Santa Claus though. It also boasts an ogre, a fairy, a tribe of African rebels and several headache-inducing songs sung at the most inappropriate of times. I will probably remember "Here Comes Santa Claus" for quite some time. However, don't consider that a recommendation for you to go out and find a copy of this rare flick. 2/10

A young boy tells his teacher that all he wants for christmas is his mother and father, who are political prisoners in Africa.... (can't tell the story).. Gets the opportunity to confront Santa, and ask him to free his parents. This film is french (dubbed English), that has a great story, nice soundtrack, and an ending that will bring tears to your eyes (If you are a compassionate person.) Some Parts are funny! Great musical soundtrack! (speaking for the dubbed version).

That's C. Gion's best film and it is definitively not a good film! Gion is infamous for his bad comedies from the eighties to the beginning of the 90s. He shot "J'ai rencontré le père Noel" in 1984. This Christmas tale stands out in his filmography. It's a movie for children, a film deprived of rude words and saucy situations. There's a change! The problem is that the indigent screenplay doesn't work and Gion is as bad as usual. Nothing works and everything looks so naive, too childish and fake. Surprinsingly only karen Cheryl, at the time a famous anchorwoman and former singer, manages to catch our attention. She's not that bad at all.