Based on Matt Haig’s bestselling book, A Boy Called Christmas is a Santa Claus origin story packed so full of seasonal signifiers and upbeat messaging it makes the John Lewis ad feel positively humbug. But, happily, director Gil Kenan (Monster House, City Of Ember, co-screenwriter of Ghostbusters: Afterlife) has a feel for youth-oriented adventures that feel both handmade and spirited without laying on the sentiment too thick. You’ve seen this kind of thing a million times before, but this is an enjoyable version of it.
Of course, it starts with a modern-day opening gambit. Three siblings — they’ve just lost their mother — are left in the care of their pithy Aunt Ruth (Maggie Smith — imagine a cynical take on Hook’s Granny Wendy), as their dad (Joel Fry) is called into work on Christmas Eve. Pointedly announcing, “The universe is made of stories, not atoms,” Ruth spins a tale about a young boy, the similarly bereaved Nikolas (Henry Lawfull, winning), who lives in a remote cabin in Finland with his woodcutter father Joel (Michiel Huisman) — his only toy is a doll carved from a turnip left by his late mother (Hasbro won’t be bricking it). The King (Jim Broadbent) announces a competition to bring joy back to the land, so Joel joins a mission to find a fabled city of elves (no, not Stockport). When Joel goes AWOL, Nikolas sets off in hot pursuit, joined by a stubborn reindeer the kid names Blitzen and smart-alec mouse Miika (a fun Stephen Merchant).
It’s familiar stuff — a wicked aunt, scary encounters with bears and trolls, a tyrannical despot, flying-through-the-air antics, lots of life lessons — but the screenplay by Kenan and Ol Parkerhas sincerity and sweetness, played by a strong cast (as well as the above, there’s Kristen Wiig, Sally Hawkins and Toby Jones). Kenan directs with élan, his nifty animated scene-transitions seamlessly linking Aunt Ruth’s yarn-spinning with Nikolas’ adventures. The dialogue is strewn with Haig-esque inspirational aphorisms (“To see something, you have to believe in it”), but hints of melancholy keep the sugar at pre-diabetic levels. The result is a predictable but easy-to-like seasonal escapade — if it goes gangbusters, expect ‘A Girl Called Bank Holiday Monday’ next August.
