i believe in father christmas - redux

Here's a throwback post from 2011, which still has meaning for me, especially today ...

My almost eight year-old has been asking me all month long about Santa. She was bugged that some of the kids at school were trying to convince her that he doesn't exist. A lot of her friends still believe, but she has asked me if I do, too. I answered unhesitatingly in the affirmative. And I'm not lying. That doesn't mean that I believe that a jolly man in a red suit will be coming down our non-existent chimney tonight. But I do believe that Santa, something magical, does exist in the world, most definitely in my daughter's world. When kids grow up and become parents they become Santa. They make magic for their kids. They pass the baton, so that their children can share in that same feeling that they remember from their childhood — a mixture of hope, anticipation, faith and disbelief — could it really be? And then the presents are there in the morning — magic!

I don't blame the playground kids. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs or disbeliefs. I first covered this topic two Xmas eves ago and still feel exactly the same way:

The whole world is magical to kids. They want to believe in Santa, Rudolph, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc. Kids don't live in a bubble. At five my daughter and her friends are already deeply discussing whether Santa, etc. exists. Some are trying to convince her otherwise, like kids tried back in 1897 to Virginia O'Hanlon. I'm in the "He's real" camp until she shows signs of not wanting to believe anymore. Kids can be cruel and just plain silly, but the "There is no Santa" schoolyard discussions seem to me less an attempt to blow a hole in the magic bubble, but an attempt to appear smarter, more knowledgeable of the oh-so-attractive grown-up world. Kids, if you only had the merest glimpse of the mundanity of many aspects of what it is to be "grown-up," you'd relax and settle back and bask in fantasies like Santa as long as possible.

I also think it is worth reprinting some words of Santa wisdom from one of my favorite authors, Alexander McCall Smith (originally printed in Parade):

Myths help us to get by. The day they all die and we tell our children exactly how things are, the world will be a poorer, less enchanted place. So don’t be ashamed to clap your hands at Peter Pan or act as if Santa exists. He stands for kindness and generosity, and those things are alive and will continue to be alive—as long as we believe in them.

I have some cookies to decorate for Santa — Merry Christmas!

hanging with santa

We visited a local candy shop over the weekend that also has a holiday Santa and Mrs. Claus in residence. It's funny that when the kid is almost too old for all of this (thankfully not yet) she also, finally, isn't freaked out by gong to see the man in the red suit. I'm not so sure about the electric scooter they were discussing, however ...

rise of the guardians and the rise of william joyce

We saw Rise of the Guardians over the holiday weekend. It was beautifully animated, more than a little frenetic, but intriguing. The kid loved it. I enjoyed most of it. Like the equally super-charged The Avengers, I find fight scenes in movies to always be a little too fast-paced and blurry and a little too long in length. I was going to say in animated as well as live-action movies, but lets face it, with so much CGI these days most fight scenes in the movies are 90% computer animated anyway.

Jack Frost just wants to have fun

The story is a standard good vs. evil battle. The very not-nice Pitch (Jude Law), or the Boogeyman, as most have come to call him, is tired of being shunned and ignored and is plotting to turn every human's, and especially children's, dreams into nightmares. The Guardians are a group of beings whose express mission is to protect children. Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), and The Sandman have come together to decide how to deal with Pitch when the Man in the Moon chooses a new Guardian, Jack Frost (Chris Pine). Jack is not only reluctant to join the crew, but is unsure of who he is and his real purpose. Maybe The Guardians aren't so different from those other super heroes, The Avengers, after all.

Kids will connect to the lonely Jack and love the other Guardians, especially boisterous Santa, his goofy elves, and the guys who apparently do the real work at the North Pole, the Yeti. Parents and guardians will like the slightly darker tone of the story and its imagery. Santa has "Naughty" tattooed on one forearm and "Nice" on the other. The Easter Bunny lives in a warren with monolithic sculptural eggs. The Tooth Fairy is unnaturally knowledgeable about Jack's and everyone's flossing habits. The voice actors for the most part have a lot of fun with their characters and their enthusiasm carries through to the audience. Pine does a nice job as Jack. Baldwin sports a Russian accent for his boisterous Santa. Hugh Jackman gets most of the laughs with his down-under kangaroo — I mean bunny. Jude Law is appropriately menacing as Pitch. Isla Fisher is fine as the Tooth Fairy, but her voice isn't very remarkable or memorable — it's not likely that the audience would recognize her the way they might have if the character was voiced by someone with a more distinctive voice like Reese Witherspoon.

