Much like another Christmas film that Richard Curtis wrote, a little film called Love Actually, this focuses on several groups of characters and their lives over the Christmas season. Rather than the big city of London however, this is set in a small seaside town. While I do really like this location for a Christmas film, as it keeps everything nice and grounded, the same cannot be said for the cast of characters. There’s simply too many groups of characters here with separate stories going on, and since we have to keep having to cut back to all of them to continue their stories, the pacing suffers as a result. Even at 90 minutes this feels like a lot, and it really shouldn’t.
There’s some really nice stories going on here. My favourite was the relationship between a boy named Danny and his mum voiced by Jodie Whittaker. She’s a busy nurse who’s called into work on Christmas Day much to the disappointment of them both, but soon remember the love they have for each other thanks to the seemingly grumpy schoolteacher Miss Trapper. This storyline proves that the film has its heart in the right place, and there’s certainly some heartwarming moments throughout the film. Richard Curtis has always been really good at them.
That Christmas is aiming for a considerably lighter and ‘nicer’ tone than some other Christmas films that are all about big colours and overwhelming sentimentality. Sometimes this works, like the aforementioned story between Danny and his mum, but as a result it doesn’t feel substantial enough to really leave an impression. The animation also doesn’t really hold up to the standards of Disney and Pixar, meaning the whole thing can feel quite cheap and thrown-together.
It’s definitely worth a watch if you want a nice cosy Christmas film, but in terms of having a memorable story and lingering in the memory, That Christmas sadly comes up short.