Must Be Santa (1999 TV Movie) User Reviews

Starts Off Very Promising

[Christmas-Reviewer · 4/10 · 11 June 2019]

Review Date 6/11/2019

I Have Reviewed OVER 500 "Christmas Films and Specials". Please BEWARE Of films and specials with just one review! For instance When "It's a POSITIVE" chances are that the reviewer was involved with the production. "If its Negative" then they may have a grudge against the film for whatever reason. I am fare about these films.

Here we see a replacement Santa Claus being sought and the humble Father Lloyd Court (Arnold Pinnock) has been picked out to carry out the highly important task.

However Lloyd is far from happy with his sudden elevated status and is soon accidentally wreaking havoc at the North Pole.

This film starts off great. The first 45 minutes were wonderful. Then the rest of the film the cast seems to be rushing their performances. The greatness this film promises dies out rather quickly the 45 minute mark.

The ending was a rip-off of the much better film "The Santa Clause"

Santa must live on

[helpless_dancer · 4/10 · 16 December 2001]

When the reigning Santa is no longer fit for duty his helpers must search for a replacement. This leads to a wacky, exhausting hunt and doesn't turn up exactly what Santa's angels hoped for. To make matters worse still, "Santy" winds up being just this side of totally undesirable. This is the worst Christmas tale I've seen yet, and I had no trouble spotting the shameless subliminals. The producers could have picked another genre to promote their silly assed agendas.

Visually stunning and a bit unusual

[lastliberal · 5/10 · 3 December 2007]

I was tempted to give this only four stars, but I added a fifth because it was an unusual presentation.

The photography and visual effects are great and Brad Turner, who seems to have done a lot of Sci-Fi TV and Species III, did a good job directing, even if we didn't always know where it was going.

But, maybe that was Douglas Bowie's story, which was certainly an unusual approach to a Santa story. There was a lot of religious symbolism evident in the film. The whole idea of Santa being a "regular Joe" and Santa at the same time is reflective of the divinity of Jesus, a man/god thing. There was also a lot of redemption in the story. This was all framed with Christmas music that was more religious than secular.

Not only is the basic story unusual, but the idea of an Africa-American Santa (Arnold Pinnock), who falls in love with an angel (the lovely Deanna Milligan) is also different. Dabney Coleman was around to provide comic relief.

Miligan made this a pleasant experience even if it was so unusual that I could not completely enjoy it. Maybe they were afraid to push too hard with the elements that were taken from The Santa Clause.

Patently offensive (includes a possible spoiler)

[AJMullican · 1/10 · 26 December 2000]

This is the worst movie I have ever seen. If I wasn't on a seven-hour flight, I never would have sat through it. I can't believe American Airlines foists this tripe on its poor passengers. There is much to dislike in this movie, despite its obvious desire to show warm and wonderful Christmas feelings. The worst offense is the main character using his Santa-mind-control to force a little girl to love him. That's a wonderful example of Christmas Spirit, isn't it?

What in hell?

[xredgarnetx · 2/10 · 2 December 2007]

A black Santa? And a petty thief, at that? That's the premise of this silly TV movie, as the current Santa dies on-screen (say what?) and a new Santa must be found. Dabney Coleman leads the search. They come up with Arnold Pinnock, the above-mentioned petty thief who has about as much interest in being Santa as the Easter Bunny. Pinnock does his best Orlando Jones imitation while Coleman clearly is just picking up a paycheck. A gal, Deanna Milligan, who vaguely reminded me of Penelope Ann Miller from CARLITO'S WAY plays Coleman's second in command. At least she provided some eye candy. For reasons best known to the filmmakers, Joe Flaherty pops up as Count Floyd from the old Canadian show, SCTV. I would have preferred watching 90 minutes of Count Floyd.

Decent Moral Story but falls short. Not horrible but not good either.

[bolomark · 3/10 · 3 January 2024]

This was kind of a mixed movie. It's a bit slow, dull and does have some curse words in it but nothing horrible and subtle. Still, cursing adds nothing to a movie.

On the plus side, the movie has a fairly decent set of morals, faith, redemption and forgiveness. The kids played their parts fairly well and the plot wasn't bad. It was a bit slow though. You have a man that escaped prison/jail, wants to see his daughter and steals a bear/stuffed animal, and while running away, interrupts the transference of Santa Clause and they proceed to try to undo it. Santa is suffering from dementia and is dying but not dying. His spirt lives on. As for the elves, they're children that have died and the north pole is sorta a Heaven of sorts. In the movie, a dull blue Heaven and Angles make up the rest in operating the North Pole and being care givers/takers.

The morals were good and things work out for the best but it is rather slow and dull. What I mean in Dull is most of the movie is in a dull blue hue. The acting isn't the greatest and could of been better for a lot of the effects are very low budget but this does involve faith, redemption and forgiveness. Some things could of been done without or at least a little more colorful/vibrant.

Not bad but not great. Probably not great for young kids but older kids might like it more. Younger kids will probably get bored.

Sweet but not sappy

[Viertel · 10/10 · 11 December 2004]

This is a sweet movie that is not sappy.

The movie opens with a new Santa who is old & ill - and the hunt for a new Santa is on. A new Santa is soon found - though not necessarily the one they started out to find.

The new Santa is portrayed as a real human being - one who is not perfect and at times who must learn things the hard way.

This movie has a lot to teach to anyone who is willing to watch and listen with an open mind and an open heart.

Heart-warming and entertaining

[aliveandblessed · 9/10 · 7 December 2001]

I will be the first to admit that this movie is a little hokey at times, but it is a very heart-warming and entertaining family movie.

I highly recommend it for family viewing. Family movies are rare nowadays and when a good one comes along it is really a joy.

perfection

[eggzycat-93760 · 10/10 · 22 November 2020]

This is the definition of a perfect movie should win all oscars for the rest of time

WONDERFUL HEART WARMING MOVIE

[laquettajoray · 10/10 · 17 November 2018]

This is one of mine and my daughters favorite CHRISTMAS movie from her childhood. She's 31 now with 3 children of her own. I'm a very BLESSED & PROUD NANA! We are both very disappointed 😥 that her children will never be able to see MUST BE SANTA, since we haven't been able to find it on a DVD anywhere, including the Internet. This makes me very sad 😔 😭😭, because I LOVE 😍 the movie so very much!!