The all-embracing Santa and his sidekicks, the Yeti

After watching Rise of the Guardians I was interested enough to find out a little bit more about it and its author, William Joyce. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I am already familiar with quite a bit of Joyce's work, and am now eager to see and read more. He is the co-director of the lovely animated and Oscar-winning short, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. He is one of the founders of Louisiana-based Moonbot Studios, which produced Lessmore. He has also written several books which have been adapted into films, including Meet the Robinsons and Robots. The upcoming Epic (which we are really looking forward to seeing) is based on his book The Leaf Men.

Coincidentally I had picked up the first book this summer in the Guardians series at a library book sale, Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King. The kid and I had not gotten around to reading it yet. After seeing Rise of the Guardians I zipped through it in two afternoons, deciding to read it first before handing it over to my daughter. We'll probably end up reading it together. It shares some similarities with the film, as Pitch is still the main villain, but it is more of an origin story for Santa Claus, or the bandit Nicholas St. North as he was once known. There are hints of everything from The Wizard of Oz to Harry Potter in the book, but kids should enjoy it and its heroine, Katherine, a young girl who joins Nicholas and the wizard Ombric on an adventure. Joyce has followed it up with E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core! which also looks like a lot of fun.

The Easter Bunny can be tough when he wants to be

I'm happy to be getting to see more work from Joyce and his partners in crime (in the case of Rise of the Guardians, Guillermo del Toro). And I like how he talks and thinks about projects:

The idea of developing a feature, as just a feature, seems kind of limiting. You could develop it as a book, and develop it as an app, and get its — see how it’s working, and see if the designs are appealing. And get it out there, get a sense of people’s response to it, and not just stay cloaked behind a veil of secrecy. Back in the day, Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers, a lot of those — and Chaplin — they would take their ideas, and take them on the stage first. They’d go and play, evolve those ideas, see how the audience responded to what they were working on, and get a sense of how the story, ideas, the gags and things would work, before they go into production on a film. We’re finding the equivalent of that, you know, now with apps and other technologies. It’s kind of exciting.

DreamWorks's animated films just keep geting better and better looking, and Rise of the Guardians takes viewers through environments that are visual knock-outs. It's a fun movie, if a bit frenetically paced. There are likely to be a sequel or two. Hopefully the filmmakers will slow things down enough for the audience to take in all the pretty pictures.

Sources:

A113 Animation, "Interview: William Joyce, Moonbot Studios Co-Founder and Co-Director of Morris Lessmore"

holiday movies — rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

We are still in holiday movie mode, and no holiday movie viewing would be complete without pulling out the classic stop-motion animated Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. This is a fond childhood memory for me, so it's a treat to share it with my kid. We had the soundtrack album when I was  growing up, too. The kid loves Rudolph, of course, and especially his glamorous lady friend Clarice. I have always had a soft spot for the Abominable Snow Monster and all the denizens of The Island of Misfit Toys, but everyone has their favorite, like dentist elf Hermey or the irascible Yukon Cornelius.

Original animation model for Rudolph, from TV Party! which also has some excellent background information on the making of the television special

I've always had an affection for stop-motion animation. I guess because I've always loved dolls. Rudolph is probably the most famous of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials, but they have also made some other great animated films, including Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, Jack Frost, The Year Without a Santa Claus, with the incomparable Heat Miser and Snow Miser, and the delightful feature film Mad Monster Party. What probably puts Rudolph ahead of the rest is the music — not just the title song, but many of the others sung by Burl Ives, which have become holiday staples, like "Silver And Gold" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas." The longest-running television Christmas special, Rudolph's nose continues to shine brightly.

it's beginning to look a lot like ...

... Oh, you know.

Thanksgiving may be less than a week away, but the kid has gone full steam ahead towards Christmas. She has already drafted a list to Santa and scoped out our home for optimum tree placement. She has also been urging me to start putting up decorations. I am trying to resist, but her excitement is kind of contagious. And adorable.

We will be having family here for Thanksgiving, folks we won't be seeing over the Xmas holidays, so putting up the tree right before, or while they are here might actually be fun. The only question is, how long will I be able to hold out until she has me trimming the tree and decking the halls? Stay tuned. Holiday decoration posts are probably in my near future.

She's gotten a little too big for that pony.

Related articles

• push back the season

xmas comes (very) early

VERY early this morning (I think it was technically morning) the kid sneaked into my room and announced that Santa had come, because there were a lot more presents under the tree than when she went to bed last night.

