Movie Review: Dear Santa (2024) seen on Prime Video

Comedy: some scenes may be unsuitable for young children; scenes which depict learning disabilities, some medical dialogue and images, partial crude humor, minor romantic scenes involving children who experience crushes, scenes which depict family problems and impending divorce

This movie follows a young boy with dyslexia who is visited by Satan, (played by Jack Black,) after misspelling the word Santa when writing his letter to him for Christmas. Although the boy is confused and freaked out by the appearance of Satan, he eventually warms up to his presence after Satan is able to boost his self confidence having been bullied by his classmates prior to his arrival. He eventually assists the boy in asking out the girl he likes. Meanwhile, his parents believe he has an overactive imagination and try to get him help before they start to believe he is losing grip on reality.

This is the first movie review I’ve done in a while which I have not seen in theatres. I know I kept saying that I would get around to watching this movie in particular for a few days but I never did up to this point due to illness and fatigue among other things preventing me from having the energy to watch the movie, let alone review it but I’m glad I was finally able to make good on my promise in time for Christmas. I heard about this movie about a week and a half ago from a friend of mine as well my mother had recommended I watched it. As I’ve said so many times in previous blogs I have written, this is the first in what I hope to be a whole bunch of Christmas movie reviews I get to do in the days leading up to the big day.

I was really drawn to this movie by the casting of Jack Black as he is one of my favourite actors. I had previously watched the preview for this movie and I knew I would like it. Other than Jack Black’s character, my favourite character was the mother in this movie as she was very attractive. I happen to be a single man at the time of this writing and I was into this movie from the first scene.

There were a couple of small things I had to take issue with though. The first thing is the discussion of cancer throughout this film. I know the boy’s friend didn’t really have it but I have to be honest in saying that this was not one of my favourite things about this movie for the simple reason that it hits too close to home for me. Earlier this year, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and though she was able to beat it, I know a lot of people who haven’t. Also, while she suffered with the disease, there was a time when I felt she would not make it. Seeing her in a hospital bed was very hard for me and though it has gotten better since then, I cannot listen to anybody who says they have cancer and it bothers me even more if that person dies of cancer. It makes me feel good that mom was able to beat it. At the same time though, hearing about it brings the fact that it could return to the front of my mind. If that ever did happen and it came back, I don’t know if I would ever be able to cope with it.

Another small detail that I take issue with is the predictability of the movie’s ending. These movies tend to really follow the same formula. Bullied boy meets some imaginary being who boosts his self confidence despite the boy’s initial apprehension and has to keep his friends/family from noticing for fear that nobody will believe him. Boy ends up befriending the imaginary being who then must depart promising the boy that he/she/it will never forget the good times they had while urging the boy to do the same as the credits roll. This formula was used throughout this movie and it was very predictable from near the beginning when Satan appears that something along those lines would occur and sure enough, that’s what ends up happening.

I don’t know of any child who would not want to be granted three wishes for anything he/she would want. Personally, I would love to have some genie or Satan, ETC show up and grant me three wishes, especially if that person was Jack Black himself as he is one of my favourite actors and he also has a lot of money. I also think that in general, he would be a great person to hang out with and get to know.

Despite this movie having some questionable themes, the good outweighs the bad this time around and those bad points will not negatively effect the outcome of this movie as it was a great movie to watch. I think it was cast really well and as much as I praise Jack Black for his performance in this movie, I have to also praise the physical appearance of the mother in this movie as well. This movie is definitely recommended.

In conclusion, I just want to once again say that it’s great to be back doing nightly movie reviews which I have seen in my home rather than in the movie theatre though I will continue to see movies in the theatre as well.

Movie rating: 10 out of 10

Next movie review: TBD