The animated yuletide comedy That Christmas is an interlocking set of stand alone stories brought to you by one of the undisputed kings of that style of filmmaking. Although it’s directed by first time helmer Simon Otto, That Christmas is co-written by Love, Actually, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Notting Hill scribe Richard Curtis, adapting three of his own children’s stories. While this retains a similar structure to the beloved/divisive holiday classic Curtis is best known for, and it still has a healthy dose of sugary sweetness, That Christmas sands down all of the rougher edges that makes something like Love, Actually hard to digest for some. It’s an inventive, likeable, and warm tale about kids and adults trying not to lose faith in the power of Santa Claus and the overall holiday season.
That Christmas unfolds in the tiny Suffolk Coast hamlet of Wellington-on-Sea, which is about to experience the worst snow storm in the town’s history. The weather forecast is putting a bigger damper on an already less-than-stellar holiday for some local residents. Danny (voiced by Jack Wisniewski) is the new kid in town, eagerly awaiting the arrival of his absentee father, while wishing his single mum (Jodie Whittaker) didn’t have to work such long hours at her nursing job. Danny’s high strung crush, Sam (Zazie Hayhurst), is worried that her troublemaker sister, Charlotte (Sienna Sayer), will end up on Santa’s naughty list and won’t have anything in her stocking come Christmas morn. Young, strong willed, and anti-traditionalist Bernadette (India Brown) will have her hands full caring for a group of even younger kids when a bunch of parents get stranded while coming home from a wedding. Near the end of his duties for the evening, and down to a single reindeer, Santa (Brian Cox, getting a chance to act genuinely jolly for the first time in who knows how long) decides to give Wellington-on-Sea a little extra attention this year.
That Christmas is the second feature film from Locksmith Animation, who previously made the delightful and underrated Ron’s Gone Wrong. The holiday detail and snowy landscapes are wonderfully rendered, and a simple scene where Sam and Danny have a chat outside her parents’ shop glistens with wintery charm. But the film is primarily a vehicle for the sort of narrative viewers turn to Curtis (working with co-writer Peter Souter) to deliver. And to his credit, Curtis is highly cognizant of the fact that he’s made pretty much this same movie before, even going as far as to self-deprecatingly dunk on Love, Actually’s notoriety not once, but twice, and to nice effect. The only difference between that film and this one – outside of the shift to a younger viewpoint throughout and the medium of animation – is that the tone of That Christmas is far more relaxed and easygoing.
The plotting is a bit overstuffed for something aimed at a younger crowd, but additional threads involving a lonely, but stern teacher (Fiona Shaw), an unscrupulous turkey farmer (Paul Kaye), and a discouraged lighthouse-keeper (Bill Nighy) who plans all of the town’s festive events add some nice adult colour to an otherwise kid-centric story. There are some heartfelt, tearjerking moments and bits of cheeky humour (particularly during the atypical Christmas pageant opening sequence) in typical Curtis fashion, and just like some of his most notable efforts as a writer, things are laid on pretty thick towards the end. But even when things start feeling like a bit much, That Christmas has been a solidly entertaining effort to that point. It will leave the emotional stocking full.
That Christmas is now playing in select theatres and starts streaming on Netflix on Wednesday, December 4, 2024.
