Santa Jaws

This might have worked as some skit on SNL for 5 minutes every Christmas, or as an episode of "South Park" poking fun at terrible shark and Christmas movies simultaneously.

But good lord this was stupid. And it tried to take this incredibly stupid concept absolutely seriously. And the CGI... it's a SyFy original, you all know what to expect. And you will not be mistaken. There was also very little of it. There was very little... anything. I don't think the creators had either the budget or creativity to do anything even amusing with their one-note concept.

Two stars are for the actors, who tried their very best through one of the dumbest ideas in cinematic history. I think several of them deserve a shot in something better-made. And one is for the primary camera work which at least looks modestly well-done.

You get what you pay for with "Santa Jaws". It's a silly but mostly fun movie. The location is nice and the cast is good. The shark scenes are worth the wait. I have nothing bad to say about "Santa Jaws". I don't think it will become a Christmas tradition but that's okay. It was a fun watch last night. Honorable mention: a dreamy Haviland Stillwell.

If you're looking for a serious action movie, well then I don't know why you're here, looking at reviews for a movie titled "Santa Jaws". Move on now.

If you enjoy cute, campy movies with bad CGI, welcome home. This is your movie and we are your people. Lower your expectations and enjoy the ride.

Two talented boys create a comic book character that comes to life after the illustrator is given a magical pen. Wacky hijinks ensue. With the exception of the bad CGI, this movie is good. Campy but good. It looks higher budget on the screen than it should. Everyone does their job well.

I gave it 6 stars instead of 7 because I felt like the ending missed the mark a little. Close but it fumbled the landing by a step.

Very skilled actors performing a poorly written script, which is exactly what you're expecting (and admit it, hoping for) from movies like this.

"Santa Jaws" sounds preposterous, and it is.

But it's also exactly what it needs to be.

The director (Misty Talley) was able to keep this together pretty well instead of sending it straight off the rails, and managed to include the appropriate camp-to-family ratio that makes Christmas movies work. The script was creative. Some of the casting was excellent (Ritchie Montgomery, Haviland Stillwell, Hawn Tran all did great character work here). The result was a movie that is every bit as family-friendly as "The Meg" aspired to be without losing any of the qualities that make the best of the Sy-Fy shark movies work.

Yes, it's still a "bad shark movie". It's as ludicrous as the title suggests, but it still managed to be a really good, really fun "bad shark movie".

7.5/10. Bravo!