I explained through muffled bed linens that I don't put my presents out until after she goes to sleep, so after a little investigating she found mine and an unlabeled gift bag full of goodies that she determined must be from Santa.

Of course opening one gift led to another and soon the cats even got to play with what was in their stocking (and all the wrapping paper) and my bedroom floor looked exactly like what it should on a Christmas morning. A total mess.

Merry Xmas!

i believe in father christmas

My almost eight year-old has been asking me all month long about Santa. She was bugged that some of the kids at school were trying to convince her that he doesn't exist. A lot of her friends still believe, but she has asked me if I do, too. I answered unhesitatingly in the affirmative. And I'm not lying. That doesn't mean that I believe that a jolly man in a red suit will be coming down our non-existent chimney tonight. But I do believe that Santa, something magical, does exist in the world, most definitely in my daughter's world. When kids grow up and become parents they become Santa. They make magic for their kids. They pass the baton, so that their children can share in that same feeling that they remember from their childhood — a mixture of hope, anticipation, faith and disbelief — could it really be? And then the presents are there in the morning — magic!

I don't blame the playground kids. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs or disbeliefs. I first covered this topic two Xmas eves ago and still feel exactly the same way:

The whole world is magical to kids. They want to believe in Santa, Rudolph, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc. Kids don't live in a bubble. At five my daughter and her friends are already deeply discussing whether Santa, etc. exists. Some are trying to convince her otherwise, like kids tried back in 1897 to Virginia O'Hanlon. I'm in the "He's real" camp until she shows signs of not wanting to believe anymore. Kids can be cruel and just plain silly, but the "There is no Santa" schoolyard discussions seem to me less an attempt to blow a hole in the magic bubble, but an attempt to appear smarter, more knowledgeable of the oh-so-attractive grown-up world. Kids, if you only had the merest glimpse of the mundanity of many aspects of what it is to be "grown-up," you'd relax and settle back and bask in fantasies like Santa as long as possible.

I also think it is worth reprinting some words of Santa wisdom from one of my favorite authors, Alexander McCall Smith (originally printed in Parade):

Myths help us to get by. The day they all die and we tell our children exactly how things are, the world will be a poorer, less enchanted place. So don’t be ashamed to clap your hands at Peter Pan or act as if Santa exists. He stands for kindness and generosity, and those things are alive and will continue to be alive—as long as we believe in them.

I have some cookies to decorate for Santa — Merry Christmas!

arthur christmas is a treat

Animated movies have been so popular over the past few years that Hollywood is churning them out with greater frequency. But a little bit of computer animation goes a long way (at least for me.) So many seem to just be capitalizing on children's love of bright colors and the inevitable fast food kid's meal tie-in (Happy Feet 2). I have been resisting them, preferring to take the kid to live-action family fare. But I'm not a Grinch, so last week we went to see Arthur Christmas, which was actually quite good.

Arthur composes a letter from Santa

Director Sarah Smith has assembled some great vocal talent:

James McAvoy as Arthur, Santa's younger son, who is clumsy and sweet and deemed to be not much good at anything. His job is reading and answering children's letters to Santa. He loves everything about Christmas.

Hugh Laurie as his brother Steve, who hopes to succeed their father, Santa, and soon. Santa's hyper-efficient older son, he has streamlined and updated Santa's Christmas Eve operation, replacing his sleigh with a spaceship, and coordinating thousands of elves delivering presents from his control center at the North Pole.

Arthur and Steve at mission control

Bill Nighy as Grandsanta, who isn't happy about being put out to pasture

Jim Broadbent as an out-of-touch Santa, who leaves everything to Steve

Imelda Staunton as his wise wife, Mrs. Santa

Ashley Jensen as Bryony, a gift-wrapping elf extraordinaire

Bryony can wrap anything, even a bicycle

Michael Palin, Robbie Coltrane, and Joan Cusack all voice elves, too

What was really fun about Arthur Christmas was the quirky characters and Wallace and Gromit style of animation that I've come to know and love (Aardman Animations upcoming The Pirates! Band of Misfits also looks great). The plot is simple, as it should be in a kids' movie. A little girl  has been overlooked in the massive operation helmed by Steve and figure-headed by Santa — the delivering of a Christmas present to every child all over the world on Christmas Eve. Arthur, who reads and answers all the letters to Santa, remembers the little girl's letter and her request for a pink bicycle. He is very upset — even one child should not be missed, and he tries to convince his family to deliver her gift before Christmas Day.

