Hello and welcome,
If you have been a reader since 2018, or before, you may remember in my introductory blog to the Ernest movies I mentioned that only one of them I have seen more than twice, that is the movie at hand. Just to clarify one thing, I have seen this movie way more than twice as it is a bit of a Christmas tradition in my home, hence I may have a little bit of nostalgia for it. But with that out of the way, let me begin.
Background
This movie was released in 1988, a little bit over a year after the release of “Ernest Goes To Camp.” This movie was directed by John Cherry again. The movie was a moderate box office success making $28 million on a $6 million budget, (not including the marketing and adjusting for inflation).
Plot
Santa Claus (Douglas Seale) is retiring and he travels to Orlando, Fl to find a replacement. While Ernest (Jim Varney) is transporting Santa in his taxi they meet a very troubled teenage runaway named Pamela Trento (Noelle Parker). Ernest takes Santa to a children’s museum to meet a children’s performer named Joe Carruthers (Oliver Clark) who Santa believes would make a good successor. Unfortunately, Santa left his sack in Ernest’s car which is now back in the shop. It is now up to Ernest to retrieve the sack and help Santa to convince Joe to take on the role of Santa by 7:00 P.M. on Christmas eve. There is also a sub-plot with Chuck and Bobby (Gailard Sartain and Bill Byrge respectively) who are the airport baggage handlers who are stuck with Santa’s reindeer.
Opinion
Let’s get some of the bad stuff out of the way first. This movie is kind of predictable, however, one probably does not go into an Ernest movie expecting a masterful plot. With the Chuck and Bobby subplot, they did a better job than the last one as they actually connected it with the main storyline, but it was only with a slight improvement as a good chunk could be cut without problems. With Joe as the new Santa we do not see much character development, granted what we do see is not bad. The visual effects, particularly at the climax, look extremely dated but to be fair this movie was made on a $6 million budget which is low even for a 1980’s film.
On a side note, is it just me or Santa Claus getting arrested becoming a cliche in Christmas movies? However, I am not criticizing this movie outright because as far as I know, this is one of the first ones to do it after Miracle on 34th St.
With this out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff. Douglas Seale’s performance as Santa is fantastic as he is one of the few actors that captures the traditional characteristics of Santa. (If his voice sounds familiar, it is because he also played the Sultan in Aladdin). The comedy, for the most part, lands with only a few duds. (Most of the duds tend to be in the Chuck and Bobby subplot).
Overall this movie a good and fun holiday film. It is not a holiday masterpiece in the same category as “It’s A Wonderful Life,” but I don’t think it sets out to be that. I give “Ernest Saves Christmas” four out of five stars. And for those keeping score, if I were to rank all of the Ernest movies I have reviewed so so far, this one would be at the top, and “Dr. Otto” would be at the bottom.
Thank you all for reading this and on behalf of all of us at Mr. Bee’s Brilliant Movie Buzz, have a very merry Christmas.
Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™
Mr.Bee
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