This is the reason why I see so many Christmas films. I watch one a day from August 1- December 31. If I only watched these films in December then it would of been years until I saw this film and what a discovery. In this film a zookeeper has no idea that her new reindeer is actually stolen from Santa Claus. The reindeer name is Buddy and he doesn't really know how to fly but Santa needs to find him in order to get his sleigh off the ground on Christmas Eve.The film has a great cast and believable performances. Ashley Williams plays the zookeeper and she is a jewel. Tom Cavanagh plays Santa Claus and he is perfectly cast. This is a great family film. Kids will love this and their parents will not be bored. Buy it and share it with friends. It doesn't need to be Christmas to "Spread the Christmas spirit"

I return again to the special plane of suffering known as made for TV Christmas movies. In this place, you will find alcoholics, children who talk like creepy adults, homely love interests, and D-List celebrities. In this particular movie, JD's brother from Scrubs is Nick Snowden, an Ersatz Santa Claus. The homely love interest is Sandy, a maladjusted zoo employee in California.Whoo boy. This one really takes the bad storytelling cake. Picture if you will, a world where a professional hunter can not only capture a wild reindeer instead of transporting the deer requested from a farm by the zoo with dodgy paperwork with no repercussions, but can also harass, stalk and in many other ways be a complete creepy lunatic and no one calls the police or so much as pushes him away. Picture a world where a woman can display a regular fondness for Christmas but become an inexplicable angry wench when someone takes Christmas decorations that she has stored in the attic and put them on display in her lawn and around the boarding house she resides in for no good reason (my family really loved Christmas and they died is not a good reason.). A world where a spinster rejects the compliments and advances of a charming single man and treats him like a stalker for daring to compliment her. Picture a world where the mythical North Pole is simultaneously not of this world and very literally part of this world. Imagine in you can, a child who actively hits on a 30-something woman. Are you bothered yet? The people responsible for this movie want you to find this all whimsical and good holiday fun.This movie is so aggressively stupid that I started to believe it had achieved awareness and malevolence and was actively trying to hurt me because I knew things and kept trying to insist logic and sense should exist within its framework, but my protests were drowned in a sea of poorly timed slapstick, awkward romantic tension, and forced drama. I knew that I had begun my descent into madness anew when the hunter contacted a poaching hobbyist so that he could sell him the rights to shoot a flying reindeer rather than reveal the animal's nature to the world at large and sell it to research or charge circuses to showcase it, or literally ANY other thing you can do with a flying reindeer that you have caged for ready transport and the money and means to do said transporting. No, forget that. I knew where I was when Ugly Mcvacantsmile got all ticked off about the Christmas decorations. Also the CG in this movie is completely laughable and the soundtrack hurt my sanity points directly with no saving throw.

This is a very light hearted sweet story. It's familiar territory in Christmas movies lately for Santa to find a girl friend, but this movie manages a fresh and pleasant approach.A lot of the credit goes to the principals Tom Cavanaugh (Nick) and Ashley Williams (Sandy), they are both very likable and well cast for this story. The obligatory bad-guy Buck provides both the unwanted suitor (of Sandy) motif and the mean vicious selfish clod as he rips off a deer and sells it. Guess what? It's one of Santa's reindeer ("in-training"), and Nick is the Jolly Ol' Elf searching for him incognito. He rooms at a boarding house, and animal-lover Sandy is a neighbor. She, Nick, and other tenants are all close, and the inevitable romance sparks.All plot lines used before, even the "skeptics refueling their faith" idea, but it's fun, because of a bright script and an amiable cast. A good movie to drink hot chocolate while sitting next to a fireplace fire.

Yet another Santa Claus fantasy film with Tom Cavanaugh as a very non-stereotypical St. Nick. Such films generally play the reactions of characters to being confronted with something in which they don't believe. This movie is no different but does play around with legend of Santa Claus in an interesting way.In overall terms, the script is rather weak and the film's limited budget does show. The reindeer effects though are pretty good. However, Tom Cavanaugh's quirky performance as a nervous, bumbling first-time Santa Claus is very enjoyable and Ashley Williams brings a great deal of warmth to her role as a good-hearted zookeeper. Their performances rise above the script.My favorite quote (from Hector): "Who knew that Santa Claus was a dweeb?"