This is a great one for the kids. At just 42 minutes, Alien Xmas is a fun and cheery stop-motion diversion with just the right amount of quirk to make it stand out. And while it isn’t quite a classic, it’s the only one that features a Santa Claus with candy cane nunchucks. So there.
Now, those of you who grew up watching the Rankin-Bass animated Christmas specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town will immediately recognise both the animation style and narrative technique employed here.
Those short films, which have been endlessly replayed every December since they were made in the mid-1960s ranged from the joyously festive to the downright bizarre. The stories of Rudolph and Santa were straightforward enough, but who the hell is Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey?
Based on the children’s book by The Chiodo Brothers (Charles, Stephen and Edward), the filmmakers behind the cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and executive produced by Jon Favreau (The Chiodo Brothers were responsible for the stop-motion animation in his 2003 feature Elf), Alien Xmas is a loving homage in every sense.
It begins, like those shorts always did, with a charming, metaphor heavy, fireside story that quickly descends into zaniness. In this movie, Santa is telling a bunch of elf kids about the time Christmastown was invaded by aliens.
He starts his story by introducing us to the Klepts, an alien race so obsessed with stuff, and the acquisition of it, that their selfishness has drained all the colour from their being. (Metaphor alert!) Having taken, and taken, and taken, after exploiting and consuming every last thing on their home planet, these drab, bug eyed creatures now travel the universe looking for other worlds to flagrantly plunder. (Metaphor alert!) Which, brings them to Earth! An undefended planet that’s so crammed full of worthless, unnecessary crap that will be incredibly easy to steal.
Enter X, a tiny runt of a Klept who comes to Earth one Christmas Eve to prove his worth. Accompanied by an R2-D2-like droid, his mission is to build some antigravity doodad that will cause all the stuff on the surface of the planet to float out into space, thus making it easier for the Klepts to scoop it all up.
It all sounds simple and straightforward enough, at least until X and his robot buddy, SAMTU, land in the North Pole, in Christmastown, and unexpectedly run into the wall of goodwill and hope that is Holly, a little elf whose bummed that her father, Santa’s chief scientist and engineer, has to work over Christmas. (Listen, I get why she’s bummed, but if you’re an elf in Christmastown, it seems like you only have one job to do, every year, at the same time. Surely it’s not that big of a surprise when dad has to work on Christmas? But it’s best not to think about it too much.)
Anyway, as you can imagine, all of this heads towards a suitably heartwarming conclusion, with plenty of messaging about materialism, environmentalism, and the true meaning of Christmas.
Now the commentary here isn’t really new or particularly clever. I mean, you’ve probably seen it and heard it all before in dozens of other holiday movies and Christmas cartoons. But there is a lot of charm and warmth in this production that will no doubt have you tilting your head to one side and smiling.
Yes, the whole thing is a little soft around the middle, but the animation is flawless, and the jokes are sweet and endearing. There’s a little bit of slapstick, a lot of whimsy, and it might remind you at times of Wallace and Gromit. And while Alien Xmas isn’t trying very hard, it nevertheless does enough to give you just the right kind of Christmas feels.
Also, Santa has candy cane nunchucks.
Alien Xmas
Netflix
42 minutes
Director: Stephen Chiodo
Writers: Kealan O’Rourke, Dan Clark, and Noah Kloor
Cast: Keythe Farley, Dee Bradley Baker, Kaliayh Rhambo, Michelle Deco, Barbara Goodson, and Jessica Gee-George
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