SANTA AND PETE (1999) **1/2 It's a damn thing James Earl Jones is such an earthy, soulful actor, because you can't help thinking "Oh no! It's Darth Vader" first time you hear him in a film. But he's so good, and it's such a warm and wonderful tale, that you get over that pretty quickly. I'm not saying that it's a masterpiece or even that you'll be inclined to watch it more than once (unless you're like me, and enjoy running marginal but familiar Chrismas films in the background, come December) but it's a nice updated variation on the legend of Saint Nick, spiced with multiculturalism that fits rather than feeling forced, explains a lot of things that you'd always kind of wondered about, and is good, clean, gentle fun. Unfortunately, after about an hour or so of such gentle, almost-meditative viewing, and upon the revelation of how the reindeer came to be named, my obnoxious teenage daughter suddenly blurted out, "Where's fucking Rudolph?!!" That won't be the best part of the film for others, but an unforgettable moment for me.
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