Grandsanta takes Arthur out in Santa's sleigh

Steve and Santa are willing to write it all off as a good percentage of error, but that doesn't work for Arthur. He, Grandsanta, and Bryony set out to deliver the present — in Santa's old sleigh, with real reindeer, who have all been living in the barn since being replaced by Steve's spaceship. A series of amusing misadventures ensue.

Not only do we get that age-old question answered — how can Santa manage to deliver all of those presents in one night — but we are introduced to the multigenerational Santas, a supremely dysfunctional family. That's three very good kids' movies we've seen this holiday season: The Muppets, Hugo, and Arthur Christmas, which is sweet and silly and highly original.

scenes from a thursday ...

Santa brought bikes for Xmas ...

Rudolph the red-nosed Volkswagen

merry xmas!

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.Waiting for Santa, Xmas loot, Parfaits are the best damn thing on the planet, New toys, Yorkshire pudding and potatoes, onions and radishes, cookies, roast beast, gingerbread house, camel, trees, putti, two front teeth, lights, family, ocean, cats in a Xmas tree, donkey, angel wings ... merry Xmas!

button, button ...

Your home is a box. Your car is a box on wheels. You drive to work in it. You drive home in it. You sit in your home, staring into a box. It erodes your soul, while the box that is your body inevitably withers ... then dies. Where upon it is placed in the ultimate box, to slowly decompose.—Frank Langella, in The Box

The Box isn't a great movie. I'm not even sure if it's a good one. But it sure held my attention. It was enthralling. Maybe it was the performances by Langella, Cameron Diaz and one of my favorite actors, James Marsden. Or maybe it was the out-of-this-world set design. I was a child in the seventies, but I never saw patterns like the ones on Diaz's and Marsden's walls and upholstery—but I have to admit I loved them in this movie and found them as intriguing as the convoluted plot. The crazy plot can be blamed on famous sci-fi writer Richard Matheson, best known for I Am Legend, Hell House and Nightmare at 20,00 Feet. The whole film does have an extended Twilight Zone episode feel to it. It doesn't quite successfully pull together the disparate themes of (possible) alien intervention, religion (is Langella a god or a devil?), or existentialism (Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit is an oft-referenced subtext.)

I have an offer to make. If you push the button, two things will happen. First, someone, somewhere in the world, whom you don't know, will die. Second, you will receive a payment of one million dollars. You have 24 hours.—Frank Langella, in The Box

But mostly I keep going back to the visuals. Some of the film's scenes have the color and tone of an old Kodachrome print. That crazy wallpaper. The scene at the school where Cameron Diaz is challenged by a creepy student. Gigantic rectangular shapes of water. Arcade Fire's creepy-beautiful score.

I had to laugh at a scene that was full of danger and suspense, but also humor (It's a Christmas movie!)—a waving Santa Claus (creepier than any clown, and we all know how creepy clowns are) blocks the hero's progress in the middle of a road, causing the car to crash. I remembered at that moment that the film was directed by Donnie Darko's Richard Kelly.

Where can I get that wallpaper?Sometimes a movie can be scary and funny and not make any sense and you can still enjoy it. It may never be on the "greatest movies" [arbitrary] list, but it's still worth watching. If movies weren't so g-d expensive we wouldn't have such high expectations, be so hard on them. I guess because it's getting rarer and rarer for me to rush out and see a movie first-run (I'll make an exception for Harry Potter, of course) I can be a little more open-minded. I've only invested a DVD rental or my monthly cable bill at most to see it, and not a six dollar soda and 12 dollar popcorn and parking, etc., etc. So I didn't think The Box "owed me" anything. Not even, as Dr. Evil might say, "One Meeelllyun dollars!") I just found it interesting. Interesting enough to recommend. Maybe even interesting enough to see when it rolls by again on cable, if I'm in the mood for a puzzler. And great set design.

Film is ephemeral. It's a shame that it is so industry- and profit-based. Taking a quick glance at the box office receipts on Wikipedia it seems that The Box cost about $30 million dollars to make. It made its money back and then some. The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus cost the same amount of money to make. It also made its money back, but like The Box, not from its U.S. release, but predominantly from receipts outside North America. But both movies, I'm sure, are considered by Hollywood to be flops. I love movies, but this way of thinking sucks.

Anyway, check out The Box—not the greatest movie you'll ever watch—intriguing, interesting, and original. How's that for a conundrum/recommendation?