THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN WONDERLAND

The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland, Hulu

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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 14, 2024

There's little denying the style of The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland, which looks like a children's storybook come to life. That approach is appropriate here, since the very concept of this story, a blending of the famous poem about Santa Claus visiting a home with the world and characters of Lewis Carroll's works about Wonderland, is simple enough for that kind of book. It's doubly appropriate, then, because author Carys Bexington and illustrator Kate Hindley indeed made that exact book.

It's adapted here by screenwriter Sara Daddy and director Peter Baynton with several colorful characters and a bright, cheery spirit. The simplistic and flat animation helps for sure, as do some musical numbers that gradually lose their clever luster, especially since all of the characters, in traditional storybook fashion, speak in rhyme. The movie also possesses a sense of humor about itself, if only because the characters almost seem to be challenging themselves and each other to figure out a seemingly difficult rhyme, while the introduction of prose at one point lets everyone know someone's in a bad mood.

The best way to describe the material is that it's perfectly agreeable. We quickly get a sense of exactly what the filmmakers are going to do with it, in terms of plot and characterization and tone, and they follow through with those expectations to the letter.

This mostly feels to belong in the tradition of the animated television Christmas specials that have been doing the broadcast rounds for decades now. While the best of those were wise enough to know that a simplistic and gimmicky story could only sustain itself for so long, this one attempts to expand its concept to feature length. Sure, it's a very short feature, not even reaching 80 minutes without the credits, but even so, the thin material starts to feel repetitive and as if it's running in circles around its few worthwhile ideas.

It's mostly enjoyable to look at, then, as we're introduced to a genuinely jolly St. Nick (voice of Gerard Butler, whose rough Scottish brogue might seem out of place but who is sincerely charming in the role). As is usual on the day before Christmas, Nick is putting the finishing touches on his upcoming trip to deliver presents to children around the world, complete with elves doing most of the work and even providing the musical accompaniment for his first song.

A last-second letter arrives at the North Pole, and Nick can't pass up on the chance to bring joy to any child, especially since the postal service is so unreliable that it can't be entirely the kid's fault. This child, the Princess of Hearts (voice of Eliza Riley), lives in in the castle of Wonderland, and despite the warnings of Nick's reindeer that Wonderland is a "mad" place, the big guy imagines it can't be that bad or that the detour will delay his rounds for too long.

Wonderland is, indeed, an odd and, yes, "mad" place, from the eccentric Mad Hatter (voice of Mawaan Rizwan), as well as his friends the March Hare (voice of Asim Chaudhry) and the Dodo (voice of Simon Day), and his silly tea parties to the rage-filled Queen of Hearts (voice of Emilia Clarke), who despises all things festive and especially involving Christmas, and her penchant for ordering the decapitations of anyone who vaguely irritates her. As for Alice (voice of Simone Ashley), she shows up eventually to eat some magic mushrooms, grow and shrink in size, and offer Nick a hand when Wonderland becomes too confusing for him to navigate.

Most of the story amounts to little adventure setpieces, involving Nick, reindeer Prancer (voice of Mae Muller), and a stowaway elf trying to get into the Queen's castle undetected, only to face assorted obstacles and try to keep away from the Queen and her guards. There are some decent sight gags here, such as Nick traversing the sloping roof and towers of the castle with a lot of help from his assistants, and the animation style suits the portrayal of Wonderland, as a place of uncertain physics and broader magic. There's a good joke about characters plummeting and their fall being controlled by a caterpillar with a slide whistle. The flashes of silliness are appreciated, considering how the plot itself fits into such a tight formula and structure.

That plotting does become a hindrance here, if only because it is so routine and monotonous. An entire subplot is dedicated to a sickly young reindeer (voiced by Lenny Rush) attempting to bring Nick his lost emergency alarm, and once the gag that the reindeer has to use public transportation to make that journey is established, the screenplay doesn't expand the joke—not in any way that justifies the multiple cutaways and dips in momentum. The third act, which gets at why the Queen is so irritated with Christmas, is all about getting us to the big lesson here, which feels anticlimactic on its own and within the context of a movie that occasionally does indulge in some flights of fancy.

Those displays of imagination are fun, particularly because the animation highlights the harmless innocence of this concept. There's a real charm to the movie's look and tone, but The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland is so set in its storybook storytelling that it's just a bit too simplistic for its own good.

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