The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland: Film Review
The magical worlds of Christmas and Alice in Wonderland collide in this animated adaptation of the children’s picture book, The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland.
The animated musical follows St. Nick (voiced by Gerard Butler with his natural Scottish brogue) after he receives a letter from Wonderland, where Christmas has been outlawed by the Queen of Hearts (Emilia Clarke). Despite a sleighful of presents to deliver, he decides to make a detour to Wonderland to help restore the festive spirit.
I really liked the film’s distinctive 2D hand-drawn animation style – it looks like the children’s picture book come to life! In addition to the visuals, the movie is also loyal to the book with its rhyming structure and the main beats. But of course, the story needs to be substantially expanded to fulfil a feature. So Alice (Simone Ashley) is made into a proper character, the reindeer are given a lot more to do (and hilarious lines to say) and there’s a new addition, Boots the Elf, a stowaway who comes along for the ride. This cute and hilarious elf, who doesn’t speak, is the star of the show.
Those are welcome additions but I must admit the story wore thin for me during a maze sequence and scenes of the Queen of Hearts tracking down St. Nick. They were still pleasant enough to watch but I got the feeling that it was padding for time. The film is only 1 hour 20 minutes but I reckon the concept only really needed an hour.
The musical numbers, penned by famed songwriters Guy Chambers and Amy Wadge, were nice enough at the time but I forgot them immediately. What’s the deal with unmemorable original songs at the moment?! That being said, I did really enjoy the opening number, It’s Showtime, and hearing Butler sing as St. Nick and his team prepared for the Christmas Eve journey. Butler is perfectly cast; I also liked Clarke as the angsty and petulant Queen and Asim Chaudhry as the March Hare.
The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland is a solid festive film with a brilliant sense of humour and a stellar voice cast. Children will probably appreciate this more than adults.
On Sky Cinema from Friday 13th December