Settle in around the Christmas tree, children—Dame Maggie Smith is going to tell us all how Santa Claus first came to be. You can officially ignore the previous explanations in films like Klaus and The Santa Clause, no matter how delightfully animated or murderous their logic may be.
A Boy Called Christmas is jingling all the way into Australian cinemas quite early this year, released on November 25 as a surprise holiday present.
Its cast is a wintery wonderland of the UK’s greatest acting talents, from Harry Potter alumni Smith, Jim Broadbent, and Dobby himself Toby Jones, to The Shape of Water‘s Sally Hawkins and even Kristin Wiig sporting a rare British accent.
Playing a young boy tasked with bringing “new hope to the world” from a faraway land of elves, newcomer Henry Lawfull looks very elfin himself, with Santa’s bulbed red hat dangling from his head. Stephen Merchant voices the boy Nicolas’s talking mouse pal, in a magical cinematic adventure adapted from Matt Haig’s children’s book series of the same name.
A Boy Called Christmas is directed by Gil Kenan, whose debut feature was the heartfelt and spooky Monster House. The transition from Halloween to Christmas here makes Kenan a whiz when it comes to seasonal family fantasy.
Give your own workshop of elves a break and check out A Boy Called Christmas from November 25 in cinemas around Australia, a wonderful early kick-off to the holidays. Perhaps you’ll find that “spark of magic to give us hope” that Jim Broadbent asks for so nicely in the trailer above.
