Movie Review: That Christmas

Movie Review: That Christmas                                                                                               12-5-25

Based on the charming trilogy of children's books by beloved multi award-winning writer/director Richard Curtis, That Christmas follows a series of entwined tales about family and friends, love and loneliness, and Santa Claus making a big mistake, not to mention an enormous number of turkeys!

Even though the story feels like a series of episodes, That Christmas makes up for it with a heartfelt tone that Strange World, Wish, and Kung Ku Panda 4 lacked, impressive animation, a good score from John Powell, and engaging and relatable characters.

Charlie (left) with a beard made from the hair of their neighbor's dog.

This movie has quite a few characters to focus on, and each of them gets their own amount of screen time: There’s opposite twins Sam and Charlie, Danny, a boy who bonds with his teacher, communicates with his divorced mom through sticky notes, and has a crush on Sam, Bernadette, a rebellious red-head with freckles who also has to watch over the house with her friends while her parents are stuck in their van. it's hard to pick which ones I like the best because they're all so relatable and make me want to be a kid again.

If I were to complain about one thing, I don’t like how Santa Claus himself looks in the movie: St. Nick is supposed to be big-boned, but in this movie, Santa seems to have lost lots of weight. To quote Mrs. Claus in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer “Whoever heard of a skinny Santa?”

To conclude this review, while it doesn’t hold a Christmas candle to the likes of Arthur Christmas, Klaus, or The Muppet Chrismtas Carol, That Christmas is still a gem to cherish each Christmas. To be honest, I liked this movie better than Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey!

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5