Santa Finds a Buddy
"Snow" is not the greatest Christmas movie you will ever watch, it doesn't quite deliver that magical Christmas feeling which the best Christmas movies manage but it will still entertain. In fact considering the fact that "Snow" is a made for TV Christmas movie it will entertain more than you might expect but you do have to let go off a few traditional ideas. By that I mean we have Nick, aka Santa, transporting everywhere using mirrors and he doesn't have a workshop full of elves which may sound very wrong and may lead to young ones ending up with puzzled faces but it does strangely work out.
Having taken over the role of Santa from his father, Nick (Tom Cavanagh) finds himself in a bit of bother when his new reindeer Buddy, who still has to learn to fly, disappears from the North Pole. Meanwhile Buddy has been captured by hunter Buck Seger (Patrick Fabian) who along with some other reindeer has gone to the San Ernesto California Zoo as part of their Christmas exhibit. So Nick tracks down Buddy to the zoo but whilst trying to find away to get him back to the North Pole finds himself falling for Sandy (Ashley Williams - The Front) the cute animal keeper at the zoo. With time running out before Nick has to do his first rounds as Santa he may have to come clean as to who he is to get people to help him.
In truth "Snow" is quite a cheesy movie with its tale of Santa trying to get his reindeer back and ending up falling in love with pretty Sandy, but it strangely works. When we first see Nick arrive through a mirror it not only feels wrong on so many different levels but the whole clumsy side to his character feels over played yet both end up being entertaining parts of the movie. And when Nick first meets Sandy and becomes all tongue tied well again it is forced but also very amusing.
As such you sort of stop bothering to follow the story to "Snow" because the storyline of rescuing Buddy and Nick falling for Sandy isn't much. Having said that it does build up to an amusing crescendo with the jealous Buck trying to get Buddy when the reindeer starts to fly and Nick trying to get there first. And there are some simple but charming subplots surrounding the other people who live in the house where Sandy lives.
But truth be told there is really only two reasons why "Snow" ends up enjoyable and they are Tom Cavanagh and Ashley Williams. The whole flustered side of Nick may be over played but Tom Cavanagh makes it work and makes him an entertaining but also different Santa, delivering a touch of magic when he tells a room of children the legend of Santa. And then there is Ashley Williams who is simply cute, it is impossible not to love her as Sandy because she has a wonderful smile and her eyes sparkle and to be honest Tom Cavanagh and Ashley Williams work well together in a simple cute sort of way.
What this all boils down to is that "Snow" is basically a cute Christmas movie. It's not the greatest of stories and not the most magical of Christmas movies but the humour and the casting of Tom Cavanagh and Ashley Williams works to make it fun and surprisingly charming.
Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Santa Claus, Christmas Movies
