I really wasn’t sure what to make of That Christmas going in. Year after year, it feels like new Christmas movies have a harder time leaving a lasting impression given just how many beloved classics are available to watch instead. What can be done with the holiday on film that hasn’t already been done a million times before?

Well, That Christmas aims to answer that question by blending the more grounded storytelling style of typically live-action and typically adult-oriented Christmas films with a family-friendly sensibility and childhood perspective told through stylized CG animation. And while I don’t think it’s likely to join anyone’s annual holiday watchlist, it is rather charming in its own right.

What is That Christmas about?

Our story centers on three families in the small English town of Wellington-on-Sea. A shy boy with a constantly working mother and absentee father, a pair of twin girls, one nice and one naughty, and their parents, and a large mixed family of tradition-loving parents and kids desperate to shake things up.

Things are going smoothly for each family’s Christmas plans until a massive blizzard throws everyone’s holiday into chaotic disarray in various ways. Now, with a little help from Father Christmas himself, the three families and the community at large must find a way to come together and keep the spirit of Christmas alive even amongst unprecedented circumstances.

How is That Christmas?

Much of the marketing for That Christmas has focused solely on the admittedly brilliant casting of Brian Cox as Santa Claus. And while he does a great job, it feels important to note that this is very much not a Santa movie. Santa is in it, he bookends the narrative and has a fun present-delivering sequence in Act 2, but Mr. Claus and the extended mythology around him are not the focus here.

Instead, the focus remains rightfully on the aforementioned three families who are all compelling in different ways. As an introverted child of divorce, I deeply related to the story of Danny Williams and his single working mother. It felt very authentic to the experience of living with a split family, especially around the holidays, and special credit must be given to Jodie Whittaker as Mrs. Williams, who brings a surprising amount of emotional nuance to what could’ve easily been a one-note character.

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Moreover, I found the twin girls, Charlie and Sam, to both be very charming characters and I thought the twist with their story was genuinely clever. And seeing such a different kind of family unit in the extended family subplot was really refreshing, especially with its focus on the eldest daughter Bernie, who I definitely connected with as a fellow creatively-driven woman with an arguably unconventional approach to storytelling.

I feel like a lot of people will look at this as “Peanuts if the adults could talk,” given the grounded tone and the mostly kid-focused story, but a more apt comparison would be a kid-centric version of Love Actually since they’re both ensemble stories with multiple protagonists and subplots that come together in the end. And while That Christmas‘ romance angle is obviously less central, it is present. Fitting, given Richard Curtis’ involvement in both films.

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The film’s visuals are also very strong. Locksmith Animation is still a relative newcomer to the medium, but the stylized character designs and beautiful background art, combined with genuinely stellar lighting and clever shot composition, help the film stand-out from its contemporaries. And the overall visual fidelity shows a marked improvement from the studio’s previous outing, the already fairly solid Ron’s Gone Wrong.

But while That Christmas is overall an enjoyable time, I wouldn’t call it a modern Christmas classic mostly because I kept asking myself the same question: Why is Santa here? Like I said earlier, he’s not in it for very long, but his appearance lasts just long enough for the explicitly magical elements to start feeling tonally at odds with the rest of the film. Not to mention the wacky comedy with the reindeer feeling out-of-place amongst the film’s more character-driven humor.

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For as much as I enjoyed Brian Cox in the role, I feel like it would’ve been better to leave the Santa elements more ambiguous and stay focused on the more grounded story of this small-town community. He’s basically only there to deliver presents anyway, so maybe just don’t show who sent said presents until the end? It doesn’t ruin the movie for me, but it certainly holds it back.

Is That Christmas worth watching?

While That Christmas certainly isn’t perfect, I hope it manages to find an audience amidst the crowded field of Christmas movies because it is honestly very charming. It’s got great visuals, solid comedy, and a genuinely compelling multi-protagonist narrative that captures the feelings of being with family around the holidays in a much more authentic way than many other films of its type. I wish they had stuck to that tone a little bit more, but it’s still overall worth a look.

That Christmas is now playing in select theaters and premieres on Netflix December 4.
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