They say never judge a book by its cover, and I guess you could also say never judge a movie by its poster. I have seen the “A Boy Named Christmas” poster on Netflix for years and assumed it was animated. Just look at the poster; a cursory glance makes it look like it is. Yet when I fired up the movie, the first thing I saw was Maggie Smith. When she started telling a story, I assumed it would be the animated part of the movie. Nope. The whole movie was live action. I don’t think I have ever been so wrong about a movie before.
I had heard this movie was good, but with “The Christmas Chronicles” and “Klaus” being on Netflix, I never gave “A Boy Named Christmas” a chance. I didn’t know what I was in for, given that I didn’t even know it wasn’t animated, but I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the idea of a grandmother telling her grandchildren the story of the first Christmas. It was full of hope, magic, and goodwill towards others.
I enjoyed it, but I don’t think it’s going to make its way into my Christmas movie rotation. As much as I like Sally Hawkins, her being the “villain” didn’t work because her motives were very broad and, to be honest, very right-wing: the only way to keep elves safe is to keep everyone else out. I get that this is targeted towards kids, and thin characters are typical of those movies. If anything, kids' movies can be more complex. The best kids' movies are the ones that have something for the adults to enjoy, too.
