If you want to jump-start the Christmas spirit in a big way, there's no better way to do it than with a visit to the funny and magical Santa Vs. The Snowman 3D, which is a bright, shiny ornament on the Feinstein IMAX screen.
Only a scant 32 minutes, it packs in more gags and slapstick per second than many Hollywood comedy-adventures that have much longer to tell their stories. Made by Steve Oedekerk, creator of the mayhem-filled Jimmy Neutron, Santa Vs. The Snowman 3D has the same free-for-all sense of nuttiness, whimsy and the kind of slightly off-color lines that will zing the adults, but probably go right over the heads of moppets.
Santa Vs. The Snowman 3D was created in a computer, so the characters have a larger-than-life chubbiness about them (perfect for both its lead characters) as well as a slightly plastic sheen that makes them look as though they came right off the assembly line.
Santa (voice by Jonathan Winters) himself has gone digital. He keys his Naughty and Nice lists into a computer that's balky, something that makes him think about putting young William Gates on the Naughty List . . . but only briefly.
It all seems rather sweet, like one of those animated holiday specials that used to fill the airwaves at Christmastime and which Oedekerk tried to recreate here, but with a modern, sly, tongue-in-cheek sensibility. There's that "versus" of the title, signaling that all is not going to be sugar and spice and everything nice this time around. In fact, the final third of his short film features a war whose figures recall the snowbound opening of The Empire Strikes Back. Its war machines resemble the lumbering Imperial Walkers in that Star Wars sequel, only the ones in Santa Vs. The Snowman 3D are actually igloos perched atop giant robotic feet.
The film's plot revolves around a lonely Snowman who only dreams of getting a flute to replace his broken one. When he wanders into Santa's happy village, filled with gingerbready houses and happy but slightly weird looking elves in green jingle-bell suits, the Snowman is enchanted. There he discovers the kind of red flute he has been dreaming about. But when he pulls a Winona Ryder and grabs the flute right from under the noses of the elves in Santa's Workshop, he finds himself on the run, chased down across the frozen landscape by Santa's angry elves in snowmobiles.
Once he finally gets away, the Snowman is unhappy and lonely again. So he plots a scheme to trade places with Santa so he can be as beloved as the red-suited sleigh rider.
That's the setup for some hilarious gags, wacky moments and clever spins on the real world, such as the sight of tourists riding through Santa's Workshop on a Universal Studios-style tour in a little train with an elf guide who drones on and on about the wonders of the place, including Santa's new 21st-century magnesium sleigh.
Oedekerk and his artists haven't forgotten anything in their attempt to create a magical realm, right down to the lid on Santa's toilet, which looks like a giant peppermint candy, or the green-and-white and green-and-red faucet handles in his sink.
That North Pole battle between Santa's elves and the thousands of snowmen warriors created by the Snowman has elves riding flying reindeer with flaming hooves and such dangerous weapons (at least to snowpeople) as hot gingerbread men, hair dryers, even mistletoe missiles. The action is inventive and nonstop.
There's a touch of sentiment at the end . . . but not too much. The "outtake bloopers" at the very end are as much fun -- maybe more -- as some of the movie itself.
While the 3-D effects are used to good advantage, they're not as remarkable as the ones in IMAX's three-minute holiday greeting that precedes Santa Vs. The Snowman 3D. In this short, a cartoon character attempts to paint a message from atop a very tall ladder that suddenly spins out of control and keeps threatening to send him and his paint-filled cans right into our laps. It's wild, it's zany, it's the most in-your-face 3-D moment I've seen in ages. Duck!
****
Santa Vs. The Snowman 3D
Starring: Voice of Santa: Jonathan Winters.
Rated: G.
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