Rating: NR, Made for TV
Starring: Tom Cavanagh, Ashley Williams, Bobb’e J. Thompson
When a hunter captures one of Santa’s reindeer three days before Christmas, young Nick Snowden (Cavanagh), the latest incarnation of the jolly old elf, must travel via magical means to a zoo in California where the reindeer, Buddy, is being held.
Nick takes up residence in a boarding house near the zoo and gets to know the eccentric inhabitants. Sandy (Williams), the young woman who owns the house, also works at the zoo. He not only falls in love with her, but must figure out a way to get her to help rescue Buddy and lift her Christmas spirits. She hasn’t felt much like celebrating the holidays since her parents, who loved Christmas, passed away.
When 8-year-old Hector (Thompson), who lives in the home along with his single mom, discovers Nick’s true identity, not only is he thrilled to meet Santa, but he becomes Nick’s only ally in rescuing Buddy. Not only is he trying to win Sandy’s heart, but figure out how he’s going to save Christmas for if he can’t rescue Buddy in enough time, Buddy won’t be able to learn how to fly and he won’t be able to deliver presents. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, Nick also goes about making the lives of the other boarders at the house better too.
All seems to be going well until the hunter, Buck, sees Buddy make an impossibly high jump and takes him from the zoo in order to sell the rights to hunt him to a big game hunter. Nick and Sandy must hurry to save Buddy from a terrible fate.
It’s definitely a different kind of Christmas movie, but a highly enjoyable one. At one point, Nick must tell a group of children a story, and he tells the story of how the men in his family came to be Santa. It’s a revisionist story and Cavanagh tells it with a lot of warmth. Tom Cavanagh is a great actor (who I loved in “Ed”), and he pulls off the role with ease. The movie is suitable for all ages, but moms will probably enjoy it the most for its romantic angle. But our five year old enjoyed watching it as well as some of the situations Nick gets into are pretty funny.
“Snow” airs on ABC Family on December 23rd at 9:00 am.