Director: Kari Juusonen,
Starring: Matthew Boyle, Darragh Kelly, Ned Dennehy, Callum Maloney, Michael Sheehan, Niamh Shaw, Susan Slott, Aileen Mythen,
Running Time: 74 minutes
Certificate: U
In this sequel to the charming THE FLIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, we find our young heroic Niko has completely overcome his fear and doubts. But not all is well for little Niko as his mother has a new mate who has a young son of his own. The idea of reconstituted families varies in how it is dealt with the world of cinema, with many living up to childhood fantasies of parents getting back together, while others look at the more serious side of the blending of two families. Fortunately this film falls into the latter. It’s to the film’s great credit that it handles the subject in a very mature way, despite being a film about talking reindeers. Niko’s mother’s new beau is charming and also doesn’t try too hard. His son Jonni is simply adorable, but again not nauseatingly so. Even Niko is handled with respect, and although he is resistant to the lifestyle change, he never enters the dreaded are of brattishness.
Although this lovely dynamic plays out well across the course of the film, it slips into uncomfortable action adventure territory later on. There’s nothing wrong with the way the plot unfolds, but it seems to be a case of being worried as to whether they are boring the audience or not. It lends itself to exciting aerial action sequences (which would have been in 3D in the original Finnish release), that all exhilarate on an individual level, but find it hard to meld with the rich family development. In the end it reveals itself to be a revenge plot by an unwarranted villain and there are times when it’s easy to forget just how moving the opening is.
The animation looks gorgeous, and even though many locales look similar they are all rendered beautifully. Outside of the touching dramatics and fast paced action, the film also has the benefit of being darn hilarious at times. It’s surprising that so many gut busting laugh out loud moments are present thanks to quotable dialogue from a bunch of eagle henchmen. Said eagles are just some of the side characters that shine in the second half of the tale. An elderly short sighted reindeer provides both comedy and heart as the adventure proceeds, which allows us to forgive the detraction from the main emotional thrust.
Although not perfect, it is certainly a perfect family film in that it caters for absolutely everybody without making too many concessions. Brave and responsible in its portrayal of modern families, hilarious gags, lovable characters, and action all presented in an aesthetically pleasing package make this a Christmas film to really enjoy. It may also be one of the few animated films that trounces over its original, and when the English dub and translated screenplay are this good, even I can forgive the lack of original audio.
THE MAGIC REINDEER is released on DVD on 25th November via Metrodome.
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