richard.fuller1 I've learned the best way to enjoy my niche of movies and TV shows is to let go of my loyalties, or broaden my expectations.So the Spiderman movies don't have Peter Parker paired up with Gwen STacy first. So they retell the origin to include Mary Jane Watson right from the start.I liked the movies.So Victor Von Doom wasn't along with the Fantastic Four when they gained their powers in the comic book.Enjoy the movie.Smallville is yet another good example. So Lana isn't a redhead, so Pete Ross was African-American.Clark met Lois for the first time in Metropolis, not Smallville.The show is fun.Essentially, this is what we must do with Year Without St. Nick, '06.The same way we must contend with the endless remakes of Miracle on 34th Street, and likewise, the remake of It's A Wonderful Life, called It Happened One Christmas with Marlo Thomas, Wayne Rogers and Cloris Leachman as the angel (Thomas was Mary Bailey, Rogers was George Hatch).Apparently I did watch Year Without, '06, at least once, cuz I recorded it and took out the commercials, but for the life of me I don't recall much of what was changed.Santa now does much of what Mrs. Claus did in the original (deals with the miser bros, meets Mother Nature and journeys with the elves), but Mrs. Claus this time must contend with the strangely added Chris Kattan stuff.The added fluff isn't fun. Even stranger is reading over the posts and how much everyone seems to enjoy the miser dancers more than anything else.Watch the movie with a grain of salt. Tell yourself it is a Bizarro world version, and imagine the Bizarro families gathered around the Bizarro TV and chuckling at their family Christmas classic, saying how much they hate it, meaning they like it.Headache yet? Well, you'll get that anyway when you watch this thing, so might as well go bizarro.

bentopluto All things considered, this television adaptation, though not on par with the original by any means, was good. I don't care what any of the other reviewers have said. And here's why; It was not supposed to be a complete remake of the animated version, it was supposed to be essentially an ADAPTATION. That generally means things are changed for practical puproses, for a different generation, and so on. I really enjoyed John Goodman as Santa, he brought a quirky, curmudgeon-y kinda quality that I have never seen, and on top of it, he didn't need ridiculous padding or a fat suit (they could've done a better job with the beard though).

miles99999 This was an absolutely awful remake of a holiday classic. There was a movie some years ago called Scrooged (with Bill Murray). In that movie that are producing a version of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". The version that they create is absolutely over the top and insane. I think that this remake of "A Year Without a Santa Claus" is that to a "T".This production was so over the top it completely wrecked the movie. The casting was atrocious...John Goodman as Santa wasn't that bad, but Harvey Fierstein as the Heat Miser and Michael McKean as the Snow Miser...come on are you kidding! Fierstein killed the most memorable song from the original movie. What about the Miser Brother's assistants, any reason they were cast as hot female models (not that I don't appreciate eye-candy)? As for the storyline....why did they create this "new" story? Yeah, it follows the basic idea as the original, but the story was basically completely different.Please avoid this movie at all costs if you are a fan of the original. This one is too over the top, too long, and too crappy.

Pete White When you watch the original claymation films it's always amazing how much visual impact and story they pack into a relatively short amount of time. This remake had nearly the opposite effect and had the viewer begging to reach the conclusion and put this nightmare behind them. Something tells me this will not be a 'classic' for the entire family to gather around and watch together - year after year.Delta Burke is a beautiful woman with a gentle spirit and wonderful acting style so it's disappointing to see her grouped with the Zany antics of Carole King and the wanna be sympathetic John Goodman. It may just be me but Mrs. Claus' shy nature and quiet voice almost represented Delta being apologetic for her role in this movie.The film retells the story of Santa's growing frustration with the commercialization of Christmas and the apparent apathy from children all over the world. Santa decides he's had enough and plans to skip Christmas altogether. Two elves and one reindeer leave the North Pole in search of one child who can sway Santa's heart and reverse his decision. Yada yada yada - eventually all the characters and pieces come together and bring the spirit of Christmas back to life.This version lacks the charm and timeless wit from the original. The live actors appear to intentionally overact as their feeble attempt to capture the claymation's over-animation. The story has been 'updated' to incorporate a techno-saavy Claus and ELF incorporation - hahaha - wow, that's really clever (pause) NOT. The producers of this film would be smart to bundle the ensuing DVD with the original and offer some kind of bonus features in order to push the 2-pack. I can't imagine too many children or adults wanting to add this to their DVD collection. Next time, remake the little drummer boy - nobody liked that one too much anyway.In ranking this film we should always start off with a 5 - neutral - then give it 2 pts for costume and effects for a 7, remove 1 point for being a remake for 6 pts and 2 more for remaking a classic, 4 pts, finally lose a point for being absolutely horrible for a 3 out of 10. Why the 3 pts you ask? Because this is so bad that any casual fan of the original claymation/puppet version must watch this for themselves in order to fully appreciate how truly bad this really is. I suppose a live action 'Great Pumpkin' is just around the corner, sad :(