The Flight Before Christmas (2008)

People are voting emotionally.

Beautiful, moving film.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Niko is a young reindeer told by his mother that his father is one of Santa's elite flying reindeers of the "Flying Forces". He has never met him because they are fully dedicated to flying for Santa. Flying squirrel Julius tries to guide the young reindeer and his friend Saga. Niko is eager to fly. They are hounded by the wolf pack and Niko overhears their plans to take on Santa and the Flying Forces. With the help of Wilma the weasel, Niko goes in search for his father in the Flying Forces.The animation looks fine. It's a little blocky but the animals look cute enough. The Flying Forces are rather annoying and I wish they have a better name. That song just isn't funny. I also wish Niko knew his father's name. I don't know what kind of nameless reindeer sex his mother had. It doesn't cost the movie anything for him to admire a specific father from afar. This is an OK family film.

We watched this show as a family with my 8 and 4 year old children. They like just about everything they watch, and even they called this show "horrible". Where to start with the problems with this show... - The main character is a result of a one night stand. Santa's reindeer are very open to the fact that one night stands are a common occurrence for them during their Christmas Eve travels. - Santa's reindeer are egotistical and haughty. They are shown drinking/socializing in a bar setting at the North Pole. - One of the protagonists, a ferret (?), sings in the bar in a very sexy voice with promiscuous moves. Kid appropriate? NO! - The antagonist is a scary wolf (which terrified my 4 year old) who plots to NOT ONLY EAT SANTA AND HIS REINDEER, but to then EAT CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD!!! - If that's not enough, the writing and dialog is just plain bad. Who in their right mind thought this made a good Christmas story????????????????????????????????????????????

Seriously one of the worst Christmas movies I have ever seen. One of "Santa's Flying Forces" has a one night stand with a doe which results in Niko. Apparently Niko's mom doesn't bother to ask his name though (probably a common mistake among doe groupies trying to get laid by Santa's Flying Forces).Movie includes: - A pretty scary pack of wolves with plans to eat Santa, Santa's reindeer, and children of the world. - A bar scene (yep, a reindeer bar scene) where none of Santa's reindeer remember Niko's mother ("Sorry kid, this is the world famous flying forces you're dealing with. We're gonna need more details.") - A a pink poodle subplot that might have belonged in another movie.We watched with our 9 and 11 year-old sons and the only fun we had was making fun of how bad the movie was. They hated it, but I suspect for totally different reasons than my husband and myself, lol.I have no problem with a Christmas movie that's a little bit raunchy (love Christmas Vacation and Bad Santa), but targeting a movie towards kids about one night stands that result in kids, Santa's reindeer in bars, and a scary wolf pack out to eat Santa is just sort of creepy.

I'm curious as to who thought these were good ideas: A weasel? mink? some member of that family singing a bar song to a group of reindeer to spring it on them that one of them is the father of the young reindeer that just showed up. That said reindeer aren't sure who of them is the father, the implications there are best left to the imagination.Sant's reindeer hanging around in a bar in general, and using Santa's sleigh to basically pick up chicks.The pink poodle lost in the woods subplot. No. Just... no.And the ending... don't even get me started.Also, Norm MacDonald really phoned it in. Seriously, I kept expecting him to chime in with "you'll pay me in real money, right?" I think he can be funny, but this sure wasn't funny.The horrible dubbing in general, I was three quarters of the way through the movie before I figured out the reindeer were saying "Santa's Flying FORCES" and not HORSES. I'm a big fan of B movies, and MSK3T and its successors, but I'm not sure they could have helped me get through this movie. "New classic Christmas story" indeed. Santa Clause Conquers the Martians was better than this.