mrlanceb

The main reason for the success of the original Munsters TV show was the great chemistry between the three main players: Fred Gwynne, Al Lewis, and Yvonne DeCarlo. The writers and directors played to the talents of these three actors in their respective characters, and it worked. The result was clever family sitcom satire, and the silly humor was done well. Gwynne played Herman with the perfect combination of pride and innocence, and the cast played off of each other brilliantly. It was so easy to accept the family as perfectly normal in their own right, you might even want them to be your neighbors.

Trying to re-create this kind of on-screen magic seems to be a challenge that can be met only with an inspired new take on an old premise. Except it needs to work. One of the biggest problems with this movie is the way the main parts are written and played. None of the three main characters are likeable. Herman comes off as obnoxious and conceited. The Count is more coarse than clever. Lily's shallowness overwhelms her character. What made the originals endearing is completely missing here. The movie's effort to be funny and entertaining fails, with too much riding on jokes that fall flat. By the time the Munsters come together as a family and prepare to make the trip to America, it was hard to care what happened to them.

Although it was reported that Rob Zombie was overruled in his desire to do this movie in black and white, his response to go all-out in the opposite direction with cartoonish color was a mistake. The worst is Herman's bright-green makeup, which looks too much like Jim Carrey's character in "Mask" (look it up if you don't remember). The Count's cyanotic blue is almost as bad. The sets are visually stunning but over-saturated with the Halloween color palette. I give the most credit for the re-creation of the Munster Mansion exterior... no other remake or reboot has bothered to do a faithful rendition of this iconic house before now. Since it is not seen until near the end of the movie, I guess they saved the best for last.

I appreciate this movie as a fan labor of love that actually made it to the screen after all these decades, so I'll give three stars for that.

It all begins poignantly enough...

Teddy and his little sister, Kate, live with their widowed working mother. Kate savors the memories of her late holiday-sentimental father through his old video camera, which is her constant companion. Teddy, on the other hand, is prone to hitting the streets and acting out. When Kate discovers compelling evidence that Santa has actually visited their home during a previous Christmas, she hatches a plan to capture him fully on tape. After she compels Teddy to help her, this ride launches into full speed.

I have seen Kurt Russell on screen since he was a boy. Now, after more than 50 years of playing action/adventure/comedy/drama heroes, he shines in this role of Santa. The rest of the cast puts on great performances as well, with Judah Lewis and Darby Camp joining Russell to round out a strong trio. The characters are natural, the police are not played as fools, and the bad guys actually seem bad.

The directing is strong and well-paced, with attention to detail that keeps things entertaining at every turn. The music throughout is excellent, and includes a clever musical number. There are some familiar themes and elements, no doubt, but they are handled with enough new flavor and don't seem recycled.

This is a Christmas movie you and the kids might want to see now and during many holiday seasons in the future, as it rightfully takes its place among the really good ones.

"All American Christmas Carol" tries to play both sides of the line between trailer trash schlock and family redemption ala Dickens. Unfortunately, it fails to entertain in either realm. The pace of the movie is uneven and slow, bouncing around story points that go on too long and initially leave you wondering what all this is leading to. Most of the cast is competent enough, but the characters and situations, as written, are uninteresting and unconvincing. Ironically, when the first ghost finally appears in the presence of the character supposedly needing to be un-Scrooged, the moment is rushed with no buildup or reaction whatsoever to the game-changing event. Why this scene is played with such dryness by both characters is both puzzling and disappointing, especially after so many uncompelling scenes leading up to it. And so it goes with the rest of the spirits who have their subsequent (and unremarkable) interactions. At what point this movie was supposed to be entertaining was lost on me. The resolution that finally brings this movie to an end is equally unbelievable, uninteresting, and prolonged.

I gave this movie 3 stars for good acting by some of the cast, and overall technical production that was decent. None of those stars are for special effects, as the ghosts appear mostly via camera cuts and are only afforded makeup for their afterlife appearance.

If you like stereotypical trailer trash gags, this movie has a few. Otherwise, there's not much else in it worth the hour and a half.